"An island in the Indian Ocean, vital to the U.S. military, disappears as the sea level rises. Rivers critical to India and Pakistan shrink, increasing military tensions in South Asia. Drought, famine and disease forces population shifts and political turmoil in the Middle East."
With the climate changes becoming a more serious threat, U.S defense and intelligence agencies conclude that global alliances shifts resulting in more regional conflicts. Limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial factories will help, but if nothing drastic happens, consequences will occur. At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn told the comittee that " our economy, energy and climate change challenges are all inextricably linked", which is true. That is why i think we need to do as much as we can to contribute to the cause of reducing our carbon footprint...and as the Obama adminstration's national intelligence director, Dennis Blair, has told Congress " global warming will have broad implications over the next two decades".
to read more about this article click here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_climate_security
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I'm getting tired of repeating myself, so I'll just copy and paste from the last topic about global warming and climate change.
"You guys simply have to relax. There are two instances where a true enviromental catastrophe took place. One of those mass extinctions happened before the dinosaurs and the other one killed the dinosaurs as well as over 90% of all life on earth - attributed to a meteor. I'm not sure about the first disaster, but the mass extinction that took out the dinosaurs definately changed the climate in a few years - probably faster than our global warming right now. Despite the cataclysmic devastation of both mass extinctions, earth managed to balance itself out and repopulate."
Well, Kevin, I dunno about you, but I'd prefer not to be part of that 90% of all life that were killed. Sure, Earth can heal itself, but unless we have a zombie apocalypse, I doubt we're coming bacl.
That was believed to be meteor strike. It was literally sudden death. Modern climate change is gradual.
This means that since contemporary climate change is incremental, there is a greater chance that a species is going to survive.
Humans inhabit land in every part of the climate spectrum - we have proven ourselves to survive frigid temperatures to blazing heatwaves. We have technology to assist us. The chance that even half of the world population is threatened by the time global warming is in full swing is puny.
So Kevin, has the Big Bang Theory been so widely accepted that it is true?
I have a similar mind set as Kevin, except I don't really want to die. Humans are very technologically advanced as we have seen, and ozone is just a few atoms bonded together. I'm sure, within the next 20 years, someone will find a way to accumulate and combine atoms to recreate the ozone. Maybe someone in our generation should step up and lead this, because you know: "We are the future."
It might be true that Earth can repopulate, Kevin, but I'm not too thrilled about dying as a result of climate change.
I agree with Charlotte. I think our government needs to enforce more regulations and try to manage our carbon footprint ..before it's too late.
Yoda, the people that are really in any substantial danger are people living in third world countries. Instead of vainfully fighting the inevitable, we should accommodate the change. Changing our infrastructure to prepare for the future is the first step in ensuring our and third-world countries' survival.
What do you propose we should do to accommodate the change? I don't think you can run away from global warming, so I'm wondering what you're thinking.
Global warming is NOT inevitable. We can prevent this catastrophe with a number of things, it's just that people aren't driven to do these things. In 5 to 10 years, I'm almost positive that there will be a change in attitude. Just think about it, when the temperatures keep hiking up, people will become more aware. It's just the nature of human beings.
Who's planning to run away?
When I said "changing our infrastructure" I meant that, for example, if it is expected that hurricanes will start appearing in a certain region then we should start building levees, floodwall, etc. Or if water is slowly vanishing from a region, then start building irrigation infrastructure to bring enough water to sustain the residents - similar to how we survive our current arid deserts today.
In a nutshell, if a region is becoming more like a desert, then live as if it was a desert. How do you think we survive deserts today?
I see both Kevin's and Yoda's points. I think that everyone will do either what Kevin proposes or what Yoda proposes. Maybe half of everyone will attempt to curb global warming in the next few years, while the other half will attempt to adapt to global warming instead. Whatever the case, all I really know is that change is coming whether or not we want it. Adaptation AND cessation of our bad habits are necessary if we are to survive on this planet in the long run.
I agree with this article, I really think the entire world needs to work on trying to reduce our carbon footprint. However, the U.S. emits the largest carbon footprint and has been doing so for awhile. I don't think the U.S. should be so concerned about other countries trying to be environmentally conscious because we need to worry about our own footprint.
I find it interesting that the first thing listed that we need to worry about is "an island in the Indian Ocean, vital to the U.s. military." This makes it sound like the U.S. only cares about this problem because it is being directly affected. The U.S. wants a decrease in carbon footprints because it would benefit. I think the U.S. needs to lead and start being more environmentally conscious; then hopefully other countries around the world will as well. Sustainability is really important right now and the whole world would benefit from "going green".
I really admire Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn. I had the fantastic opportunity of interviewing him when I attended the Governors' Global Climate Summit in L.A. earlier this October, a conference for Governors and other environmental leaders from all over the world that was sponsored by Gov. Schwarzenegger.
It is incredible that the U.S. has finally recognized climate change as a threat to National Security, and this acknowledgement was made possible by Admiral McGinn and his colleagues (read this New York Times Article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/science/earth/09climate.html?_r=1 for more general info). The Admiral explained that the severe droughts, floods, famines, food shortages, and other natural disasters brought upon by climate change could have an extremely negative affect on the governments of those regions. General unrest brought on by these byproducts of climate change could destabilize fragile governments, making it possible for extremists to assume control. I asked what the projected “plan of attack” would be, seeing as global climate change is unlike any tangible enemy that can be bombed or shot or reasoned with. The Admiral stressed eliminating the causes of climate change, and doing our best to keep vulnerable regions stable. Leading a sustainable lifestyle across the world is key.
You can see my interview with him at this address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW2ABF9x-GM
-Julia Borden
"Recent war games and intelligence studies conclude that over the next 20 to 30 years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response."
So I was right. Third world countries are in more danger than we are in.
Three reasons why survivability is more important than fighting:
1. The climate is changing, and there's no going back. I think the reason why we're not in the ice age anymore is because the earth has been warming up ever since, and trying to reverse a change that has been going on way before the industrial revolution is vain.
2. Whole species of animals have died out by resisting enviromental changes, at least that's what evolutionists say. These catastrophes associated with climate change are going to be self-inflicted if we don't shape ourselves to the changes.
3. What's easier to stop/resolve? A incoming hurricane or getting people to work towards solutions for survival?
The difference in views about climate change is that most of you view this as apocalypse; I view this as simply the climate shifting around. The "balance of power" in nature is still preserved - we will survive if we go with the current instead of against it. If a desert starting experiencing monsoons, then those irrigation canals won't provide much help, will they? The solution is to change the infrastructure by building floodwalls and the like instead of keeping irrigation canals - that is how we should go with the flow and survive.
I agree with Preston. After all, we are the ones producing carbon dioxide emissions from the power plants and industrial factories.But I think we can still do something about the climate change. What we do may not have a huge impact, but it's something. If we want to survive on this planet, we need to do put an end or try to reduce our bad habits.
I hear what you are saying Kevin but I have to COMPLETELY DISAGREE with you. Global warming can be stopped and according to Yoda, it is not inevitable.
WE, the people have to do something about this because we are the ones responsible for this in the first place. Islands are disappearing. Should we wait until half of the worlds' countries are under water to take action. Global warming exists and in this case ignorance is not BLISS. By ignoring the facts, we are just making this incident even worse.
So, everyone should step up and do there simple part in helping. Recycle, and try to go green. Our future generation will thank us later.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/100k.html
Global warming has been going on long before the industrial age. It's the reason why the ice age ended. Frankly, we are not responsible for it.
"Islands are disappearing."
In some places, water is disappearing, leaving new territory to settle.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19353905/
"Should we wait until half of the worlds' countries are under water to take action."
Water doesn't just come from anywhere. It's just disappearing and reappearing in other places. Think of it as a deck of cards being shuffled - nothing is lost; it's just being moved around. Am I the only one to realize this?
"By ignoring the facts, we are just making this incident even worse."
This I agree with - the climate and enviroment is changing. If we don't change with it, then we will be the ones to suffer.
"Global warming exists and in this case ignorance is not BLISS."
I never said global warming doesn't exist. I did say that we must focus on surviving it.
Here is a more general timeline.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/beyond.html
Like Preston, I also see both Kevin's and Yoda's viewpoints. But unfortunately our habits are exacerbating the situation, not alleviating it or adapting to it. Also there has been a recent discovery regarding permafrost. Because of the pockets of gas under the frozen ice layer in the north, or calculations are far off. Once the ice melts and the gas is released, DOOOOM.
On a more otimistic note Aragon is one of the greenest high schools in the region. The people in Aragon's Environmental Impact Committee are amazin!! GOOO EIC
come on guys....really, now i am no global warming denier. but
"An island in the Indian Ocean, vital to the U.S. military, disappears as the sea level rises."
the EPA, (maybe we can agree that is a reliable source) says that at most, global warming will cause an increase of 1 extra foot in sea level in some regions. regions where the ground level is rising in and of itself will experience no rise in sea level or even a drop in sea level over the next century.
now if this island that is disappearing is about a foot in height at its peak, i dont think we need to be worried. we would still have a full century to relocate the little island.
and as far as polar ice caps melting, human caused carbon emissions are responsible for much less than one percent of the total increase in emissions per decade on average since the industrial era began. basically, that means that if we werent here, the problem would be over 99% of what it is now.
i say maybe we should concentrate on something a little more urgent like deforestation, because impacts of that are visible now, not just over the cource of the next 5 or so centuries.....
I love how we agree on the problem, but we can't agree on the solution. That's just funny.
I agree with Yoda on the fact that, "Global warming is NOT inevitable. We can prevent this catastrophe with a number of things, it's just that people aren't driven to do these things." People are not willing to give up the convenience of driving a personal car for the environmental benefit of taking a bus or riding a bike. Of course there are many people who continue to recycle, carpool, use public transportation, and participate in eco-friendly activities, but not ENOUGH people do this. In order for the common people to really make an impact on global warming, it would take an ENORMOUS number of people to do so. As Yoda stated, there just isn't enough will-power today in people's attitudes to make this impact. I wonder if the majority of people's attitudes towards reducing global warming will change in 3-4 years.
-Joshua Lu
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