Global Climate Change Action

Sixty six million years ago in a land called Gondwana the dinosaurs on
earth were facing a catastrophe. The scientific dinosaurs had been
researching the possibility that an asteroid could swing in from outer
space and cause catastrophic change on earth. However due to the
limitations of dinosaur science, the scientific dinosaurs couldn't prove
that such an event was imminent. As time went on, signs that an asteroid was entering a near-earth orbit were becoming increasingly apparent, such as an increase in meteor showers and occasional flashes in the night sky as the asteroid tumbled in space and reflected light down onto earth. The scientific dinosaur community was becoming increasingly worried about the signs that catastrophe was imminent but still they could not give a definitive time or place for the catastrophic event.

Meanwhile the dinosaurs continued to flourish as the top life-form on
earth. Life was good overall and many dinosaurs attributed the situation to divine providence, having been taught that they were the chosen beings to rule the earth and all other life forms, including a relatively new group called the mammals, only existed to be subservient to them. Other dinosaurs however began to get a little edgy at the increasing rate of scientific dinosaur research indicating a catastrophe was imminent. They formed a global alliance to investigate possible ways to mitigate the effects of the (still unproven) imminent catastrophe. The scientific dinosaurs recommended that all dinosaurs band together and dig tunnels throughout the earth stocked with provisions so that if the catastrophe that was imminent but as yet unproven did materialise, the dinosaurs would be saved, albeit at some cost to all the dinosaur species.

As the research continued and the science grew more compelling, most
dinosaurs had accepted the need to give up some of their food and leisure time to contribute to this plan to save the dinosaurs as a life form in the event of the as yet unproven catastrophe coming to pass.

There still remained a sizeable percentage of dinosaurs who believed that contributing to the dinosaur saving efforts was an unnecessary burden on their lifestyle as the science had not yet been proven. Other dinosaurs tried to convince the sceptical dinosaur minority with the need to at least come on board as an insurance policy, but most would not be swayed, in particular the powerful sectors of the dinosaur economy that controlled the vegetation franchises around Gondwana.

Meanwhile, deep in the forgotten corners of the jungles, in hollows in the rocks, and on precipitous cliff faces, the mammals had noted with alarm the scientific dinosaurs' research and not having many vested interests in the dinosaur economy of Gondwana, began to prepare for the predicted catastrophe by setting aside a portion of their small mammalian economy to dig tunnels and set aside a stockpile. As most mammals agreed, the efforts were only insurance, and if the catastrophe did not happen, their efforts would actually be useful in times of drought or flood. A surprising thing began to happen in the mammalian economy that had not been forecast by even the most eminent mammalian economists. As the mammals dug into the earth
and began to stockpile resources, life improved for all mammals.

Despite the quite significant drain on the old mammalian economy, a new mammalian economy was opening up and the two economies were runiing side by side, all mammals were gainfully employed and they began to nip at the heels of the dinosaurs as a result.

The dinosaurs held conference after conference to thrash out how to deal with the yet unproven imminent catastrophe, and although small groups of dinosaurs were reaching consensus, overall the dinosaurs as a group could not usurp the power of the vested interest dinosaurs who would not accept the imminent catastrophe science without more proof, and who believed that diverting resources into insurance against the catastrophe would be an untenable burden. Even as reports of how the mammals were benefiting from their experiments in actually doing something constructive were filtering in, the old guard was still convinced that the imminent catastrophe research was nothing more than an underhand plan to wrest economic control
from the righteous owners of the planet.

Eventually after years of wrangling, compromise and promises, all the
dinosaur species agreed to attend a Gondwana-wide conference to finally take positive unified and irrevocable action to nut out ways of
proportioning efforts by each dinosaur species towards a common goal of drawing up plans to start the process of getting ready to dig tunnels under the lush green and warm landscape ready for habitation if the as yet unproven imminent disaster did come to pass. Before the conference some of the species had their share of the work promised and enshrined in dinosaur legislation, while others, in particular the major species, were having trouble with their own vested interests hell-bent on sabotaging the whole process.

Even before the conference started, the Stegosaurus surprisingly announced they would not commit to any tunnels until the T-Rex had announced their tunnels, the Brontosaurus promised to build one km of tunnel for each 10 km of tunnels built by all other species, and the Allosaurus flatly refused to come to the conference as they had 'killing to get on with'. The Allosaurus revolt prompted the Brachiosaurus to delay their commitment until they had proof that the Diplodocus were reaching their targets, and so on and so on.

As sixty five million years ago approached, Gondwana was a divided
continent, with small groups of dinosaurs making rather pathetic attempts to dig a series of life saving tunnels, while the majority of dinosaurs, particularly the large species that had grown fat and lazy through their control of the vegetation franchises, were making desultory attempts to quieten the incrtheir easingly vocal scientific dinosaurs.

Then the unthinkable happened.

The scientific dinosaurs were proved to have been right all along. A massive asteroid swung into earth's orbit and as the evidence mounted, it became obvious that it would strike the earth in a matter of
years.

Then all dinosaurs, even the powerful vested interests, realised
that something had to be done, and began to pour a massive effort into 'saving the planet'. What they didn't realise in their little dinosaur
brains was that the planet was fine, it was they who were in trouble.
The mammals noted the dinosaur's research and retreated into their
well-prepared bunkers and tunnels and waited.

On the morning of the 6th of Glock in the dinosaur year 180 million, the main asteroid slammed into the earth off the coast of India followed shortly thereafter by a smaller fragment that wiped out the Yukatan Peninsular in present day Mexico, and the rest, as the mammals like to say, is all history.

The vast majority of dinosaurs were wiped out by the massive climate
changes that followed. The few dinosaur species that had made enough preparations to survive were sorely weakened and were finished off by the mammals. As the earth recovered slowly, the mammals were able to take over a world that had previously been such a paradise for the massive dinosaurs.

Sixty five million years later, the earth faced another imminent
catastrophe. One selfish group of mammals had taken over the planet and were in imminent danger of falling victim to their own laziness and
stupidity.

Just as the dinosaurs had experienced, there were calls for rapid action, but once again the vested interests were able to stymie any
meaningful action until it was too late. If only the dinosaurs had been
able to pass their history on down through the aeons, and if it had been available at the Copenhagen conference in 2009, life on earth might well be markedly different to what it is today.

Extracted from "The Rise and Rise of Our Species Through Human's Misfortune and Happenstance" by Senior President Gloogo Xzzsetriv, Land Dolphin Supremo, published tidal year 125894 in the New Bahamas.