The Maldives Islands could be completely submerged underwater as climate change continues to warm the planet, and the country has decided to take a proactive approach to its impending doom by vowing to go carbon neutral by 2020.
The nation, located in the Indian Ocean, is the first to make such an early commitment to shift completely to renewable resources, and it’s no surprise considering any given spot in the chain of 1,200 low-lying islets rises no more than six feet above sea level. Hopefully the government’s bold promise will inspire other nations to make firm commitments to go carbon neutral quickly, and avoid the looming disasters of climate change. Mohamed Nasheed, the nation’s new president, raises the bar for the rest of the world:
Many politicians’ response to the looming catastrophe, however, beggars belief. Playing a reckless game of chicken with Mother Nature, they prefer to deny, squabble and procrastinate rather than heed the words of those who know best…. Spearheaded by a switch from oil to 100% renewable energy production within a decade, the Maldives will no longer be a net contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
I think the choice is a much more pro-active approach to climate change than the previous plan to relocate the island’s 400,000 inhabitants to another country such as India or Sri Lanka. I’m glad they’re choosing to stand and fight to protect the one of the most tenuous countries on earth. takepart by learning what you can do to help solve the climate crisis.
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Photo: nattu’s flickr photostream (creative commons)
CATEGORIES: Education, Environment
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- Worldchanging
We are concern and pro active group of engineers in B.C. Canada getting together to set up a non Profit Organzation to do research, test, promote and offer education on Hydrogen and Electric energy. We are having a seminar in Sidney BC March 30, 2009 7 - 9 pm at the Mary Winspear Center on Hydrogen for Boats. We can Make a difference. We need to start now before we become an endangered species.
Let’s see how far from oil they get.
Hell even Paul “Mr. Dither’s ‘ Martin was able to get Boobo to hang out by saying Canada was green… and then he did nothing.
I’ll give you $20 for your $10 if they actually ever do anything at all in the Maldives.. hippies love to talk.. I haven’t met one who was any good at actually doing something beyond stealing oxygen.
Since anthropogenic CO2 driven global warming is allegedly happening ‘even as we speak’, being ‘carbon neutral’ will not save the Maldives, it will merely slow their destruction a wee bit. Actually, since the contribution the Maldives makes to global concentrations of CO2 is virtually negligible, any action they take is nothing more than feel-good moonbat superstition. (Assuming, that is, that anthropogenic CO2 is actually driving the alleged global warming, and that appears more and more to be in question.)