People deny climate change for a complex mix of reasons, including political and ideological factors, cognitive biases, and the influence of misinformation campaigns from groups with vested interests. For many, they cannot see anything happening, they believe working towards net zero is stifling economic growth or they think it is making everything much more expensive because of the high startup costs of green solutions and problems with sustainability.
Groups like Dukeries Eco Watch see climate change is more than a myth and want to spread that message. Overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that human activities are causing the planet to warm with measurable impacts like rising temperatures, melting glaciers, and extreme weather events. Change is happening whether we want to believe in climate change or not. It may happen slower than predicted or some aspects may occur faster than expected, and it may not be visible for many years to most.
What has happened so far
- There has been an unprecedented surge in ocean temperatures in 2024.
- The global temperatures have already soared past the critical 1.5deg threshold
- CO2 levels are the highest in over 800,000 years
- The rate of sea level rise has doubled since satellite measurements began
- The largest three-year-loss of glacier mass ever recorded was from 2022 to 2024
- The Antarctic sea ice shrank to its second lowest extent on record, the lowest was 2023.
Between 20,000 and 5,000 years ago, the planet underwent a massive climatic transformation. Over this period, it changed to the temperate world that our civilisation has developed and thrived on and there was a resurgence in volcanic activity, a proliferation of seismic shocks and giant landslides.
Our planet is always on the move, but sometimes it is more restless than usual. Since the last ice age came to an end, around 10,000 years ago, our planet has reached a steady state, but geo-hazards experts are concerned that human-induced climate change may bring a resurgence in activity in the coming centuries.
Predictions around the warming of the Earth will shift the weight on the planet and put pressure on the grinding plates that make up the surface of the planet and a growing body of scientists have recently discovered that causal factor is seen as further proof that climate change can affect the underlying structure of the Earth. Fault lines around the world will be under increased and ever-changing stress. Volcanoes around the world will see the same.
The rapid pace of change being recorded has geologists worried, with more than a handful thinking that the catastrophic geophysical changes may have already started and we will see more and more severe seismic, thermal, volcanic and weather events ramping up in a non-linear manner.
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Pauline Meecham
Dukeries Eco Watch