Talkin' bout the weather20 July 2009
They say: I watched that DVD of The Day after Tomorrow last night. Rubbish. Cool effects but.
You say: Mm - dodgy science, dodgy acting. But what we're doing to the climate is serious - the planet is warming and the climate is changing.
Not sure I like the sound of living in a world that's 6 degrees warmer than today.
They say: Oh I don't know. What difference would it make?
You say: A lot. Weather goes even more nuts, ice caps melt, Kent grows mangos then disappears underwater as sea levels rise.
They say: Scaremongering. It's all along way off.
You say: No, it's happening now. In the 1960s about 7 million people worldwide were affected by floods. Now it's 150 million.
And you know that heatwave in Europe in 2003 which killed 25,000 people? Well that kind of summer will be the norm by 2050. Climate scientists say it's what we do in the next 10-15 years that's really going to matter.
They say: Exactly what is it we have to do in the next 10-15 years that's going to make such a difference?
You say: Get control of global greenhouse gas emissions - especially carbon dioxide - and keep them coming down every year.
We need cleaner ways to travel, power industry, and keep warm.
They say: So we're going to carpet Britain with windfarms and ride donkeys?
You say: Lots of clean technologies have been around for ages. You're already seeing cleaner vehicles - some buses now have zero emissions.
High oil prices and international pressure will mean we have sort out the clean energy alternatives quickly.
They say: Who's going to do that? Many people have vested interests.
You say: They said the same about slavery - and we abolished that. The American government has been courting fossil fuel lovers as friends for ages and they may not be interested in stopping climate change.
But even Arnie Schwarzenegger has made new laws to get cleaner cars onto the streets in California .
And the British PM has permanently got climate change on the agenda now. And even the Queen is going for green at Windsor .
They say: OK, you win. Fancy another pint?
© Fox
