Wisdom amidst White-Outs The snow that paralysed Texas earlier this month, cutting power to over 5 million people, has been described as caused by a 'freak snowstorm' – extreme cold weather events are a counter-intuitive aspect of 'global warming', seemingly giving credence to climate deniers. Yet the meteorological data shows classic climate change disruption of weather systems at work. Nothing 'freakish', but as predicted by the science: warming in the Arctic distorting the previously stable 'polar vortex' that retains cold air around the North Pole, dumping it instead symbolically on America's largest oil-producing state. The UK experienced similar in 2018, helpfully coinciding with PM’s Conference More Feet, More Heat?, at which our patron, Professor Peter Wadhams, illustrated the origins of the 'Beast from the East' with a slide depicting the same distorted polar vortex extending its fingers far down into Europe. Our panel discussion held just a few days before the Texas White-Out, with Sofia Pineda Ochoa's hard-truth film Endgame 2050 as its springboard, highlighted that human trait for denial, for grasping at less inconvenient explanations to events. Our patron Paul Ehrlich described our current 6th Mass Extinction as "a catastrophic situation basically unrecognised." As for climate change, the science and data are unequivocal. Facts that he and fellow biologists routinely rehearse: 60% of all mammals alive on our planet are (mostly factory-farmed) livestock; we humans make up 36%; with just 4% left to the remnant, fragmented populations of wild animals. Paul's conclusion, reached after a lifetime of seeking to alert humanity to the accelerating ecological crisis, is that our species should more accurately be classified as 'Homo moronicus', rather than sapiens. But the fact he made that remark with a wry chuckle, and remains a passionate and energetic campaigner in his 80s, demonstrates optimism, not pessimism. And, of course, he and all his fellow panellists are living proof that Homo sapiens is not yet extinct – as do you, dear reader, along with your fellow supporters of PM! - Robin Maynard, Director, Population Matters
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