Tuesday, May 15, 2007

[climate change] it's the water which concerns me

In another report which sceptics will call alarmist and Lord Nazh will call Climate Porn, despite the phenomenon undoubtedly occurring and being cashed in on by the authorities, this sort of thing was written:

Global warming will create at least 1 billion refugees by 2050 as water shortages and crop failures force people to leave their homes, sparking local wars over access to resources, Christian Aid agency has said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that by 2080, up to 3.2 billion people — a third of the planet's population — will be short of water. Up to 600 million will be short of food and up to 7 million will face coastal flooding.

I'd concentrate more on the water crisis because that's the one I now believe will fall into governmental hands to use as leverage on the population. I don't mean overall water but drinkable water. Drinkable water will become like gold.

Please read this if you haven't already done so. And this.

10 comments:

  1. Ever read the book Dune about a planet on which they worship water....it's a little more complex a plot than that, but you get the idea.

    I'm with you on this one. A big part of the problem here in the UK is the privatization of the water companies. It's something that should most definitely be in government hands, but then again I think that of a number of things and I'm not even a Labour supporter!

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  2. The earth has always experienced cataclysmic events; the tectonic plates continue to move as they have for eons, creating continents in motion. We have had over 60 glacial advances and retreats during the last 2 million years.

    WM

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  3. The really worrying thing is, that's quite a conservative report.

    Naturally when people start fighting over the water supplies and the global economic bubble bursts its going to get tough, couple this with depleted oil supplies (making desalination prohibitively expensive) you can see it is going to get really nasty.

    So filling our country with people who's loyalties are likely to be with these water refugees seems really, really stupid.

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  4. Its interesting but I think true that some of the conflict between Israel and Syria is already water related- consequently James what you are forecasting may already be happening in the middle East.

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  5. I'm with you on this one, James. It's going to be terrible.
    Incidentally, there is a "drought emergency" on mainland Italy this year.

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  6. I've just been reading through your comments above here and they're quite to the point and worrying. I'd like to know what Colin [who's in this field] thinks.

    My reading is that yes - it's started but that it will come to a head within 25 years. The privatization versus governmental control is a major issue and I confess I don't know which way to think here.

    My Min was speaking of this earlier and he immediately put it as a major priority, even though we have no major water crisis here.

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  7. I think we will find global warming (whatever the causes) will be as political an issue as an enviromental one. Good post to bring this issue to discussion.

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  8. it's a climate porn piece based on another climate porn piece.

    Neither this 'report' nor the 'report' it cites from is a scientific one, but a political one.

    To state that the 'climate-changing' pollution is caused by the developed world (as opposed to China, India, et al who together beat out the developed world in pollution and China will become the greatest polluter soon) and should bear the brunt should tell you something.

    If the 'global' temperature rises 1-3 degrees, what will happen? Exactly where is this 'global' temperature taken?

    If it is 78 degrees average at your home, then after this century, it will be between 79-81 degrees... should you really be running for the hills?

    Until or unless you can come up with some science that shows 1) what the 'global' temperature is, 2) what the 'global' temperature should be and 3) whether it actually should be higher or lower than it is, then you are simply posturing for effect.

    Is the climate changing? Of course, has been for roughly 5.4 billion years, look not to the coal and oil burning industries, look to that big hydrogen burning ball in the sky. Otherwise we'll have to start regulating SUV's on Mars and the other planets as they seem to be experiencing climate porn as well.

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  9. Interesting post, James. I read the linked articles as well. I'm curious to see how badly this situation will come out. My ex-gf's mom once said to me, "They say the World War III will be fought over water." She could be right. Who knows? I certainly don't.

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  10. Lady MacLeod, Matt - thanks. LN, I'll red your comment through in more detail this evening.

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