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8/3/2019 Oops We'Re Doomed! Scribd

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Link:http://www.opednews.com/articles/Oops-We-re-Doomed-by-Michael-Collins-111215-68.html

Oops, We're Doomed!

By Michael Collins

We dont have a substantial cushion between today's climate and dangerous warming.

James E. Hanson

The head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space

Studies, James E. Hansen, announced the results

ofbreak throughglobal warming researchlastweek. The earth's temperature is rising at a much

quicker pace than previously anticipated

according to research by the nation's preeminentclimate scientist. We have little time to reverse

the trend. (Image)

An example of the dangerous pace of change isemerging on Russia's Eastern Siberian Arctic

Shelf. Long-frozen permafrost is beginning tomelt due to global warming. This threat was identified years ago due to the potential for highly

toxic releases of heat-trapping methane gas. Recent changes are both a surprise and acause for

alarm. There is more methane gas released from the Russian cauldron "than the CH4 emissions

estimate for the entire world ocean." Methane is a "far more potentGHG [greenhouse gas] thanCO2" with a greater potential to cause "abrupt climate change."

At the same time, researchers at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurichdeveloped a more efficient analysis of contributors to global warming. They found man-made

causes can now be linked with at least75% of global warming.

Hansen's warning is brought to life by the methane gas event starting in the Arctic. We are in the

danger zone. By the time we know it's too late, it won't matter. Without prompt, concerted action

through readily available technologies and programs, we face increasing calamities through

midcentury. After that, the displacement, destruction, and death assume unthinkable proportions.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Oops-We-re-Doomed-by-Michael-Collins-111215-68.htmlhttp://www.opednews.com/articles/Oops-We-re-Doomed-by-Michael-Collins-111215-68.htmlhttp://www.opednews.com/articles/Oops-We-re-Doomed-by-Michael-Collins-111215-68.htmlhttp://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/notyet/inpress_Hansen_Sato.pdfhttp://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/notyet/inpress_Hansen_Sato.pdfhttp://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/notyet/inpress_Hansen_Sato.pdfhttp://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/60111-big-climate-change-could-happen-fast-and-soonhttp://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/60111-big-climate-change-could-happen-fast-and-soonhttp://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/60111-big-climate-change-could-happen-fast-and-soonhttp://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/60111-big-climate-change-could-happen-fast-and-soonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansenhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/meanmrmustard/3485553717/http://www.flickr.com/photos/meanmrmustard/3485553717/http://www.flickr.com/photos/meanmrmustard/3485553717/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.htmlhttp://planetsave.com/2010/04/22/wide-spread-release-of-methane-from-arctic-shelf-confirmed/http://planetsave.com/2010/04/22/wide-spread-release-of-methane-from-arctic-shelf-confirmed/http://planetsave.com/2010/04/22/wide-spread-release-of-methane-from-arctic-shelf-confirmed/http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1327.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1327.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1327.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1327.htmlhttp://planetsave.com/2010/04/22/wide-spread-release-of-methane-from-arctic-shelf-confirmed/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.htmlhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/meanmrmustard/3485553717/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansenhttp://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/60111-big-climate-change-could-happen-fast-and-soonhttp://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/60111-big-climate-change-could-happen-fast-and-soonhttp://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/notyet/inpress_Hansen_Sato.pdfhttp://www.opednews.com/articles/Oops-We-re-Doomed-by-Michael-Collins-111215-68.html


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As these evidence-based warnings were issued, the military effort to seize effective control of oil

and natural gas regions of the Middle East and Central Asia continued unabated. Ironically, asour rulers engage in endless military conflicts to secure access to oil, they are delivering a

weapon of mass destruction, an oil-based economy that will create massive disasters and

dislocations that plunge the world into chaos.

Domestic policies have the same anti life outcome. TheKeystone XLpipeline to accommodate

tar sands oil production ensures continued CO2 pollution resulting in a collapsing world socialand economic structure.

We are headed for a new world disorder of epic proportions. Past performance indicates that thecurrent power structure is unable to handle disasters on a much smaller scale. The August 2003

heat wave in Europekilled 35,000, devastated crops, and sparked massive forest fires. It had

never occurred to these nations to plan for or even consider the impact of heat waves. Thefailed

responseto the New Orleans disaster in 2005 offers a sneak preview of one hapless responseafter another to tragedies of ever increasing magnitude. How will we plan for consequences we

can't predict?

What will the rulers do when entire agricultural regions disappear due to accelerating global

warming?

How will the planet offset these losses as the world climate system becomes more hostile toagricultural output even in those areas where growing can be sustained?

What will the people do when drinking water becomes scarce due to the evaporation of runoff

and water sources? What happens when the glaciers melt down and cease to store fresh water?

How will the world economy function as the flawed the assumption of endless growth becomespainfully apparent?

These were all questions that we were told were a generation or two away. That is no longer the

case according to the new evidence, analytic and empirical.

An Example of the New World Disorder

Florida, the coastline of China, the Netherlands,

and the entire nation of Bangladesh will be

acutely affected by sea level changes should the

world slip into Dr. Hansen's danger zone.

With just a2 meter rise in sea levelaround 530million people around the world will need to find

new homes because theirs will be gone. (United

States Geological Survey) The impact on Florida
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/webeis.nsf/%28PDFView%29/20100126/$file/20100126.PDF?OpenElementhttp://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/webeis.nsf/%28PDFView%29/20100126/$file/20100126.PDF?OpenElementhttp://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/webeis.nsf/%28PDFView%29/20100126/$file/20100126.PDF?OpenElementhttp://www.atmos.washington.edu/2009Q1/111/ATMS111%20Presentations/Folder%201/CampbellS.pdfhttp://www.atmos.washington.edu/2009Q1/111/ATMS111%20Presentations/Folder%201/CampbellS.pdfhttp://www.atmos.washington.edu/2009Q1/111/ATMS111%20Presentations/Folder%201/CampbellS.pdfhttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4259-european-heatwave-caused-35000-deaths.htmlhttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4259-european-heatwave-caused-35000-deaths.htmlhttp://tinyurl.com/784qpzohttp://tinyurl.com/784qpzohttp://tinyurl.com/784qpzohttp://tinyurl.com/784qpzohttp://cegis.usgs.gov/video/30m/FloridaSLR.swfhttp://cegis.usgs.gov/video/30m/FloridaSLR.swfhttp://cegis.usgs.gov/video/30m/FloridaSLR.swfhttp://cegis.usgs.gov/sea_level_rise.htmlhttp://cegis.usgs.gov/sea_level_rise.htmlhttp://cegis.usgs.gov/sea_level_rise.htmlhttp://cegis.usgs.gov/sea_level_rise.htmlhttp://cegis.usgs.gov/sea_level_rise.htmlhttp://cegis.usgs.gov/sea_level_rise.htmlhttp://cegis.usgs.gov/video/30m/FloridaSLR.swfhttp://tinyurl.com/784qpzohttp://tinyurl.com/784qpzohttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4259-european-heatwave-caused-35000-deaths.htmlhttp://www.atmos.washington.edu/2009Q1/111/ATMS111%20Presentations/Folder%201/CampbellS.pdfhttp://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/webeis.nsf/%28PDFView%29/20100126/$file/20100126.PDF?OpenElement


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is evident in the image. There will be 3.5 million people in need of new homes.

The time between now and midcentury will be marked by ever-increasing devastation and

displacement for human beings in coastal areas. About 40% of the earth's population lives within

60 miles of a coastal area.

Where will the millions left homeless in Florida go?

What's the response when tens of millions in Bangladesh have no place to go?

What willChinado with tens of millions seeking shelter?

It won't happen all at once. Incremental changes will produce a spectacle of suffering on a daily

basis.

The debate on global warming as a factor in all of this should be over as well. Man-made

influence and effects account for about 75% of the increases in the earth's temperature. Themantra of the coming death cycle will be the blinded effort to produce more and more of the very

toxins that allow fewer to live.

The Pathetic Response of Those in Charge

If we were grading the current crop of world leaders on any aspect of their records, the result

would surely be F, with a recommendation to drop the course of study. The laws required toprevent industry from harming citizens are virtually nonexistent. If U.S. courts took corporate

personhoodseriously, we'd all have massive law suits and the corporate leaders would be

charged with assault with intent to maim and kill.

One hundred and ninety one nationsjoined the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The goal of

the effort was to avoid global catastrophe through a coordinated effort. Hansen and others tell usthat the protocol will have no real effect given the acceleration of changes. But even Kyoto's

inadequate goal was not suitable for the world's largest polluter, the U.S. Both the Bush and

Obama administrations failed to endorse the now-known-to-be-inadequate target. A follow-up

conference on Kyoto was held in Durban South Africa recently. It amounted to nothing morethanfiddling while Rome burns.

As citizens of the planet, we and our children have the right to expect a rational response bythose controlling the levers of power. What is government for, if not for this? Can't the powers

that be stop their triumphal spread of democracy at the barrel of a gun long enough to fix thegreatest threat ever to the people of the world? The earth will survive but we may not.

The logical path would be a working group of highly competent engineers and climate scientists

tasked to outline a solution, one that could be put in place soon. Instead, morally and criminallynegligent inaction is the rule under the cover of nicely named programs of no account with the

additional excuse provided by a wink and a nod in the direction of unimaginably cynical or

ignorant climate change deniers.
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2791423http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2791423http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2791423http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kyoto_Protocol_signatories#Signed_and_ratifiedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kyoto_Protocol_signatories#Signed_and_ratifiedhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/29/kyoto-protocol-life-support-durban-summit?newsfeed=truehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/29/kyoto-protocol-life-support-durban-summit?newsfeed=truehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/29/kyoto-protocol-life-support-durban-summit?newsfeed=truehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/29/kyoto-protocol-life-support-durban-summit?newsfeed=truehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kyoto_Protocol_signatories#Signed_and_ratifiedhttp://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2791423


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Do these world leaders live on the same planet as the rest of us?

Do they care about their friends and families?

Don't they worry that there might be a final judgment after their final acts ensuring mass

destruction?

Lead or get out of the way should be our message to these authors of our current troubles.

END

This article can be reproduced with attribution of authorship and a link to this article.

Special thanks to Jill Hayroot for her input.

The Money Party

Link:

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