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kenny J
02-23-04, 03:46 PM
· Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
· Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years
· Threat to the world is greater than terrorism

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..
A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.

'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'

The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. Experts said that they will also make unsettling reading for a President who has insisted national defence is a priority.

The report was commissioned by influential Pentagon defence adviser Andrew Marshall, who has held considerable sway on US military thinking over the past three decades. He was the man behind a sweeping recent review aimed at transforming the American military under Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Climate change 'should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern', say the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network.

An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is 'plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately', they conclude. As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions.

Last week the Bush administration came under heavy fire from a large body of respected scientists who claimed that it cherry-picked science to suit its policy agenda and suppressed studies that it did not like. Jeremy Symons, a former whistleblower at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said that suppression of the report for four months was a further example of the White House trying to bury the threat of climate change.

Senior climatologists, however, believe that their verdicts could prove the catalyst in forcing Bush to accept climate change as a real and happening phenomenon. They also hope it will convince the United States to sign up to global treaties to reduce the rate of climatic change.

A group of eminent UK scientists recently visited the White House to voice their fears over global warming, part of an intensifying drive to get the US to treat the issue seriously. Sources have told The Observer that American officials appeared extremely sensitive about the issue when faced with complaints that America's public stance appeared increasingly out of touch.

One even alleged that the White House had written to complain about some of the comments attributed to Professor Sir David King, Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser, after he branded the President's position on the issue as indefensible.

Among those scientists present at the White House talks were Professor John Schellnhuber, former chief environmental adviser to the German government and head of the UK's leading group of climate scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He said that the Pentagon's internal fears should prove the 'tipping point' in persuading Bush to accept climatic change.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1153513,00.html


kenny J
02-23-04, 04:01 PM
Key findings of the Pentagon



· Future wars will be fought over the issue of survival rather than religion, ideology or national honour.
· By 2007 violent storms smash coastal barriers rendering large parts of the Netherlands inhabitable. Cities like The Hague are abandoned. In California the delta island levees in the Sacramento river area are breached, disrupting the aqueduct system transporting water from north to south.

· Between 2010 and 2020 Europe is hardest hit by climatic change with an average annual temperature drop of 6F. Climate in Britain becomes colder and drier as weather patterns begin to resemble Siberia.

· Deaths from war and famine run into the millions until the planet's population is reduced by such an extent the Earth can cope.

· Riots and internal conflict tear apart India, South Africa and Indonesia.

· Access to water becomes a major battleground. The Nile, Danube and Amazon are all mentioned as being high risk.

· A 'significant drop' in the planet's ability to sustain its present population will become apparent over the next 20 years.

· Rich areas like the US and Europe would become 'virtual fortresses' to prevent millions of migrants from entering after being forced from land drowned by sea-level rise or no longer able to grow crops. Waves of boatpeople pose significant problems.

· Nuclear arms proliferation is inevitable. Japan, South Korea, and Germany develop nuclear-weapons capabilities, as do Iran, Egypt and North Korea. Israel, China, India and Pakistan also are poised to use the bomb.

· By 2010 the US and Europe will experience a third more days with peak temperatures above 90F. Climate becomes an 'economic nuisance' as storms, droughts and hot spells create havoc for farmers.

· More than 400m people in subtropical regions at grave risk.

· Europe will face huge internal struggles as it copes with massive numbers of migrants washing up on its shores. Immigrants from Scandinavia seek warmer climes to the south. Southern Europe is beleaguered by refugees from hard-hit countries in Africa.

· Mega-droughts affect the world's major breadbaskets, including America's Midwest, where strong winds bring soil loss.

· China's huge population and food demand make it particularly vulnerable. Bangladesh becomes nearly uninhabitable because of a rising sea level, which contaminates the inland water supplies.

Zendik
02-23-04, 08:23 PM
You know, Kenny, all of this sounds like something I'd see on the cover of National Enquirer (sp)!!!!

I feel sorry for the individual or group that bought this up 8-10 years ago!! Could you imagine??


metallicat
02-23-04, 08:25 PM
A secret report that was obtained by a British tabloid? Hmm...sounds a little fishy to me.

ngcsubutterbar
02-23-04, 08:33 PM
naw, but my guess is in 100 years its gonna be like that.

kenny J
02-24-04, 08:08 AM
I'm glad none of you assumed I thought this article was the TRUTH. I'm not one to TRUST a single point of information, especially not on this topic...However current climate models do suggest these scenarios COULD happen. I doubt the time frames in the article are accurate but I'm not a climate scientist. Anyone curious about the topic might enjoy reading these books:

Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises
http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10136.html

The climate record for the past 100,000 years clearly indicates that the climate system has undergone periodic—and often extreme—shifts, sometimes in as little as a decade or less. The causes of abrupt climate changes have not been clearly established, but the triggering of events is likely to be the result of multiple natural processes.

Abrupt climate changes of the magnitude seen in the past would have far-reaching implications for human society and ecosystems, including major impacts on energy consumption and water supply demands. Could such a change happen again? Are human activities exacerbating the likelihood of abrupt climate change? What are the potential societal consequences of such a change?

Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises looks at the current scientific evidence and theoretical understanding to describe what is currently known about abrupt climate change, including patterns and magnitudes, mechanisms, and probability of occurrence. It identifies critical knowledge gaps concerning the potential for future abrupt changes, including those aspects of change most important to society and economies, and outlines a research strategy to close those gaps.

Based on the best and most current research available, this book surveys the history of climate change and makes a series of specific recommendations for the future.


Inevitable Surprises: Thinking Ahead in a Time of Turbulence http://www.gbn.com/ArticleDisplayServlet.srv?aid=14200


Abrupt climate change is coming. "We have the wrong model of what's going on in the world of climate," Peter said. It's not global warming we should be concerned about, but the likelihood that the long period of relative climatic stability—a 10,000-year period in which all of human civilization happened to develop—may be ending. Its replacement will be a period of profound cooling. The leading indicator of such an event—the freshening of the waters of the North Atlantic—is already happening. Perhaps as soon as 10 years from now, Europe might look a lot like Canada, and the climate of California could begin to resemble North Africa.

metallicat
02-24-04, 08:37 AM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=515&e=1&u=/ap/20040224/ap_on_re_af/morocco_earthquake

It's too bad something like that will fuel doomsday panic in peoples heads.

kenny J
02-24-04, 10:31 AM
CLIMATE COLLAPSEThe Pentagon's Weather Nightmare
The climate could change radically, and fast. That would be the mother of all national security issues.
FORTUNE
Monday, January 26, 2004
By David Stipp


Global warming may be bad news for future generations, but let's face it, most of us spend as little time worrying about it as we did about al Qaeda before 9/11. Like the terrorists, though, the seemingly remote climate risk may hit home sooner and harder than we ever imagined. In fact, the prospect has become so real that the Pentagon's strategic planners are grappling with it.

The threat that has riveted their attention is this: Global warming, rather than causing gradual, centuries-spanning change, may be pushing the climate to a tipping point. Growing evidence suggests the ocean-atmosphere system that controls the world's climate can lurch from one state to another in less than a decade—like a canoe that's gradually tilted until suddenly it flips over. Scientists don't know how close the system is to a critical threshold. But abrupt climate change may well occur in the not-too-distant future. If it does, the need to rapidly adapt may overwhelm many societies—thereby upsetting the geopolitical balance of power.

Though triggered by warming, such change would probably cause cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, leading to longer, harsher winters in much of the U.S. and Europe. Worse, it would cause massive droughts, turning farmland to dust bowls and forests to ashes. Picture last fall's California wildfires as a regular thing. Or imagine similar disasters destabilizing nuclear powers such as Pakistan or Russia—it's easy to see why the Pentagon has become interested in abrupt climate change.

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,582584-2,00.html

kenny J
02-24-04, 10:45 AM
It's too bad something like that will fuel doomsday panic in peoples heads

Metal,

I've been looking into this issue for quite some time. I have a feeling this pentagon report is being sensationalized a bit to GRAB attention, but again there is only limited CERTAINTY on either side of the climate models.

Considering the cost of not having people see the BIG picture a little concern might by an over due wake up call ...

ken

Zendik
02-24-04, 01:23 PM
It's too bad something like that will fuel doomsday panic in peoples heads.

No way the US government would do such a thing to it's citizens.....
;)

nickg
02-24-04, 02:40 PM
yeah..that global warming thing sure has me scared the last couple of hot humid winters we've been having here in PA. :rolleyes:

kenny J
02-25-04, 09:29 AM
global warming Nick,

Consider it really not "GLOBAL WARNING" as it is global climate CHANGE, as some areas may experience COLDER trends for a while...

Read more about it HERE:
http://www.ipcc.ch/
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/Science/

be well,
ken