Currently, we are experiencing the "Perfect Storm" trifecta disasters of the meltdown of the housing, stock, and financial markets. All of these bubbles that burst in 2008 were predictable and preventable, yet ignorance and greed allowed them to turn into a global disaster.
In 2050, we will experience "The Great Disaster", which is also predicable and preventable:
1. Global Warming is likely to raise global temperatures by 2-8 degrees fahrenheit, sea levels will rise 1-5 feet, 150 million people (in coastal cities and countries) will become refugees, more severe weather (droughts, flooding, hurricanes).
2. Population increase to 9 billion resulting in more famine, violence, killing, and wars as people try to meet their basic human needs of food, water, and shelter.
3. Petroleum will essentially be gone as the known oil reserves are depleted, resulting in lower food production and higher costs.
4. Water shortages will become commonplace as glaciers in the Himalayas, Rockies, and Andes mountains disappear, resulting in little summer water for farms and cities. Lower rainfalls is resulting in water with higher mineral content reducing crop yields.
In the Great Depression, one-third still lived in relative comfort. In the Great Disaster of 2050, one-third will still be OK, but 6 billion people will not. That would be like everyone alive today living in daily fear of violence, starvation, and disease. It would be like the quality of life was reduced by 10 to 90% for every plant and animal on this planet. Australia is already experiencing severe flooding and mosquito diseases in the north; with severe droughts and wildfires in the south.
After 40 years of warning, Global Warming is starting to be addressed, but without dramatic changes, much of the harmful consequences will not be avoided. Cheap oil and coal will encourage faster depletion and will accelerate global warming. Population growth is the looming disaster which we can immediately address, yet without religious support, we will continue to ignore and even encourage the population bubble. The problem is that all four of these disasters are growing gradually and people don't see gradual changes. The problem is that people will get use to a gradual decrease in their quality of life, as humans are probably better at adapting to adverse conditions than they are at using their reason to prevent disasters.
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When Our Brains Short-Circuit (shortened)
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: July 1, 2009, NY Times
Evidence is accumulating that the human brain systematically misjudges certain kinds of risks. In effect, evolution has programmed us to be alert for snakes and enemies with clubs, but we aren’t well prepared to respond to dangers that require forethought.
“What’s important is the threats that were dominant in our evolutionary history,” notes Daniel Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard University. In contrast, he says, the kinds of dangers that are most serious today — such as climate change — sneak in under the brain’s radar.
In short, we’re brilliantly programmed to act on the risks that confronted us in the Pleistocene Age. We’re less adept with 21st-century challenges.
The Amazon Rainforests are the lungs of our planet, turning CO2 into oxygen. Yet, humans are so short-sighted, as 100-200 thousand acres are being burned each day in Brazil, in order to produce sugar cane (for ethanol) and palm (for palm oil). Rainforests all over the world are being burned down so that farmers can make a living. Such intensive farming means that the land is not productive after a few years, so farmers move on and burn down new areas.
Here is a quote: "With so much money to be made, there are no laws that will keep forest standing."
- JOHN CARTER, a rancher who settled in Brazil 15 years ago.
There is a movie called, "Age of Stupid" which has a person from 2055 asking, "why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?" The movie shows many of the disastrous consequences that we are facing.
http://www.ageofstupid.net/
Copenhagen or Bust is an article written by Gordon Brown, about the urgent need for a comprehensive climate agreement. The December UN Copenhagen Climate Conference might just be the most important event for this whole century.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/215699
Vietnamese government report released last month says that more than one-third of the delta, where 17 million people live and nearly half the country’s rice is grown, could be submerged if sea levels rise by three feet in the decades to come.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/world/asia/24delta.html?th&emc=th
Killing Our Water: The Hidden Cost of Dirty Energy
Perhaps the biggest challenge in changing human behavior to address the reality of climate change is connecting impacts to every day life. But there is a clearly obvious impact to which most people do not give adequate consideration. While the catalysts for climate change are greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane, the consequences to the planet are realized through water.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-decock/killing-our-water-the-hid_b_321664.html
CO2 is not only a greenhouse gas, but it also acidifies our oceans. Already our oceans are 30% more acidic than in 1900, and if we don't reduce CO2 emissions, our oceans are projected to become 100% more acidic, endangering the whole oceanic food chain. This 23 minute video explains the problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cqCvcX7buo
Here's a link to a 58 minute video of a 2007 lecture by a UCSD professor on "The American Denial of Global Warming"
on UCTV. Absolutely worth every minute of the lecture to understand how Global Warming from man-made CO2 is without doubt, yet doubt is manufactured as a weapon of propaganda. The same techniques were used in the fight to prevent tobacco restrictions.
http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=13459
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
The article below demonstrates how voluntary measures are insufficient, so laws are being enacted to conserve a decreasing supply of water. Be aware that periodically, the restrictions will increase as our Southern California water supplies decrease (due to global warming).
Surf City water restrictions begin this week
BY ANNIE BURRIS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 1/6/10
http://www.ocregister.com/news/water-226794-residents-city.html
The new restrictions limit when residents and businesses can water landscapes, prohibit excessive water flow and runoff, and require restaurants to only serve drinking water when requested.
The new restrictions also prohibit residents from watering lawns and plants between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Residents can water lawns and plants only one day a week from November through March and three days a week from April through October. Watering is limited to 15 minutes per day per area, according to the new regulations.
Residents cannot wash down driveways and leaks must be repaired seven days after the owner is notified.
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