Speech on climate change for the international speech competition
| Speech on climate change for the international speech competition01-04-2011 13:29 | |
| Mathilde Meile☆☆☆☆☆ (1) |
I april deltager jeg i ESU's Speech Competition. Jeg har skrevet denne tale om klimaforandringer og hører meget gerne kritik, gode idéer eller spørgsmål - det ville være en stor hjælp! På forhånd tak! SPEECH Have you ever been stopped in the street by some activist trying to persuade you to save a polar bear or buy up a square meter of rainforest in the proud name of "let's save the planet"? Do you happen to know a fanatic vegetarian, who's always sneaking to snap the meat out of your delicious roast beef sandwich? Or have you just taken too many of you neighbor's reproachful looks when you dare to take the car on a very cloudy morning? And are you sick of it? I understand. Climate change has been on the agenda for decades; and you'd think by now we'd got the point. However, a recently made opinion poll shows we have not. I hope to have locally changed that in four minutes. So what is climate change? You must have heard of global warming, and you might have thought: Is that so bad? A few degrees couldn't hurt, could they? They could. Think about this: The total difference in global average temperature from the coldest period of the last ice age to the warmest part of the interglacial was 5 degrees Celsius. Experts estimate the rise in global average temperature over the next hundred years to be 6 degrees. The frequency of extreme weather situations will rise with a factor 5, so what earlier happened one time each fifty years will happen every tenth year. The wind forces will increase by 10 percent. Drought-stricken areas will be transformed into deserts. All of this before we reach year 2100. And if you thought a little global warming might do good in northern Europe, forget about it. The ice caps are melting, and along with the rising of the water-level, our private radiator, the Gulf Stream, is gradually weakening which will result in freezing cold in northern Europe within less than two centuries. All of these changes have been proved by endless numbers of top scientists. However, a growing number of business people and homespun philosophers tend to deny global warming. One of the most commonly used arguments by the so called climate skeptics is the following: "The earth is merely going through a temporary heat wave, but similar temperatures have been experienced before." Yes, there have been periods within the last 7000 years with temperatures similar to the present, but never before have the temperatures kept rising the way scientists from all across the world predict they will this time. Therefore, this is not a valid argument. It took the earth 1 million years to produce the coal, oil and gas we now use in one single year. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing every day. Our continued use of fossil fuel is pushing to a point of no return. But we don't have to stand by helplessly and accept a man-made natural disaster. In fact, we can't afford to. The Chinese word for "crisis" contains two symbols; the first meaning "danger" – the second, "opportunity". By facing and removing the danger of this climate crisis, we have the opportunity to free ourselves from our short-sighted dependence of non-sustainable resources. We can do this by focusing on two things: The cars we drive and the energy sources we use. It is stated that we have to reduce the discharge of CO2 with 70 percent before the year 2050. If you have a conventional car and replace it with a hybrid car, this reduction is achieved from one day to the other. We have the technology necessary. Establishing the amount of CO2 currently in the atmosphere would mean a decrease of a half percent in the world's total production. This is far less than during the oil crisis! But no country dare take the first step in fear of weakening their competitive position. This is why an international united effort is needed. There's an African proverb saying: "If you want to go far, go alone. If you want to go quickly, go together." We need to go far, quickly. Every single one of us bear the responsibility for the generations yet to come. It is not me or you or you who will suffer from the changes. But we cannot rob our children their future. The climate crisis isn't solved with words, but least of all with silence. It's time to make peace with our planet. Because there is no planet B. |
| 01-04-2011 14:19 | |
| Kosmos★★★★★ (5371) |
And are you sick of it? I understand... - no Aprils's fool tricks here, I suppose? |
| 01-04-2011 14:24 | |
kulden-varmen ★★★★★(2597) |
Climate change has been on the agenda for decades; and you'd think by now we'd got the point. However, a recently made opinion poll shows we have not. I hope to have locally changed that in four minutes. Det er helt udokumenteret at vi kan ændre så meget på CO2 at det kan påvirke vejret.
Der er ikke nogen serøse eksperter som kan beregne temperaturen hundrede år frem.
Det er helt udokumenteret at golfstrømmen svækkes af et varmere klima. Der var nogen som havde denne formodning men den er tilbagevist. Årsagen var at golfstrømmens modstykke, den sydgående bundstrøm, slog en bule op til overfladen. Sådan forsætter alarmismen bare der udaf. |
| 01-04-2011 19:10 | |
| Kosmos★★★★★ (5371) |
I hope to have locally changed that in four minutes - det bli'r nok kun meget 'lokalt'! All of these changes have been proved by endless numbers of top scientists - ahem: 50 forskere skriver konklusion om klima-forandringer If you have a conventional car and replace it with a hybrid car, this reduction is achieved from one day to the other - mon dog? Iflg. FDMs seneste hybridbil test er der en vis besparelse ved bykørsel, men højst 10% ved almindelig brug! Summa summarum: Det er flot engelsk og udmærket retorik - så hvis ESU ikke ta'r det så nøje med substansen, skulle den nok være hjemme (i skabet)! |
| 04-04-2011 09:58 | |
| Kosmos★★★★★ (5371) |
The frequency of extreme weather situations will rise with a factor 5, so what earlier happened one time each fifty years will happen every tenth year. The wind forces will increase by 10 percent... - og her en lille (men åbenbart tiltrængt!) dosis modgift: CSIRO shows cyclone (hurricane) frequency down, contradict Gore and many others who claim Global Warming will increase them... |
| 04-04-2011 12:46 | |
| Jakob★★★★★ (9287) |
. Vi har jo også et internationalt forum, hvor der primært skrives på engelsk: http://www.climate-debate.com/ Næsten lyrisk afslutning, by the way : It's time to make peace with our planet. Because there is no planet B. Men eftersøgningen er altså i fuld gang: http://www.klimadebat.dk/forum/overbefolkning-er-det-stoerste-problem-d7-e443-s400.php#post_24294 . |
Deltag aktivt i debatten Speech on climate change for the international speech competition: