KARACHI: Climate change is not a debate anymore. It’s a reality and it’s adversely affecting the lives of the marginalised segment of society. And if even now we don’t wake up to the reality, it will soon catch up with the rest of us.

This was a message agreed upon during a discussion at the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences on Saturday.

The discussion was held after a viewing of the documentary Greedy Lying Bastards, a 2012 movie that looks into the forces working to put doubt into the minds of people by questioning those who continue to warn us about the consequences of unhindered human interference resulting in adverse changes to global temperatures.

The film details the people and organisations casting doubt on climate science and claims that greenhouse gases are not affected by human behavior. Energy giants from the Koch Brothers to ExxonMobil are named as the ones that are most responsible and yet refuse to own up to the consequences of their actions. Instead, they continue to fund what the movie says ‘a conspiracy of denial through deception’. Prominent politicians have been recruited to sell the business of ‘doubt’. However, what they fail to realise is that in the end climate change will not discriminate.

Melting sea ice, glacier loss and rising sea levels. Severe droughts and wildfires. Yet, as evidence of our changing climate mounts and the scientific consensus proves human causation, there continues to be little political action to thwart the warming of our planet. “Greedy Lying Bastards” investigates the reason behind stalled efforts to tackle climate change despite consensus in the scientific community that it is not only a reality but also a growing problem placing us on the brink of disaster.

After the viewing of the movie, during the discussion, it was asked how relevant is the debate on global warming from a Pakistani context? The answer was simple: according to global studies, Pakistan is ranked 10th on the list of countries that are most at risk of being affected by global warming. And this despite the fact that Pakistan’s contribution to global warming is a mere 0.4 per cent!

It was concluded that Pakistan should take a deep hard look into the issues of global warming and should do its best in supporting the fight for the truth. The floods in the recent past were a warning. Otherwise the future is bleak for our children.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2017