| Plant spirit shamans - natural healers who work with | | | | and, in fact, deforestation – the reverse of |
| herbs, ritual, and the elements - have long known | | | | what we should be doing – is a major issue. |
| that the world is not made up of discrete and | | | | In 1600, for example, over 12% of Ireland was |
| separate parts, but that we are all one: that the | | | | covered by broadleaf forests. By 1800, the figure |
| butterfly effect of a single extra drop of water | | | | was down to 2%. Since then, the country has been |
| released from a cloud into a Gloucestershire river | | | | working to restore its forests but, by 2000, only 7% |
| could eventually lead to flooding in the distant streets | | | | of woodlands had been returned. And, in the urgency |
| of London. | | | | to put trees back, the bulk of planting has been |
| Through Gaia Theory and a more informed | | | | non-native trees. Many of these – like the |
| understanding in recent years of how the natural | | | | iroko, from West Africa - are being logged in such an |
| world, the environment, and the climate really works, | | | | unsustainable way that if the present rate of |
| some scientists are also coming round to the | | | | depletion continues the forests there will be gone in |
| shaman’s age-old view of the connections | | | | five years. The outcome is stalemate (at best). |
| between all things. | | | | It is for these reasons that The Village has |
| How might these scientists and the shamans counter | | | | introduced the Earth C.O.S.T. Programme to plant a |
| some of the current scepticism about ‘carbon | | | | new forest of indigenous trees at its Centre for |
| footprints’ and climate change, and what might | | | | environmental and personal healing. |
| they say about the ‘freak weather | | | | As it is, the Earth absorbs about half of our current |
| conditions’ many of us have been experiencing | | | | CO2 but the rest hangs around as a greenhouse gas. |
| lately? What are the objections of the sceptics, what | | | | Cutting back on energy usage and planting more |
| are the facts, and what are scientists and | | | | trees would help. We know this because levels of |
| modern-day shamans saying? | | | | CO2 have been stable for thousands of years until |
| DOES CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) CAUSE GLOBAL | | | | the Industrial Revolution began 150 years ago and |
| WARMING? | | | | deforestation also became rife. |
| The sceptics say there is no “proof” of | | | | ISN’T CLIMATE CHANGE JUST PART OF A |
| this. But proof is not the job of science, which deals, | | | | NATURAL CYCLE? |
| in fact, with the art of probabilities. Scientists, that is, | | | | It is true that every 100,000 years or so the Earth is |
| make hypotheses (‘best guesses’) | | | | subject to climate changes due to its orbit around |
| which are there not to be proved, but to be | | | | the Sun. This is known as Milankovitch Cycle and its |
| disproved - if possible. | | | | effects as well as its timeline are all fairly predictable. |
| The current best guess – that CO2 does | | | | In the 1970s, for example, scientists were already |
| create a Greenhouse Effect by trapping solar | | | | warning of a coming Ice Age as a result of this |
| radiation in the atmosphere and causing temperatures | | | | Cycle, so nothing’s changed there - except |
| rises on Earth – has been around since 1829, | | | | the timing. We should be able to predict about 50,000 |
| when Joseph Fourier first put forward this hypothesis | | | | years of natural warming as a result of the |
| – and no-one’s proved him wrong yet. | | | | Milankovitch Cycle, that is; the problem, however, is |
| Indeed, a recent survey of almost 1,000 | | | | that current warming is off the scale by a factor of |
| peer-reviewed scientific articles could not find one | | | | – well, a lot! – if only the Milankovitch |
| which disagreed that climate change is a man-made | | | | Cycle was the cause. |
| phenomenon and that our output of CO2 plays a | | | | Climate change and global warming is speeding the |
| large part in this. | | | | process up. |
| Even those with a vested interest in proving the | | | | WE CAN’T PREDICT THE WEATHER EVEN A |
| scientists wrong – like oil companies | | | | FEW DAYS AHEAD SO HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT |
| Exxon-Mobil, Shell, and BP – have all issued | | | | THE CLIMATE OF THE FUTURE HOLDS? |
| statements recently agreeing with the evidence: that | | | | Firstly, weather isn’t climate. Weather refers |
| climate change is taking place, that is happening as a | | | | to individual instances of sun or rain in specific |
| result of our activities, and that CO2 is a factor. | | | | geographical areas; climate is the average of all these |
| One place you can work out your own carbon | | | | instances over a bigger area and a longer period of |
| footprint is direct.gov.uk/ActOnCO2. You might be | | | | time. Weather changes rapidly (which is why it can |
| surprised at just how much you contribute. | | | | be so hard to predict) but climate is relatively stable. |
| If you’d then like the chance to something | | | | An analogy, if you’re a gambling man, is the |
| positive and practical to reduce it, another site to | | | | form of a particular horse. Of course you can’t |
| check is [ – then follow the link from The | | | | predict (i.e. know) if he’ll win the race |
| Village page to the fundraisers page and click on the | | | | you’ve just bet the house on, but if you look |
| Earth C.O.S.T. link: Carbon Offset to Save Trees). | | | | back over his form, his performance on certain fields, |
| WHAT ABOUT SOLAR RADIATION? | | | | and his fitness levels now, then average out his wins |
| DOESN’T THAT CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE? | | | | against losses, you can get an idea of his potential in |
| The current counter-theory to CO2 as the cause of | | | | this coming race – enough to make an |
| global warming and climate change is one which seeks | | | | informed decision, at least, on where to place your |
| to lay the blame on solar radiation. It seems at best, | | | | bet. |
| however, to be a no-theory. It has been known for | | | | Which brings us back to our first point, since this is |
| many years, that is - and commonsense should tell us | | | | also how science works: through educated best |
| in any case! - that solar radiation plays a part in | | | | guesses. And the current best guess, after studying |
| keeping the planet warm, because when the Sun | | | | past form and looking at the health of the planet |
| shines we all get a tan! | | | | now, is that man-made CO2 is leading to raised |
| The science, however, shows that the Sun plays a | | | | temperatures and to climate change. |
| much smaller role than greenhouse gasses in the | | | | WHAT DO THE SHAMANS SAY? |
| situation now facing us. | | | | The Sioux medicine man Black Elk spoke early last |
| WHAT ABOUT OTHER ‘NATURAL | | | | century of the “sacred hoop of life”, |
| CAUSES’ – LIKE ANIMALS AND WATER | | | | that all things are “one” and that |
| VAPOR? | | | | everything is part of a “great circle of |
| Water vapour is a known part of the Greenhouse | | | | existence”. Visionaries like Black Elk, and plant |
| Effect – but it reacts to changes in climate | | | | spirit shamans today, know that life on our planet |
| rather than causing climate change. Evaporation and | | | | amounts to far more than the discrete boxes, |
| precipitation is a cycle and any water in the | | | | capable of control and intervention, that we have |
| atmosphere doesn’t stay there for more than | | | | taken it to be until now. |
| a few weeks. | | | | James Lovelock – a visionary scientist rather |
| Nature itself, in its widest to its narrowest forms, is | | | | than a shaman – has also shown, in our |
| also cyclical: the cycle of life and death. Animals and | | | | century, through his Gaia Hypothesis, that the world |
| plants live, die, and become food for others, and the | | | | is alive, aware, and intelligent; a self-regulating |
| CO2 they create gets used up elsewhere as a result | | | | organism that seeks balance, like our own bodies. |
| of this natural cycle. | | | | The job of human beings, says Lovelock, is |
| Humans meanwhile, pump six gigatonnes of CO2 into | | | | “through our intelligence and communication [to |
| the atmosphere every year and take little if any out. | | | | act as] the nervous system of the planet. Through |
| Nor do we put any fresh air back. We could do | | | | us, Gaia has seen herself from space and begins to |
| through activities like tree planting, since every tree | | | | know her place in the universe. We should be the |
| naturally offsets 650 kg of CO2, transforming | | | | heart and mind of the Earth, not its malady”. |
| pollution, offsetting carbon, and giving us back fresh | | | | A humble plea that we might start taking our rightful |
| air. The problem is that few people are planting trees | | | | place by simply planting a few more trees. |