Climate changes ahead

I like to think I do my bit for the planet where I can and think in general, that most people are at least doing the basics these days, whether it is recycling bottles, not printing emails unless absolutely needed and taking ones own shopping bags to the supermarket(when we remember!) However I must admit to sometimes also feeling that the words "Global warming" and "Climate Change" are somewhat over used, the buzz words of the moment kind of thing and often wonder when listening to news articles on the subject, if the people shouting about it, really understand half of what they are talking about!

Then I heard some news today that really got me thinking and resulted in the discovery of some really scary facts from a very helpful website. The news in question was that the Eden Coastal area on the Garden Route, barely 3.5 hours out of Cape Town has today been classified as a disaster area. When I heard this news snippet this morning ,I just assumed that they had now recieved the two days of solid rain that we, here in Cape Town endured at the weekend and that like us they had now been flooded out. However, as I listened further, it was infact due to their drought situation having now become extremely serious!

I could not believe that after we had experienced the wettest November in 57 years, that just over 3 hours down the coast, they are experiencing the worst drought in 132 years and not a drop of rain in sight! when browsing the web for more info, I discovered that out of the 20 warmest years on record, 19 have occurred since 1980. The three hottest years ever observed have all occurred in the last eight years. The point is, Climate change is a very real issue, but the reality is that there are many others out there that fall into my category .... plodding along doing what you think is right, but not really sure how and why? Although the website I have highlighted above explains things fairly simply,there are alot of others that talk a language of their own. In my mind, this is a big obstacle in trying to ensure that the up and coming generation, do not make the same mistakes as us. Instead of being told about Greenhouse gases and what CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide are doing to our planet ... that 90% of the population cannot relate to, rather tell us the simple hard facts!!