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Alarm bells ringing over threat to planet
I GOT a very uncomfortable feeling in the Capitol cinema recently when watching An Inconvenient Truth – a film by former US Vice President and environmental activist Al Gore (see www.climatecrisis.net)
Much of the evidence he presented for human-induced global warming had a distinct ring of truth about it – a ring of alarm bells.
Pre-eminent and esteemed organisations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (see www.ipcc.ch) and its 2,500 supporting scientists report that our planet Earth is facing an irreversible and potentially catastrophic climate change.
After eight years of denial and obstruction by the Bush administration in the USA an alarming new multi-agency report Global Climate Change Impacts (see http://globalchange.gov) has just been released detailing what is already happening and what's in store.
That water, energy, transportation, agriculture, ecosystems, and health are being adversely affected are not opinions for discussion; they are facts which we all need to help address.
On 22 April 2009 I attended, as a member of the public, Horsham District Council's Cabinet meeting and was pleased to learn that the Council has produced a draft Climate Change Strategy for the Horsham District.
I was also pleased to note that Cllr Circus received very little support for his views contradicting the growing mass of evidence to support human induced climate change.
Since the meeting HDC has published a web site (see www.actingtogether.co.uk) which residents, businesses and other organisations can use to help them understand the issues, how to cut their energy uses, how to use resources more wisely and, by doing so, how to reduce their direct and indirect carbon emissions.
I have also found Transition Horsham (see www.transitionhorsham.org.uk) a wonderfully inspired bunch of volunteers who aim to raise awareness of the challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change and explore the practical steps we can take now to address them in our community.
We have a responsibility to provide our children's children with a future and must give serious thought and priority attention to the damage we are doing to our planet.
If positive and decisive action is taken now then dire consequences are not inevitable.
Together we can make a difference.
C Morris
Tennyson Close
Holbrook
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Weather for Horsham
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -7 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: East
