World's First Climate War and Continental Emergency
All of the predicted catastrophic consequences of climate change are happening already, though not yet ramped up to their full potential for death and destruction. We are already witnessing the world's first climate change war in Darfur, Sudan [more | more2]; and the first continental scale emergency in Australia's "big dry" drought. It has been suggested that the real root of the Darfur conflict is ferocious drought and famine that since mid-1980s transformed Sudan and the whole Horn of Africa, diminishing rainfall in northern Darfur by 40 percent and turning farmers and pastoralists into competitors for land and water. "Those who were prepared to kill, rape and pillage were drawn from the ranks of the desperate, ripped from their traditional way of life by a catastrophic change in the weather.. there is the very real prospect it [climate change] will lead to more conflicts like Darfur, as groups who have coexisted until now begin to feel a sense of urgency over the diminishing resources of water and land." Not even the developed world is immune to climate change havoc, as Australia undergoes one of the most intensive droughts [search] in its history. As major rivers run dry, freshwater stocks are so low that irrigation of the nation's largest food growing area may be halted soon. What is clear in both instances is that climate change threatens core human needs. Even as we grapple as a species with learning to reduce our emissions and live in balance with Gaia, you might as well fasten your safety belt and expect continued "extreme water events".
Comments
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Posted by: dave | May 2, 2007 12:12 PM
For now
We sit and watch
In the safety of our living rooms
As the sight of refugees
From low lying countries
Fill our screens
With their desperate screams
With nowhere to be
And nowhere to flee
From one extreme
To the other
Another global warming trail
When water runs dry
Livestock die
And crops fail
Jane Air's Global Warming Ebook
http ://www.Gonewiththewinds.co.uk
Posted by: Jane Air | May 3, 2007 6:05 AM
IS THE POTENTIAL INCREASE IN GLOBAL WARMING AN EMERGENCY RELATED TO COAL PLANT PERMITTING?
This is the question before the Kansas Legislature this week where Sunflower Corp. is attempting to fast-trak a legislative bill that would topple The Bremby Decision and strike the statute mandating enforcement of the clean air act when making a decision related to a coal permit. The Bremby Decision was a double first where Secretary Bremby was the first regulator to rely on the US Supra ruling April 2, 2007 directing the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases under the clean air act. And, the Bremby Decision was the first denial of a coal plant issued in the state of Kansas.
Mr. William Wehrum an attorney that worked for six years for the EPA testified on Monday in favor of the bill and the Holcomb Coal Plants. He claims that K.S.A. 65-3012 is emergency legislation and that there was no emergency to regulate.
What is your opinion? Is the known and unknown potential of Global Warming an emergency situation?
Posted by: Eileen M. Smith, M.Arch. | February 5, 2008 5:35 AM