Tobacco defenders  and  Climate deniers !!!!

There is a confirmation among scientists to attune of 95% certainty that tobacco smoking is harmful to health, so dittos the case of human provoked climate changes.

Tell them that tobacco smoking is dangerous to health or that smokers are liable to die young, they will not agree because they are tobacco defenders. In the same spirit, tell them that climate change is anthropogenically induced or that GHG and deforestation inter alia are linked to global warming, ozone layer depletion, sea level rise, flooding etc. They will not agree because they are climate deniers. They are therefore ontological specimens of the same plume who invariably congregates to the closest proximity (Birds of the same feather who flock together).

The similarities between the schools are that both acts are harmful, lives are involved, both can be mitigated or stopped with determination and sacrifice, and that both have economic nexus among others.

Source http://bigstory.ap.org/article/what-95-certainty-warming-means-scientists

The differences between them are that while tobacco smoking is a self-inflicted harm, anthropogenic climate change will result into humanitarian crisis. The former is a personal suicide as the latter is tantamount to homicide, genocide, or even holocaust. A 95% gold standard affirmation is rational enough to serve as a deterrent from smoking and a warning against unsustainable development.

Surface water reservoir attesting to the impact of climate change in Nigeria.

The rural community  of Busugi ,Niger state, Nigeria  is already feeling the impacts of climate change in their day to day activities .Their only source of water  (the village earthen dam for  rain water storage) during dry season is now drying up faster than before, with obvious  shrinkages  and prolong  soil crusting  noticed around the dam. below are some of the pictures affirming the impacts.

Pictures captured on May11,2013 during a community based  adaptation study  on the impacts of climate  change by Adenle Ademola and other WASCAL Scholars. A study  sponsored by West Africa science Service on Climate Change  and Adapted Land use (WASCAL), ZEF Bonn,Germany .

LIVING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

We cannot abscond from the up-shots of earlier unsustainable lifestyles that we inherited; we can only learn to live with it. Climate change interalia is one of the laconic outcomes. Accepting that the climate is not as it used to be that is “the climate is changing or has changed”, is the first action to putting up with climate change. Change in any form brings about survival and climate change cannot be excluded. The doctrine of living with climate change must be embraced as rule. Living with climate change is a possibility, a welcomed philosophy that is accepted internationally and practiced consciously or unconsciously at local and household levels. Adaptation is an initiative of living or existing with climate change while addressing its consequences and impacts.                                                                        

The aftermath of prior unsustainable living gave birth to climate change then our response as human-beings is to adapt. Adaptation is a well-used concept in many discourses and discipline with definitions slanting towards the disciplinary protocol or the context within which it is used. In natural sciences, adaptation broadly refers to the development of genetic or behavioural characteristics which enable organisms or systems to cope with environmental changes in order to survive and reproduce.” Social science disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology and political ecology utilize the term adaptation in reference to human systems. Denevan defined adaptation as “cultural practices that allow societies to survive (and beyond that, flourish) are considered adaptations (Smith et al., 2006). In the discourse of environment especially climate change, Adaptation is defined by IPCC (2001)  as an adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.

Adaptation as a doctrine is more of practical than theory. To reduce climate vulnerability with sensitivity to climate, the idea of adaptation must be upheld. Adaptation is progressive, and it is a survival and developmental mechanism, it is equally environmental and human securing. The need to develop a counter measure to the unpredicted impact of climate anomalies that threatens human existence positioned adaptation as concept to practice. Adaptation is need for every sector of the nation. Every living entity responds to stimulus to survive (irritability), inability to respond or adapt to stimuli is anti-survival or death.

Acclimatizing to climate change is continued existence; responsiveness to climate change is life. It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change i.e. the one that is the most adaptable to change (Charles Darwin).

Living with climate change is not an option but an art to be imbibed, an attitude to picked up and a proficiency to be developed in the twenty first century. 

EVIDENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

OUR WORLD IS SUSTAINABLE

Sustainability has come to stay likewise has it become a worldwide scientific concept used in every disciplinary household. It has caused a paradigm shift in addition to the dread caused to its doubters and deniers, especially its possibilities which is connected to the fact that these proponents feeds and are made fat by unsustainable living. Sustainability came to being as a result of significant concerns about the unanticipated social, environmental, and economic consequences of  growing population , economic growth and consumption of our natural resources. Many definitions of sustainability exist but in most cases slants toward a win-win option for the three pillars or spheres of sustainability i.e economic, environment and social system. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations (National Environmental Policy Act, 1970). Sustainability is important in making sure that we have and will continue to have, the water, materials and resources to protect human health and our environment for generations. The simplest definition of sustainability is improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting eco-systems (IUCN/UNEP/WWFI ,1991).

Without a sustainable living on planet earth, man will become endangered species for which the cause is traceable to him and the solutions can only be proffered by him. The legacy effects of past unsustainable living are evident around us. The loss of biological diversities, expansion of world deserts, extinctions of wetlands and natural sanctuaries, the disappearance of ecosystem services and the emergence of climate change are pointing signals of unsustainable life styles which threaten human security and existence on this terrestrial ball. Traffic of aftermaths has followed unsustainable living some of which include insecurity of different kind, diseases, unanticipated environmental hazard among others. We cannot continue to wallow in unsustainable living and expect no feed backs or response. Everything can be and must be sustained starting from the largest water body found in oceans to the little drops of rain water in rural pots, from the thickest forest found in Congo basin to the scanty shrubs panting for water in Kalahari Desert, from the well protected temperate soils to the highly eroded tropical soils. Everything is sustainable, development is sustainable, the nation is sustainable, the continent is sustainable and our world is sustainable.

Sustainability is a precautionary call to prevent outright breakdown of the earth. Think and act sustainably

According to me........If there is magic on this planet, it is in Climate.
Adenle Ademola. Interalia; The Change and Variability of the Climate, the Immense Impact, Damages, and vulnerabilities as well as the mitigations and adaptations .

                                                                TRACKING NEGOTIATIONS

The climate system is being/has continuously been robbed and rapped turn after turn by several unsustainable human activities. That was why article 1 of UNFCCC attributed climate change to human activities distinguishing between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and climate variability attributable to natural causes. UNFCCC is saddled with the responsibility of seeking means of protecting the climate system in accordance with the Kyoto protocol through non legal binding treaty on individual countries to ensure adequate care and cure of the climate system through negotiations with parties. In these negotiations consensus are diplomatically reached, Parties aim to protect their various interests in climate discussions sometimes making negotiations very difficult, but the climate system must be protected because of its benevolence on us by providence. Negotiations on climate issues are usually tinged with several interest and notions hence further negotiations upon negotiations on issues before ratifications. There is usually a need to convince and persuade negotiators by organizers, scholars and fellow negotiators on issues germane to protecting the climate and it impacts which may be at variance with party’s interest. Sometimes, there may be a need to sacrifice interest, a need to cede grounds, a need to formulated and reformulate policies and a need for financial commitment among other needs but most importantly a need to track negotiations which is much needed at this time especially when decision by negotiators affects us all. We must follow and track negotiations contrary or for us at all levels, the youths have a key role to play in this regards because being a leader starts now not tomorrow again. Youths have a key position to assume in discourses on climate change so that our present needs will be met without compromising our future. ALL ROADS LEADS TO WARSAW TO TRACK NEGOTIATIONS.

Business as usual is not an option for a sustainable future. Now is the time to change the way we use and allocate resources: this will require a combined effort, involving large-scale government and private sector actions together to address the inevitable, unprecedented demand for resources. IFC

We only have limited understanding of the exquisite ways in which everything on Earth is interconnected. Suppose environmental assessments had been conducted before we sprayed DDT onto open fields or topped up spray cans with CFCs. We didn't know about bio-magnification or chlorine degradation of the ozone layer until long after these technologies were approved. This is a fundamental problem. We can't anticipate long-term consequences of any major technology if we are ignorant of how the world works and too impatient to invest the time and effort to learn more through scientific research.