More on the Climate Change Apocalypse
I would like to bring your attention to an unusually forthright piece of reporting from CNN, regarding something I have been talking about- the real possibility that, in a few decades, unchecked climate change is going to render large parts of the Middle East and North Africa uninhabitable. This piece focuses on the Sudan, and includes some nice maps showing the likely extent of the problem in Africa; as I have reported before, a large part of the Southern Middle East is also at threat.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
It is definitely worth clicking on the link, if only to see the map of projected impact in Africa. The population in this region and the adjacent area in the Middle East is somewhere between 200 and 400 million people. You need only reflect on the massive destabilization in Europe, and the awakening of xenophobic hatred there and in the United States, that has resulted from the displacement of five million people in Syria, to imagine the catastrophic effect such a thing would represent- I do not think I am exaggerating a bit to suggest that it could precipitate the end of civilization in Europe, India, China and God knows where else, as these countries were subject to by far the largest mass migration in Human history.
And more on this issue, from a post today by Gaius Publius at Hullabaloo.
And lots more along these lines. This is real, people, and the selection of a new leader in the United States makes it absolutely sure that we will do nothing for the next four years to deal with it.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
"Climate change could render Sudan 'uninhabitable'
Experts say that without quick intervention, parts of the African country -- already one of the most vulnerable in the world -- could become uninhabitable as a result of climate change."North Africa is already hot and is strongly increasing in temperature. At some point in this century, part of the region will become uninhabitable," Jos Lelieveld, a climate scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, told CNN.
"That will string from Morocco all the way through to Saudi Arabia," he said."
It is definitely worth clicking on the link, if only to see the map of projected impact in Africa. The population in this region and the adjacent area in the Middle East is somewhere between 200 and 400 million people. You need only reflect on the massive destabilization in Europe, and the awakening of xenophobic hatred there and in the United States, that has resulted from the displacement of five million people in Syria, to imagine the catastrophic effect such a thing would represent- I do not think I am exaggerating a bit to suggest that it could precipitate the end of civilization in Europe, India, China and God knows where else, as these countries were subject to by far the largest mass migration in Human history.
And more on this issue, from a post today by Gaius Publius at Hullabaloo.
"What if not just 2.5% of world population, but 10% or 20% of world population fell into environmental refugee status? We're now looking at 700 million to 1.5 billion people, not just fleeing, but starving, fighting and dying as well. In other words, utter world chaos of every type imaginable."
And lots more along these lines. This is real, people, and the selection of a new leader in the United States makes it absolutely sure that we will do nothing for the next four years to deal with it.
Comments
And this is far from implausible. A lot of India already gets so hot in the summer as to be dangerous to human life, and more severe heat waves due to global warming could be catastrophic. And that's a country of over a billion people right there. Anything that seriously disrupted agriculture in the Ganges valley would threaten the food supply of hundreds of millions in northern India and also Bangladesh.