Suddenly, planet warming becomes a deadly reality we must address

Extinction Rebellion (XR) climate change activists lie on the floor to form their symbol as they perform a mass "die in" in front of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, on April 27, 2019. Extinction Rebellion (XR) is an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience to achieve radical change in order to minimize the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse. PHOTO | LUCAS BARIOULET | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Attenborough did not pull his punches about the culprits – fossil fuel companies, which are the most profitable businesses mankind has ever known.

  • To which you can add national governments, which so far have been slow and reluctant to act.

Three awful images stuck in my mind after watching a BBC television programme entitled Climate Change: The Facts.

One, from Cairns, Australia, showed hundreds of flying foxes dead on the forest floor from extreme temperatures; another consisted of live footage of a man and his son near panic as they drove the family car frantically through walls of fire in California; the third showed an orangutan trying to beat away a giant bulldozer as it tore down trees in Borneo.

SOCIETY COLLAPSE

This latter clip moved many viewers to tears as they watched the distressed animal trying to defend its home. The machinery was clearing rainforest to allow for a plantation of palm oil.

It was scarcely any easier listening to the grim statistics listed by the presenter, Sir David Attenborough, as proof that climate change is indisputable: 20 of the warmest years on record happened in the last 22 years; Greenland’s ice sheet is melting five times faster than in the past; only last year, there were unprecedented climatic upheavals, including droughts, earthquakes and tsunamis.

Declared Attenborough, “This is our greatest threat in thousands of years. In the 20 years since I first started talking about climate change, conditions have changed faster than I ever imagined.

“The scientific evidence is that if we have not taken dramatic action within the next decade, we could face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies.”

The collapse of our societies! If that doesn’t scare us, nothing will.

Attenborough did not pull his punches about the culprits – fossil fuel companies, which are the most profitable businesses mankind has ever known. To which you can add national governments, which so far have been slow and reluctant to act.

BLAZING FURNACES

These latter were the targets for an unprecedented series of protests which brought London to a standstill over Easter. Thousands of activists calling themselves Extinction Rebellion brought traffic to a halt on Waterloo Bridge, jammed roads around Parliament Square, occupied the Natural History Museum and locked up Oxford Circus, demanding government action, not promises.

Some glued their hands to lampposts and chained themselves to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s house fence. Others lay prone in the streets or drummed, danced and sang as the police struggled to cope. About 200 extra officers were brought in to help deal with the protests in which more than 1,000 people were arrested.

All of this took place over a holiday weekend when Britain enjoyed unbroken sunshine. I wonder if I was the only one to greet the fine weather with trepidation rather than pleasure. Could this fine spell be further evidence of climate change? Would it be hotter next year and hotter still the year after and would the bats soon be dropping from our trees and the forests turning into blazing furnaces?

****

Setting a computer password should be fun, shouldn’t it, putting together an imaginative combination of words and letters known only to yourself? Not so, it seems, for millions of Britons.

An expert analysis found that many people are using easy-to-guess passwords, such as 123456, which was used on 23 million breached accounts. Other popular choices to be discovered were 123456789, 1111111 and the word “password.”

Many use the name of their favourite football team, with Liverpool top of the list and Chelsea second. Blink-82 was favoured by pop music lovers.

Dr Ian Levy, technical director of the National Cyber Security Centre which carried out the survey, said people who use well-known names for a password put themselves at risk of being hacked. They should put together three random but memorable words which no-one would guess.

****

It’s hard to believe, but a dad was awarded £3,000 after suing a children’s football club for substituting his 10-year-old son in a game, accusing the coach of racism and emotional abuse.

The boy was playing for Winnersh Rangers of Wokingham in Berkshire when he was brought off during a pre-season tournament.

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the coach was offensive to him and his son and the boy was later told to look for another team.

Club secretary Phil Chick said, “His father didn’t take well to the substitution but they are part of the game and give everyone a fair chance.”

The club said it did not defend the claim at Reading country court because it was unaware of the case, but it will challenge the ruling.

****

Thirty per cent of Britons admit that they snoop on their partners’ phones and other techno devices to check if they are cheating.

According to a survey by the law firm Hodge, Jones and Allen, many wait until their partner is asleep to use their fingerprints to unlock their phone.

The company said more people now cite information found on phones and laptops as evidence of unreasonable behaviour and adultery in divorce cases.