Calling All Scientists! Make A Noise!
Word of the rally was passed by email, last minute web notices, phone calls and so on — a hastily thrown together affair. Organizers admitted to being apprehensive about having a good sized turnout for the 1000 seat auditorium, but as it turned out attendance was not an issue. Every seat was taken and some people stood around the edges.
We sat about a third of the way back from the front. Here is a photo of the crowd about fifteen minutes before the event started, taken from my seat. I'd just hollered out, "Hey everybody, give me a wave!", and waved one hand. Got a few back.
And here, a while later:
We came because we care, we are worried sick, we hope for better, and because we want to know that we are not alone.
We came to hear Guy Dauncey, Andrew Weaver and Elizabeth May speak. We also, by good fortune, heard brief remarks from three remarkable people from the generation to whom my generation is passing the heaviest lifting, members of the youth climate movement, Jamie Biggar, Tria Donaldson and Maia Green.
Guy Dauncey was upbeat, saying the the technology to save the planet is here, that the goal is completely achievable. Andrew Weaver. It was even quieter than dead silent as he spoke. Elizabeth May took us by storm — impassioned and intelligent, she rallied the forces and nourished hope.
Dr. Andrew Weaver. Nobel Laureate. Climate scientist. He came out with the tough facts right off the mark, beginning with, "The earth is definitely getting warmer." He used charts, graphs to illustrate how this conclusion is irrefutable and that the planetary warming is indeed, without question, the result of greenhouse gases. He spoke of the naysayers and what he called, the "manufactured grassroots organizations" which offer lies as facts, deliberately, to cloud the scene and help big industry and government to have reason to maintain the immoral status quo. He did not speak highly of Stephen Harper's government. I wished that everyone in the country could have been sitting with us. If so, there'd be no question of putting up with the disgraceful behaviour of Harper, Prentice and the rest. Commonly understood scientific knowledge would light the way.
Dr. Andrew Weaver, Nobel Laureate
Stephen Harper ignores this man.
Today the World Meteorological Association released a
report noting
the highest level of greenhouse gases in human history and that the
rise continues exponentially, that the consequences of this are in
our present, that we hurtle toward a tipping point with greater
speed than ever before.
I asked myself why this information will likely be lost in a mass
of disinformation, obfuscation and disinterest. With all of this in
mind, I say this to all scientists:
Scientists, we need all of you to come out of your ivory towers,
labs, colliders and research groups and to make a Mighty Noise, and
not just to research journals and conferences. We need you en
masse, in public, standing up to our politicians and our
asleep-at-the-wheel media. One would think that the most important
meeting in the history of the human race, the Copenhagen Summit,
would receive headline attention every single day. Speak to them
loudly, often and in huge gangs of brilliant thinkers.
Our politicians ignore eco-freaks, environmental lobbyists, regular
folk and irregular folk who see the perilous situation that our
planet is in. No matter what we do, they ignore us. We write, we
phone, we demonstrate and we are ignored. We cannot wait for an
election to throw them out of office. I hope we do that, but in the
meantime, the Copenhagen Summit starts December 7!
Scientists, since politicians pay us no heed, we need YOU in the
public eye. We need hundreds of you, mad as hell, brainy and
articulate, demanding good decisions for our planet. It's not just
research and publication in scholarly journals anymore. It's
survival.
We need all of you, as a group, walking into our mainstream media
offices and demanding that attention be given to the horrendous
facts that Dr. Weaver and colleagues have illuminated. We cannot do
it without you. You have a responsibility far beyond the lab and
the classroom. I beg you to join us.
I fear that Copenhagen will fail while you sit in the rarified air
of Higher Thoughts. The consequences of Copenhagen failing are too
monstrous to even contemplate. How long will it take before there's
another climate summit? How long will it take before policies are
developed again, climate laws actually passed and targets met? Dr.
Andrew Weaver says that the only reasonable target to shoot for is
this: Zero Percent Emissions.
Calling all scientists!! Calling all scientists!!
Make a
noise!
