leicsmac

I can see where you're coming from here, but quite frankly the softly-softly approach has been tried by the scientific community for the last three decades (at least) and what we have to show for it is where we are - not enough. So people in the know are beginning to get a little bit frayed, and are beginning to frame things in terms of accountability if things go wrong as well as what can be done to stop them from getting to that stage. I'd agree that the latter framing would be nicer, but once again: where has nice got us to up until now? Of course, the stick rather than the carrot may not produce the required action either, but I can certainly understand why people who have been pointing out a clear and obvious threat to human civilisation for a very long time are, as it is beginning to make itself felt in earnest, losing patience. NB. The contributions of human industrial activity from the early to mid 1800's to the present day have had a massively significant effect on carbon concentrations in the atmosphere and commensurate average temperature increase. The specific policies might well be viewed to be nonsensical. The issue they seek to address, and more importantly the consequences of not taking it seriously, most certainly isn't. Folks might want to parse the difference.

picardfacepalm.gif

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66854670 Climate change made the storm that devastated the Libyan city of Derna, killing thousands of people, up to 50 times more likely, experts say. Up to 50% more rain had fallen as a result of human-caused greenhouse-gas emissions, climate scientists at the World Weather Attribution group found. Great time for the current UK administration to roll back their pledges to address climate change, huh?

Democracy is the best form of government other than all the others that have been tried, but on very certain topics (bolded and italicised for emphasis) some peoples opinions (based on facts and expertise) are not only more worthy, but perhaps critical to the future. I say again: democracy is better than any other form of rule yet tried, but it does have weaknesses and one or two of them could be very large and critical ones.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66852329 Drivers have been warned of rising fuel costs after global oil prices surged to their highest level for 10 months. Brent crude, a benchmark for prices, breached $95 a barrel on Tuesday amid predictions of shorter supplies. It came as the International Energy Agency (IEA) said a decision by Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut production could cause a "significant supply shortfall" by the end of this year. The sooner the world is less reliant on this substance across the board, the better - economically, politically, and environmentally.

Thought I'd open this one up. India-Aus Test looks like it's shaping up for a good finale - all four results possible!