The Press Stories
Speaking at the Internet Science Symposium on “Aristotle and the World – The Memory of Giannis Siratokis”, Mr. Aristotle, former President of the Republic and Honorary Professor of Athens Law, spoke on “Aristotle: Climate Theories After Climate Change and Uncertainty”. Prokofios Pavlopoulos emphasized, among other things, the following:
“Many people realize that there is a sense of uncertainty in our time, which ends with, of course, distrust of the ability of the state apparatus to manage the” luck “of society, in the context of modern large and multidimensional challenges. This sense of uncertainty is, first and foremost, in the context of socio-economic development. On the one hand, it causes the turmoil caused by some aspects of economic globalization, and, on the other hand, environmental imbalances due to climate change.
P. Uncertainties for the future, as already pointed out, are caused by the uniqueness of modern economic globalization and the dominance of the “economy” over the “institutional” – which is largely due to – increasing environmental imbalances. In the face of the tragic consequences of these effects, internationally irresponsible “mithridism” and as a result of a devastating “epidemiological” mentality in terms of its consequences, an imbalance is actually rapidly deteriorating to the planet. Uncertain conditions for the future of man and mankind, due to the current environmental imbalances on the planet, have their roots in the economic impact on the world aside, which places a dramatic burden on the global economic crisis and needs to be clarified. The resulting imbalances. Inequalities erode personal income and magnify the dimensions of poverty, and all the “bursts” that come from there contribute to the conditions of normal social life. On the other hand, in the dream, living conditions are deteriorating, in fact, in large urban centers, as well as in economically weak countries.
B. From the end of the 19th century, and especially into the 20th century, it became clear that, unfortunately, not only long-term changes that could change the climate, but also man. By the end of the 19th century, Svante Arrhenius had predicted that the doubling of carbon dioxide in the planet’s atmosphere would lead to a “hot house” event in which the average temperature of its atmosphere would rise above 2 degrees Celsius. In the 20th century, this theory became known as the “greenhouse effect” and has been shown to increase carbon dioxide levels by more than 25%, one of the regulators of the Earth’s thermoregulatory system. Professor Paul Grutson recently coined the term “humanity”, which is a combination of the words “man” and “new”, meaning “recent times” in essence. In international terms the above period was called “Anthropocene”. Since this “human-age” conference in 1992, the Rio de Janeiro Conference has accepted the signs that man can interfere with nature, changing the climate to cause more extreme weather events around the world. In many cases, extreme weather events have major and devastating effects from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica.
C. Bringing an example to Greece is useful, in part, in the context of economic analysis, however, it is of concern not only to our country, but to the entire planet: similar estimates from the Bank’s conclusions to the Greek report and international literature, the cost of anthropological climate change for Greece at the end of the 21st century – Shows that if not completely intervened – will rise to the level of outrage. 700 billion. That is, twice as much as our foreign debt in our country! According to the same report, this cost can be halved if the whole country is properly adjusted to the new situation with new data. The new data is, without a doubt, evidence of the International Government Panel on Climate Change and documents distributed at the Paris Conference in December 2015. The goal set in Paris is to take action on the average temperature of the planet. Does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is an important and viable goal.
D. Anthropological intervention in the climate is not the old cut of the industrial revolution, but rather a renewed form of the past that leads to the conclusion that from the point of view of a revolution based on renewable energy sources and technologies and environmentally and man-friendly practices, there is a need to change the side of the clean and safe city. The balance between the biosphere and the planet will be maintained in the new era. As a result of the intensity of the frequency of extreme weather events, the cost in this new era will be much lower than the tragedy with the millions of victims we have experienced in recent decades. In fact, if we do not follow the Paris Agreement, by the end of the 21st century, it will be very low in terms of the costs we have. Characteristically – and back to purely economic analysis – at the European level, without pan-European adaptation to climate change, the most recent work at the European level estimates that flooding will occur in coastal Europe at the end of the 21st century. Exceeded 900 billion euros! That is a factor. So even countries like Belgium and the Netherlands, and even a large coastal country like Greece, may not be able to bear this mythical expense of adaptation and indifference to nature, which clearly shows that “human time” can be very painful, primarily for human losses, which is certainly the worst consequence .
We should have taken adaptation measures a long time ago. Mankind seems to have forgotten the principles that have stood the test of time, such as Hippocrates: “It is better to prevent or cure.” We will act even now. Europe has taught the world humanity, unity, democracy and justice. It taught him to respect the environment and nature. According to the principles promoted with the current knowledge and application of science, this may again be the brightest example of humanity at the dawn of a path towards a “renewable Europe”. We will always quote the wise words of Mahatma Gandhi: “The earth can feed all of us, but unfortunately, it cannot satisfy all of us.”
