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Don’t Say I Told You So
Simply being right won’t win the environmental war
High in my large catalogue of character faults is the ability to say “I told you so.” Those little words roll off my tongue with such delicious ease that there are times when I use them even if I never said anything on the subject in question.
At the moment, 2000 firefighters in France are struggling to control fires in the west of the country. Spain and Italy are battling equally devastating blazes, and as Portugal burns, they are already reporting over 1000 heat-related deaths. All this before summer arrives in full force.
Even the UK, a land known for its damp and soggy climate, is seeing destructive wildfires that until just days ago would have been unimaginable.
As I type, France is experiencing record-breaking temperatures and yesterday parts of England saw their thermometers leap to above 40°c for the first time ever. Weather maps for this part of the world look like bright red warning signs.
For those climate scientists and so-called ‘greenies’ who have been warning of this for decades, the temptation to say I told you so is almost unbearable. I don’t believe it will help. Those that refuse to recognize the problem will only dig in their heels and dive even further into their deep reserves of denial. When…