Thursday, December 17, 2009

Steven Solomon writes about Obama, Palin, Copenhagen, asking: The End Of Drinkable Water?

With America's national debate on global warming going bipolar between President Obama's grand entrance at Copenhagen and the surreality of Sarah from Alaska going rogue on world environmental science by championing the climate deniers, those committed to doing the planet's serious business should stay focused on one, often overlooked but trackable key factor of climate change--the pivotal role of water. It is through water that global warming destabilizes civilized societies. At Copenhagen last week, Bill McKibben of 350.org warned of a looming, water-related doomsday tipping point that could render future climate change efforts moot--if warming temperatures thaw the permanently frozen Arctic soils to release its methane greenhouse gasses.



Water's central role was colorfully highlighted in the run up to Copenhagen by cabinet members from the sea level Maldives islands and mountainous Nepal who separately held meetings underwater and at the base of Mount Everest's shrinking glaciers. They are desperate because they are on the front lines of the global warming battle. Along with the billions of other water-distressed people around the planet, climate change is exacerbating today's mounting crisis of freshwater scarcity by radically altering hydrologic patterns to produce overwhelming flooding, droughts, storms, rising coastal sea levels, as well as the unprecedented melting of Arctic icecaps and mountain glaciers visible in Sarah's own backyard. While the impacts are complex, they fall unevenly and are further dividing human society--with water rich regions generally getting wetter and arid ones drier.




Not even remote Alaska will be spared the repercussions of failure. ...


Within a decade there are likely to be 150 million restive climate migrants roaming the globe. They won't go quietly, wherever they go. Many of them might even immigrate to Sarah's Alaska, as the permafrost thaws.

1 comment:

windcatcher said...

Imagine $100 Billion a year to combat human / industrial pollution today and develop SCIENCE innovation with new inventions for tomorrow that would move humanity from the 19th. Century to the 21st. Century?
Greed is a disease. Good enough is never good enough and the hunger for profit and power is never satisfied- the soul is never grateful.
I am sure the poor, resource rich, countries and Europe are taking a second look at U.S and Communist China industrial relations and reexamining their own alliances. American Multinational corporations have no loyalty to any one country.
At least at Cop 15 no one was seriously injured. I understand that the next convention will be held in the “narcotic” designated country of Mexico where mercenary drug lords and Federallies will be available for hire (contractors) to crush the “Friends of the Earth” demonstrators; that outcome could be quite different.
I know many of the Republican, multinational corporate backed right wing hate propagandist that openly broadcast here are banned from broadcasting in Europe. Limbaugh, Savage, Beck, Hannity, Faux News and the other paid propagandist are working the multinational corporate backed subversive right wing organizations U.S Citizens Association and Freedom First (sic) in the same style Hitler used to whip up the “Brown Shirts” in Germany. (August- D.C assault) It always amazes me how people can be manipulated to act, not in their own self interest, but in the interest of the propagandist that control them. (19 year assault)
”Free Trade” (sic) agreements have nullified our American national Sovereignty and Constitution and we are heading for World Corporate Totalitarianism. American Freedom and Democracy- Free Enterprise and a Competitive Market (capitalism) - Free Press-are gone. The multinational corporation’s corruption of our government is near complete, now they want the World.
The real question is: Can the Chinese Communist Party be corrupted by the multinational corporations or will the Party eventually arrest them for corruption and chop their heads off? - (Chinese penalty for corruption- like the death penalty for Treason in the United States.) That is an interesting marriage of strange bedfellows. The Chinese certainly are not blind sided; they built the Great Wall to keep the barbarians out and the structure of Communism well defines who the Devil is. As far as I know, General Motors has the only corporate delegate in the Communist Party and that delegate has only an alternate position.