We've pointed out that one day fresh water will be the new oil [Jun 18: The Ultimate Shortage- Water] I saw an interesting story touching on some potential adverse outcomes from global climate change (of course some still debate this as an issue - while I think the "cause" could be debated by some, it is hard to argue with the empirical evidence of climate change) I think what will surprise people is that we are going to see some serious effects sooner rather than later - agreeing with these reports.
- A warmer planet could find itself more often at war. The Earth's fast-changing climate has a range of serious thinkers — from military brass to geographers to diplomats — predicting a spate of armed conflicts driven by the weather. Shifting temperatures lead to shifting populations, they say, and that throws together groups with long-standing rivalries and thrusts them into competition for food and water.
- Smith helped write one of four major studies put out in a little more than a year by centrist organizations in Europe and the United States that warn climate change threatens to spark wars in a variety of ways. Each report predicted starkly similar problems: gunfire over land and natural resources as once-bountiful soil turns to desert and coastlines slip below the sea. They also expect violent storms to unsettle weak governments.
- Security analysts say profound dangers are just years, not decades, away. They already see evidence of societies at odds. Ethnic groups clash in Sudan's Darfur region, trading gunfire in a conflict with climatological overtones. The armed thugs who rule Myanmar were exposed, and their regime knocked back on its heels, when Cyclone Nargis killed tens of thousands of people in May and the leadership responded so poorly. Likewise, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 began the fall of President George W. Bush's approval ratings. Much more is going on in Darfur than climate change, but crop scarcity in the region has pushed rival ethnic groups onto the same turf.
- Although still controversial in some circles — Congress has split along partisan lines over whether the military should plan for global warming — the scientific consensus is that the Industrial Revolution increased greenhouse gases that set off an unprecedented rate of climate change.
- Growing seasons could lengthen. Frozen seas could thaw to make way for convenient shipping routes. Previously inaccessible spots could be ripe to gush oil. (the good) Meantime, wetlands could dry up. Rivers could disappear. Scientists already think that hurricanes, blizzards and droughts are more frequent and more severe. Rising sea levels could send tens of millions of people scurrying for higher ground. (the bad)
- "The idea that somehow there are winners in this is wrong," said Peter Ogden, a security analyst at the Center for American Progress. "Even places that come out ahead will see pressure on them from outside from the losers."
- Last year the Center for Naval Analyses gathered retired generals and admirals to gauge the potential for climate to cause conflict. The former commanders concluded that war would be more likely, that the U.S. military needed to plan for the new threats, and that the United States had to reduce its carbon emissions. "We will pay for this one way or another," wrote retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, the former chief of the U.S. Central Command. "We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we'll have to take an economic hit of some kind. Or, we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives. There will be a human toll."
- "People will pay no attention to borders. They will swamp borders. They will trample over them in desperation," said Raymond Callahan, a military historian at the University of Delaware.
Mounting studies suggest a number of potentially violent scenarios:
• People see their fertile land turn arid and migrate — packing them closer to historical and newfound adversaries.
• Countries already weak or crippled by corruption tip into chaos with even moderate climate change. Crop failures spur violent uprisings and give new energy to ethnic grudges in the face of famine.
• Competition for resources — food, water, oil — grows more tense in times of scarcity.
• Economic collapse in North Africa gives rise to Islamist extremism as blame for climate change focuses on the West. By accident of history and geography, Islamic countries feel the first profound effects of climate change.
• Flooding of coastal areas — particularly in South Asia and the United States — force severe migration and alter regional and even national identities.
• A push to revive the nuclear power industry — as a way to find energy that doesn't belch more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — masks rogue countries' efforts to build atomic weapons.
