I did this post yesterdsy. Mound of Sound left a great comment. I am posting it here for others to read.
"Don't count on it getting better anytime soon, LD. We're at the 'early onset' stage of climate wars.
Drought in Syria and resulting food shortages are said to have been a major factor in that horrible civil war. Sudan was a water war.
Israel will never give autonomy to the Palestinians for fear of losing control of the aquifer that sits beneath the West Bank.
Iraq is threatened by Turkey and Syria damming the Tigris and Euphrates. Likewise Egypt is endangered by upstream nations beginning to demand a greater share and control of the Nile waters.
Tensions are rising among China, India and Pakistan over access to river flows out of the Himalayas. China pretty obviously conquered Tibet to dominate those great rivers - among them the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra.
States in the American southeast are constantly suing each other and the Army Corps of Engineers over shared access to inadequate freshwater resources. In the southwest, everyone is squabbling over who gets how much of the Colorado and Mexico, meanwhile, is left holding the dirty end of the stick.
In South America watch for squabbles over the Amazon.
In Southeast Asia, nations from China to Vietnam and Laos are gearing up for a fight over the Mekong.
The only countries that don't seem particularly water stressed any more are the extreme northernmost and the extreme southernmost. Every place in between is in some state of water insecurity.
This water insecurity forms the foundation for serious conflict when severe weather events - major and sustained droughts - compound already difficult conditions.
When you're out of water, you're out of luck. Water insecurity means inadequate water for agriculture leading to food insecurity; inadequate supplies for drinking and cooking and inadequate water for hygiene and sanitation (epidemics).
This is all happening, LD, right now and it is threatening the stability of our civilization. Yet as nations and communities of nations we're doing next to bugger all about it. How do you imagine that strategy is going to pay off?
By the way, before I go did I mention that China, India, Pakistan and Israel are well stocked with nuclear warheads and that a few of the other countries involved aren't that far away from developing their own?
As Roy and Dale used to say, "Happy Trails." Recommend this post
'Climate Wars' is a fine distraction from Hydraulic Warfare. My posts on Opera are vanishing on the 3rd...I was looking unsuccessfully in Archives for the End of an Era post http://my.opera.com/oldephartte/blog/2-june-focus-on-water http://my.opera.com/oldephartte/blog/2009/06/01/poisoning-the-well still have a few interesting notes. But the climate wars...well, some can see the forest for the trees http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/rejection-carbon-trading-indigenous-communities-kuna-revolution
ReplyDeletehttp://my.opera.com/oldephartte/blog/27-feb-end-of-an-era
ReplyDeleteOpit, it is does not look good if something is not done about CO2 emissions. Climate change and water shortage are interrelated. I hope that is your point and that I understood it correctly.
ReplyDeleteThere is obvious evidence for climate change ( erratic weather and melting of the ice on the North Pole)and water shortage. Some folks still don't see it.
Climate changes. As to why, carbon emissions do very little to add to my alarm. If you wanted to talk about radioactive pollution from burning coal and the folly of accumulating piles of toxic waste by watercourses or the lack of setbacks ( they were no longer required some time ago ) leading to pollution of creeks and rivers, then I would agree. But I consider climate alarmism/warmism a ridiculous ploy which lacks any attempt at serious verification. Certainly I have collected enough articles which deride the allegations of 'denierism', Koch disinformation, or any other pollution blaming propaganda which tries to link the irresponsible extraction industries to a chimera. They pull enough real garbage without fabricating fantasies. http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/rejection-carbon-trading-indigenous-communities-kuna-revolution Since its origins, the IPCC has been open and explicit about seeking to generate a ‘scientific consensus’ around climate change and especially about the role of humans in climate change http://fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/18115/
ReplyDeleteopit, I totally agree with you about the pollution in general and it is highly detrimental. However, climate change is real too.
ReplyDeletehere is a photo of the North pole which shows the melting ice phenomena.