In April, the cry of climate catastrophe seized the political agenda.
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It was the only subject driving the zombie government’s agenda forward when, Trump-like, [UK] environment secretary Michael Gove watched Blue Planet 2 and tweeted that something must be done to help the oceans …. Alas, such climate catastrophising may strongarm policymakers, but it closes down debate.
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So when children this spring took to the streets alarmed that the world was about to end …. I wondered if they were being misled by exaggerations, especially when an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson said that we would be eating each other within five years’ time due to food shortages.
[Editor’s note: Chris Bullivant is a freelance writer based in the UK.]
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Take bees. We are told that numbers are in dramatic decline, and that we must farm with old-fashioned techniques to save both the bees and the ecosystem they support.
The tricky thing is that bee populations are not in decline …. Globally, there has been a 20 per cent increase in honeybee hive numbers ….
With 10bn people to feed by 2050, farming techniques need a rethink. But rather than improving efficiency and production …. misleading information about the risk to bees silences the wider debate about how the planet is to feed itself.
Read full, original article: Climate catastrophising risks shutting down vital debate
