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The British media has been devoting a lot of attention recently to the topic of global warming. This has probably been because George Bush recently changed his position and effectively admitted that action is necessary to limit carbon emissions, etc.

The problem with this topic is that we are not all scientists and we lack the necessary information to speak with conviction about it. Often, people are naturally sceptical about media reports - whatever the topic - and so doubters remain. Personally, I find it hard to believe that President Bush’s change of opinion was the result of being convinced by the overwhelming scientific evidence - it seems more likely that he has found some way to make money out of the issue.

What is more, men with strong religious convictions do not usually have much respect for, or pay much heed to, scientific knowledge. Of course, science tends to suggest theories rather than absolute facts - and unfortunately religious men (like Mr.Bush - or is he just stupid?) tend to lack the sensitivity to handle such information. And usually in science there is a counter-theory to every theory. ‘It’s only a theory’, they say, ’so we can ignore it.’ Or, ’show me some absolute evidence’. So it is that now we hear people arguing that the current global warming is just a concatenation of regular cycles having increased effects and not a problem arising from human irresponsibility. And one is often left with the impression that these are arguments out of convenience rather than arguments arising out of a deep concern to find out the truth. Choose the scientific argument/evidence that suits you best. Even the shallowest reading of media science reports shows us that recent temperature rises are completely off the scale of normal cyclical changes and I think that is so scary, that we should take action even if only with a ‘just-in-case’ attitude.

Will political and business leaders start paying more than lip service to the potential environmental disasters we are laying up for future generations? Even if we cannot be as sure about global warming as President Bush is about the political importance of the religious right in America, our knowledge as it stands at the moment suggests that we should be very worried, indeed. We should be making it a top priority, and political, business and society leaders should be proposing concrete measures and investing in new technologies and energy sources. It is time to lead in a new direction.