Hi Pam,
I just now read a Guardian story quoting a British scientist that Africa is already warming faster than the global average and that people living there can expect more intense droughts, floods and storm surges.
According to Prof. Sir Gordon Conway, the outgoing chief scientist at the British government's Department for International Development, and former head of the philanthropic Rockefeller Foundation, hunger on the continent could increase dramatically in the short term as droughts and desertification increase, and climate change affects water supplies.
All that is fine. But my question is: Even assuming that the best minds are at work in predicting the consequences of climate change, how much of it can be taken at face value. After all, most of these forecasts are based on extrapolation of current-day statistics. The earth is such a dynamic phenomenon that so many parameters keep changing every year. When we can't be certain in knowing what could happen next year in terms of climate, how is it possible for scientists and experts to make doomsday projections for a period as far as 2100.
A quick survey of 10 major forecasts made about climate change in recent times, will show lots of variance between them. So, alternatively, do we stop believing in them and get on with our daily life and business. Or do we catch the trend and changing lifestyle in the hope that the D-day will never happen.
I wish people from the Dadamac team could share their views on this.
Thanks,
Vijay