Why do people still deny climate change?

AP Photo: Natacha Pisarenko. Buildings lay in ruins in Epecuen. SOURCE: MSN

I came across an article on msn about a town in Argentina that was underwater since 1985 until recently when the water began receding. Before the town was submerged, the area was a hot spot for tourists, famous for the salt water lake in the city that had high concentrations of salt. Unfortunately, after a series of storms in the late months of 1985, the lake burst it's banks and the town became like the legend of Atlantis. 

The first thing I thought of when I saw this story, was the legend of "Burotukula" the mythical floating island near Matuku, Lau that has been reportedly seen re-appearing by folks on and around the nearby islands. 

In Epecuen, Argentina, with the town slowly returning to the surface again, all that's left is a skeleton and ghost of a once beautiful town that brought tourists to their shores, and still continues too, due to the phenomenon of the town's return. 

The story is haunting and amazing but the reality, might be a different story all together and may not be as rare as we might think. We have our own version of Atlantis and sadly, not with the same amount of appeal as Burotukula. This reality...is called "Global Warming".

Disclaimer: I do not own this image

Being in the Pacific, our people are aware of the affects of climate change, considering it's happening right in our own backyard. Kiribati and Tuvalu for instance are one of the two most affected island nations in the South Pacific.

Tuvalu's maximum elevation over the sea water level is only about 4m. Their average height of elevation is only half this, 2m above sea water. This makes Tuvalu the MOST vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Fiji too is up on that list, with plans for two villages to relocate, which brings the urgency of the matter higher up on the agenda, where it should have been in the first place.

As it is, Kiribati is now considering relocating their population to Fiji and plans are already underway to buy land in Fiji for food security.


The plan seems to be the same for most of the islands:

-Advocacy
-Evacuation.

Disclaimer: I do not own this image

Question is, are we pleading to deaf ears?

"Both Oxfam and the Australia Institute note that Australia (and New Zealand) appear unwilling to develop a strategy for, or even discuss, forced migration among the Pacific’s 8 million people"

The quote was from an article on Australian media: crikey.com.au by reporter Bernard Keane, talking about the lack of discussion on the issue.

Also, we have Climatic Change skeptics like Willis Eschenbach and Anthony Watts who dispute "claims" that climate change exists. Here, Watts expresses that he thinks all this hype over climate-change is a scam to get money from them.

Watts: So whilst we have here what looks to me to be a resurrection of the “Give us more cash” doctrine, I can’t actually blame them – no more than I can blame the beggar who can make more money from his trade than getting a real job (I once knew a guy who earned twice what I did just by begging part-time on London’s Oxford Street – but that’s another story)

If just by creating these stories, the West gives them heaps of dosh – why would they not come back for more – stands to reason.

Eschenbach guest posted on the site, "http://wattsupwiththat.com" an article with his theories and explanation that argues against the climate change; Floating Islands.


The kick to the gut here is, Eschenbach used to work at Taunovo Bay Resort here in Fiji and has been around to various other South Pacific Islands. Yet, he stands with Watts on the claim that the Pacific Islands were playing victim to climate change to get more money out of "the West".

On the other hand, we have other sites and blogs who cry foul on the two for disputing the facts of climate change.

To be classified as rejecting, an article had to clearly and explicitly state that the theory of global warming is false or, as happened in a few cases, that some other process better explains the observed warming. Articles that merely claimed to have found some discrepancy, some minor flaw, some reason for doubt, I did not classify as rejecting global warming. Articles about methods, paleoclimatology, mitigation, adaptation, and effects at least implicitly accept human-caused global warming and were usually obvious from the title alone.

The quote above is from Desmogblog who argues on the flaws of climate change skeptics and stands firm that scientists do not deny the fact of Climate change.

Desmogblog also has a page on Eschenbach, discrediting his work and the claims of Watts.

While everyone on the other side of the planet who are not four metres above sea-level are arguing whether or not Climate change exists, we're here trying to figure out how we were going to adapt to the rise in sea-level and what it meant for future generations.

People are losing their homes and their livelihoods to the tantrums of Mother Nature here in the Pacific, and I'm sure in other low-lying areas around the globe but what is the rest of the world doing?