Compassion. All That's Needed to Change Our World.

 Australian firefighter gives water to a thirsty koala during their recent forest fires.

Photo Source

Compassion ~ a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

What would happen if every man, woman and child on earth was able to experience true compassion for just one day, at the same time?  What a staggering thought.  True compassion does not need to be an act of magnitude, it can be as small as suddenly seeing that one's fish aquarium is covered in algae and deciding there and then to immediately do something to improve the situation.  Or one could stop thinking about their everyday woes and for the first time in weeks see that their plants are parched and cramped in tiny, old pots and quickly give them a drink, before finding new pots to plant them into.  The ripple effect would see owners taking their dogs out to the forest or beach for a good, long walk, instead of just accepting that letting it out into a small yard twice a day is good enough. 

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Were The Mayans Climate Scientists?

Impossible.  Not with the iconic images we currently hold of this long vanished civilisation.  Images of ancient crumbling stone cities with their massive step pyramids; brutal human sacrifices made to strange feathered dragon gods;  and men peering at the night sky from their observatory, making detailed (and impeccible) records of the movements of the constellations.  But while these give colour and life to a world long gone, none of these visuals are needed.  Simply mention the words Mayan Civilisation to anyone and without a moment's hesitation most will think of a particularly complex calendar that happens to have an inconvenient end date in the not too distant future.  

But climate scientists?  Not a chance.

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The Real Fear Story...Apathy

"Be the change you want to see in the world"

Gandhi

The other day, while discussing how to make climate change issues more engaging for Paradigm's Bend's readers, a brilliant friend of mine sadly pointed out that the trouble with climate change isn't whether it is happening or not, it is that everyone is tired of being bludgeoned to death with fear stories wherever they turn.  Over an extended period of time desensitisation occurs and not too long after, apathy follows.  In a recent email exchange with an American collaborator, I learned that in the US while 30% accept climate change as a real issue, 30% do not accept climate change or see it as a hoax and another 30% don't even care.  The other 10% must have been too apathetic to even answer the climate change survey.  Forget about climate change deniers, it is apathy that is the real enemy of climate change.

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NASA Earth Observatory ~ Melting Snow and Ice Warm Northern Hemisphere

Article and image source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49440

How could melting ice thousands of miles away possibly affect you? A recent study published in Nature Geoscience provides one answer to that question. Mark Flanner at the University of Michigan and his collaborators used satellite data to measure how much changes in snow and ice in the Northern Hemisphere have contributed to rising temperatures in the last 30 years. The loss of snow and ice warmed the planet more than models predicted it would.

Snow and ice help control how much of the Sun’s energy Earth soaks up. Bright white snow and ice reflect energy back to space. Because that energy does not get absorbed, it does not go into Earth’s climate. As a result, snow and ice cool the planet. This effect is called a climate forcing because snow and ice directly influence the climate.

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