Wisdom of the penguins

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Scene: Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands
Time: present day

-- "So let me get this straight, Alan. The IPCC says that global warming is an unequivocal fact and that humans are very likely to be the cause of it. Is that right?"

-- "That's right, Marlene. And 'very likely' means over 90 percent certainty."

-- "And yet they still have the nerve to come here and photograph us in our natural habitat?"

-- "Their arrogance knows no bounds. They believe in the conquest of nature. It's at the heart of their idea of progress. There are dissenters among them, but they've been left behind."

-- "But they're destroying our habitat."

-- "That's true, they are. They're destroying us, they're destroying themselves."

-- "What will be left of us?"

-- "I don't know. And I don't know what will be left of them, either."

-- "How sad. How horribly sad. Perhaps one day they'll be visited by tourists with cameras in whatever little habitat they have left."

-- "Perhaps, Marlene, perhaps. And now, smile for the camera."

-- "Yes, Alan, big smiles. They're pretty funny-looking, eh?"

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