Setting the Scene: How Do We Get to a Fitting Future?

Abstract

Climate is a term referring to long-term patterns of weather conditions, and it is sometimes difficult to say where weather ends and climate begins. There is abundant evidence that climates have changed significantly in the past and that these were driven by a great complex of natural and usually interlinked processes with strong feedback mechanisms. It is a complex science. There is now clear evidence that human impact on land cover and environmental systems, through economic activity, have added a new driver of climate trends and variability. The best science we have informs us that certain kinds of extremes will occur more frequently and generally upward trends in temperature will disrupt many environmental and socio-economic systems. Records from the past show that many societies failed to recognize the onset of new trends in climate and lived in denial of change until it was too late. Humans now live in a globalized world of linked economies, resources, information, and agriculture and we are vulnerable together. The scale of the projected changes requires global cooperation and action for solutions. The cost of abatement or adaptation increases greatly as action is deferred. Only national governments can direct the scale of changes required, and few have done this. Are we being forced to follow the old behavioral pattern of denial on a global scale?