There are twenty million Pakistanis suffering from floods, threatened by cholera, dysentery, and starvation. The UN says six million people need immediate help in one of the worst natural disasters that organization has ever seen. This a tragedy right now, but it's also a forecast of the enormous disasters that await the future because of global warming and radical climate change.
When people claim they don't "believe in global warming," what they are really saying is that they don't care about the future. Because whether it's anthropogenic or not, the planet is warming, and there will be severe consequences. These will include floods, droughts, starvation, and disease. And the things that stem from these: political instability and chaos, which as we already know results in ethnic cleansing, war, terrorism, mass migration.
Can we escape the world now? Of course not. Just consider how NAFTA - a negotiated, legal document - resulted in sending millions of people north. What makes anyone think future Americans will be able to escape the future world?
Ironically, the deniers are usually the same people who say that we can't possibly bequeath our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren big budget deficits. Right, like the future is going to be cheap. Yes, we are protected by two large oceans, which are getting larger, and our wealth and power, and most disasters will happen over there, among the world's poor. As if we could turn that off.
Consider for instance, the cost of building seawalls around all the precious real estate of our coastal cities. Think of the disruptions in food supplies. Think of the refugees clamoring to get in. Think of the rage against the world's largest energy user.
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I would define a conservative as someone who cares so much about the past that they want the same for the future. And the past ain't what it used to be. For isn't it quite obvious that it will be our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on, who will be the ones who bear the brunt of a warming planet?
If for nothing else than for selfishness - that blessed state said to underpin capitalism, indeed, even human nature in the conservative world-view - you'd think the deniers would care. It's the selfish gene, literally: being worried about your progeny and their progeny.
Personally, I get no pleasure in imagining future Americans cursing their ancestors, not just for their do-nothingism, but their actual resistance to doing anything. "God damn you all to hell" is what the man says at the end of Planet of the Apes, referring to his criminal ancestors. That's just about right.
Follow Matthew Wills on Twitter: www.twitter.com/backyardbeyond
The earth's climate is driven by the Sun, the temperature of the oceans, and water vapor in the atmosphere. There is nothing man can do to change any of those. Us "deniers" understand that man cannot control the weather. The earth gets warmer and then it gets cooler. It's done this for hundreds of millions of years.
"It's the selfish gene, literally: being worried about your progeny and their progeny." -
It's not the selfish gene, it's the self preservation gene. How can a person be in a position to help others if they don't take care of themselves first? If I'm unhealthy or broke, how can I help you? If I become really unselfish, I end up becoming a burden on society, which helps no one.
Greenland shed its largest chunk of ice in nearly half a century last week, and faces an even grimmer future, according to Richard Alley, a geosciences professor at Pennsylvania State University
"Sometime in the next decade we may pass that tipping point..." Alley told a briefing in Congress, adding that a rise in the range of 2C to 7C would mean the obliteration of Greenland's ice sheet.
The fall-out would be felt thousands of miles away from the Arctic, unleashing a global sea level rise of 23ft, Alley warned. Low-lying cities such as New Orleans would vanish.
"What is going on in the Arctic now is the biggest and fastest thing that nature has ever done," he said. Article in the Guardian UK 8-11-10.
Imagine the impact on Florida, New York City and other coastal areas.
Global Warming has become an unacknowledged emergency.
The Arctic Global Warming Tipping Point has recently been found to be 400 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere.
We are currently at 390ppm and adding 2ppm each year.
Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy systems may soon be recognized as necessary to insure human survival.
See A 5 Point Program at http://www.aesopinstitute.org for a summary and some supporting evidence.