Pic Of The Moment: Climate Change "Perhaps The World's Most Fearsome Weapon Of Mass Destruction"

[EarlG]

John Kerry: Climate Change Is 'Perhaps The World's Most Fearsome Weapon Of Mass Destruction'

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[democratisphere]

1. Agreed! ALSO, CONTINUED, EVER INCREASING WORLD OVERPOPULATION is........

already the world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction. Self destructive humans actually are not very smart.

[Ed Suspicious]

13. Population is not ever-increasing.

The Demographic Transition Model shows that most modernized countries in the world are in the final stage of transition that is low stationary marked by low birth rates and death rates and a low rate of natural increase. If I recall correctly, replacement rate is around 2.1. In the US we would already be seeing declining population if not for immigration of young fertile immigrants from south of the border. I heard we are at about 1.5-1.6. Worldwide population is projected to cap out around 10 billion as global south countries also enter stage four of the model. Ultimately ubanization combined with access by women to fertility information and contraceptives and agency are leading to a stabilizing and even reduced population on it's own. We need no war against high population.

[pscot]

25. Right. More people every year

but it's not increasing.

[Ed Suspicious]

30. I said "ever-increasing." You must have missed that part. Should I say "currently increasing

but not expected to increase indefinitely?"

[pscot]

33. Well that is true

Human population will eventually decline the same way rabbit populations decline. The same way lemming populations decline. The same way it declined in the hideous 14th century.

[democratisphere]

31. Population certainly is ever increasing.

The biggest problem is people that don't accept the fact there is an overpopulation problem with dire consequences.


International Data Base
World Population: 1950-2050

[Nanjing to Seoul]

39. This is why were are intensifying our farms, using GMO and depleting the finite, non-renewable

resource of arable farm land faster than the Earth can naturally recharge everything.

[democratisphere]

40. Absolutely correct.

The situation is unsustainable.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

42. It's the subject I teach. Geography.

And my curriculum would get me into so much trouble in the US.

[democratisphere]

43. It is difficult for many in the US to face our current economic, financial, environmental,......

demographical and food availability situation; the idea of exceptionalism can sometimes be blinding. Good luck with your teaching.

[yodermon]

48. curve looks like it's flattening to me. n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Shouting does not make your point more or less logical. Just less effective. nt

[democratisphere]

32. Many need to shout as virtually nothing is being done about the GREATEST threat to mankind,.......

other species and every ecosystem on this planet. Cover your ears and open your mind.

[on point]

16. Agreed. The total human population worldwide still increasing. Need to crash our population

Reducing carbon use is important, but there are other envirnomental problems also out there like destruction of habitat and extinction rates climbing, water over use etc.

Humanity must crash the human population through peaceful means before sicknes, starvation and war do it for us.

[democratisphere]

34. Agreed.

Thank you!

[Brainstormy]

19. Except world population is not exploding

Despite the sensationalist doomsday prophecies, the rate of global population growth has actually slowed. And it’s expected to keep slowing. Already, more than half the world’s population is reproducing at below the replacement rate. Experts’ best estimates, the total population of Earth will stop growing within the lifespan of people alive today.

[on point]

35. slowing is not stopping, nor especially reversing. We are already beyond carry capacity of planet

[democratisphere]

41. The world is currently many times its sustainable carrying capacity.

You might find this article of interest; specially the summary table at the bottom of the article.

http://home.coloradomesa.edu/~grichard/Environmental/richard2002.html

[paleotn]

36. doesn't matter.....

....because everyone currently alive wants to live like an American or European. The only thing that will change between now and when the plant's population tops out is a few billion more will want to live like an American or European. The planet can't survive current westerners living this lifestyle, much less several more billion. We're not going to stop living like we do, simply because it's damn comfortable and fantastically profitable to do so. Thus the rape of the planet will continue unabated until the planet's life support systems fail, giving us a 14th century human die off. That is unless we do it to ourselves, fighting over the dwendling resources necessary to support a western lifestyle.

Yes, I'm very pessimistic, but rationally I have no other choice but to be. Take something as relatively straight forward as reducing CO2 emissions to avoid massive climate change. It can be done, and really it's not all that much of a cultural change to really make a difference. However, we've been through Kyoto, Copenhagen, Vienna, numerous UN debates and G8 summits and have accomplished not one damn thing. In fact even the Europeans are backing out of past agreements. Hey, it's the simple, profitable move to make. Just hope most of the really bad stuff happens after we're dead.

[progressoid]

2. Glad to see some Govt officials finally saying something.

Although it's a few decades late.

[Bongo Prophet]

5. To be fair, John Kerry has been involved in this for some decades

I am sure we would agree that more voices need to be heard and more needs to be done.

[blm]

9. Kerry and Gore have been on this since the 70s.

http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2013/01/31/recalling-an-exchange-with-sen-john-kerry-about-climate-change-and-the-bush-white-house/

[progressoid]

22. You're right.

I just wish there were more voices like that to counter the barrage of Fox etc.

[bananas]

28. Great article. nt

[blm]

11. He proposed an Apollo Project approach/commitment to fund research for renewables.

Kerry/2003:

*To some extent, my proposed energy independence Apollo Project would involve redeploying resources from the failed energy policies of the past and present. At present we spend $1.8 billion in subsidies to the oil and gas industries while investing only $24 million in federal venture capital for alternative energy sources. And the Bush administration seeks to accelerate this trend by moving heaven and most of all earth to expand oil drilling in some of our most sensitive environments. All this drilling won’t produce significant quantities of oil for many years, so we will remain dependent on a global oil market whose prices are controlled-and often manipulated-by a handful of countries, lending permanent instability to our economy.


*A smart energy policy can reflect a smart economic policy. We can work toward energy independence not only from foreign energy sources but from environmentally damaging sources as well-in a way that calls on the best of our creative and entrepreneurial spirit and improves both our quality of life and our national security.

In the 1960’s President Kennedy challenged America to conquer space and land on the moon within a decade. It’s time for comparable Apollo Project approach to energy independence, with a focused effort that relies on public-private partnerships and creates millions of new jobs. For Americans who work in engineering, design, and industry, the growth of wind, solar, and geothermal energy would spark a surge in production and jobs. And since developing new energy technology requires research and path-breaking applications, we can create thousands of high-paying jobs in those areas as well. Americans can take the lead, or we can let Germans and Japanese dominate this new industry.

[underpants]

14. The pentagon has issued a series of reports

Stating that climate change is not only a national security threat but is actually more of a threat than terrorism. Link is to the latest such report :


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/science/earth/09climate.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I can find the ones going back to pre-Iraq war but in my iPhone that could take a while.

[progressoid]

21. I remember reading that pre-Iraq war report here on DU.

I had it on an old computer (now defunct).

Thankfully, we have solved the terrorism problem. Just as soon as we get stop teh gay agenda, we can get to work on climate change.

[Malteil]

27. I remember those.

They talked about how water will become the resource that nations go to war about, as opposed to oil.

[freebrew]

49. So, that's the answer...

why are the corporations allowed to pollute our water table?

That way the 'enemy' doesn't want it...

[Malteil]

57. Water pollution only adds to the problem.

The idea being that as fresh water lakes, underground reservoirs and ice packs that feed fresh water resources decrease, such as the Sierra Nevada range in Southern California right now only consists of 20% of it's past ice and snow, the necessity for clean fresh water will rise. Oil is not needed for life. Water is. When water becomes extremely scarce countries like Egypt and the Sudan are likely to go to war for access to the Nile. Such as the Sudan Damning the Nile and cutting off Egypt from access to Nile water. This has already been a contention between these two countries for decades.

As for corporations being allowed to pollute our water table. That is due to short sighted politicians who can't see past there next election cycle and allow themselves to be bought. I'm not sure what that is supposed to be an answer to because people today are suffering due to pollution and the problem will only be exasperated in the future. No sarcasm needed.

[saidsimplesimon]

54. underpants, thank you for the link

imho, we are on the cusp of...life or extinction caused by the world's greatest polluters. We tell our politicians we want cheap oil, cotton, food all without a willingness to make a contribution. We get what we ask for.

[underpants]

55. :-)

You are welcome

[dickthegrouch]

3. Another "Perfect Storm" we can't afford to plan against /nt

[MindMover]

4. Unfortunately ...

"The absolute proof of man made global warming is unlikely to arrive until it is too late and so the deniers are scrupulously indulged with equal time in the argument ..."

I say we can no longer afford denying climate change ...

[SHRED]

6. So speak up then John... against Keystone XL

[prairierose]

29. Thank you, Shred for saying this...

that was the first thing that I thought of. The State dept seems to still be pushing KXL and so is the WH.

When are some of our leaders going to start talking about getting off fossil fuels and supporting renewable. I know that it may be impossible to actually do anything, like ending oil subsidies or increasing subsidies for renewables, at this point, but somebody could be talking about it regularly and proposing solutions so that more people are thinking about climate change.

[onehandle]

7. Arrest The Koch Brothers For Terroristic Acts, then. nt

[ErikJ]

8. Traps as much heat as 400,000 Hiroshima-class nuclear bombs...a DAY!

Last edited Mon Feb 17, 2014, 03:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Lines from Gore's NYT book review of the new "The 6th Extinction" by Elizabeth Kolbert
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/books/review/the-sixth-extinction-by-elizabeth-kolbert.html

--the current spasm of plant and animal loss that threatens to eliminate 20 to 50 percent of all living species on earth within this century.

--For example, we continue to use the world’s atmosphere as an open sewer for the daily dumping of more than 90 million tons of gaseous waste.

----the man-made pollution already in the atmosphere traps as much extra heat energy every 24 hours as would be released by the explosion of 400,000 Hiroshima-class nuclear bombs.

---Warmer air holds more moisture (there has been an astonishing 4 percent increase in global humidity in just the last 30 years) and funnels it toward landmasses, where it is released in much larger downpours, causing larger and more frequent floods and mudslides.

--Just before Hurricane Sandy, the area of the Atlantic immediately windward from New York City and New Jersey was up to nine degrees warmer than normal................ And just before Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, the area of the Pacific from which it drew its energy was about 5.4 degrees above average.

--coral reefs might be the first entire ecosystem to go extinct in the modern era.

-- According to E. O. Wilson (famous ant biologist), the present extinction rate in the tropics is “on the order of 10,000 times greater than the naturally occurring background extinction rate”

--the unparalleled surge in human population that has quadrupled our numbers in less than a hundred years; the development of powerful new technologies that magnify the per capita impact of all seven billion of us, soon to be nine billion or more;

[daleanime]

10. K&R....

[swilton]

12. Where was he

and Gore when the Kyoto Treaty needed support? Words are fine - action is what has been and is needed like stopping the Trans X-L...

Renewables are not the answer until there are major structural changes...planned obsolescence and waste are built into the system and they negate or worsen savings in ghg emissions.. The rebound effect demonstrates that the more efficient luxury items become, the more consumption they create..

http://truth-out.org/news/item/21743-missing-the-marx-more-or-less-on-intellectual-failure-and-environmental-catastrophe#.Uvf8yXMHtWA.email

[SDjack]

17. "... a tiny minority of shoddy scientists ..." Damn, Kerry would have been a fine prez. nt

[reformist2]

45. That was pretty crappy of Kerry to say that, imo.

[blm]

52. Those 'scientists' are political actors pushing their backwards ideology.

Is that what you really resent?

[SDjack]

56. Kerry was spot on.

As a group, the “shoddy scientists” have a miserable record of actual science products. They are paid by the Koch Bros. to scream that productive global change scientists are wrong and to fling feces at them. In calling them “shoddy scientists”, Kerry is very generous. They serve the Koch’s main goal: to buy time to maximize their exploitation of energy reserves and then sell to unwitting buyers.

[blackspade]

18. I have issues w/Kerry

But this sure isn't one of them.

[12ZTR]

20. I have a couple of questions.

Paul Mooney: "Keep it real,don't get it twisted."

How much carbon is burned to maintain "Your" lifestyle?

If you have children,grandchildren, how much carbon do they burn & how much earth resources do they use? Be fruitful & multiply, & destroy the planet?

When "you" go shopping, how much packaging will be buried in someone else's backyard?

What are you going to do with your part of the waste created by producing the electricity you use,coal slurry & ash,nuclear, etc.?

You can borrow my mirror if you want to face the real problem.

Nothing's my fault,because my brilliant comments on the interwebs will solve all humanities problems. Being the genius that I am is often times a burden.

[pscot]

26. What the hell is your point?

We're all complicit. Evry one of us living in a modern, 1st world nation.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

23. This on EVERYTHING!

Science should ALWAYS trump FUD/pseudoscience.

[TimeToEvolve]

24. ...yet he, along with Obama is still pushing the Keystone XL and the TPP,

which are two massive carbon disasters waiting to happen

does anyone here feel the cognitive dissonance as much as I do?

why does anyone here still trust these hypocritical morons?, it makes us look clueless.

the government (and their corporate masters) wont provide any real means of combatting climate change, it will simply use it to rationalize more actions of self interest, they simply don't care.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/112764043

"Americans really show their ignorance when they say they want their politicians to be honest. What are these fuckin' cretins talking about? If honesty were suddenly introduced into American life, the whole system would collapse!"
- George Carlin


any true means of reversing climate change would actually diminish the government's involvement in our lives, and they don't want that!( less centralization = less transportation = LESS CARBON, think of backyard gardens and rooftop solar, collecting rainwater, etc.; laws already exist which restrict and even ban some of them)

if we wait for the government to rectify this problem, we're already doomed. if they were serious about this, they would end all these pointless fucking wars and drastically downsize the military, which guzzles half of the nations resources and energy and has created countless environmental disasters.

to succeed in fighting climate change we need personal action, a good start would be to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle; things like growing your own food, recycling, travel by bike instead of car, NEVER GOING TO A SHOPPING MALL are all good starting points, tell your friends too, tell everyone you know, one thing is for sure;being mum on this issue will ensure failure.

[blm]

50. Baloney - that deal was done by 2010. The dogandpony show that's been going on since is all

about ONE THING - protecting Clinton's candidacy.

[paleotn]

37. Thanks JK....

...I appreciate the sentiment. Unfortunately it's a day late and a dollar short.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

38. You know, requiring people to study human and physical geography would help out in this debate

Since the entire course that I teach deals with environmental science, Earth science and economic sustainability.





Here is a basic geography course. Require it!

[toby jo]

53. +1

The more the merrier.

I always thought comparative theology should be a requirement at all high schools, too. If we can get that one down the hatch globally, we'd go a long way to solving the 'war issues'.

[reformist2]

44. Can't agree with Kerry attacking scientists here. He is wrong to do so.

He can and ought to attack politicians who reject scientific consensus out of hand. But to charge the scientists who disagree with the consensus to be guilty of "shoddy science," is a cheap shot. Leave the scientists out of the political debate.

[joshcryer]

46. Those scientists aren't in the consensus because they are political.

That's the important part here. Most of whom aren't climate scientists but weather scientists.

[blm]

51. LOL - those 'scientists' are RW ideologues who attack the research of real scientists.

Your defense of these poor helpless actors is.....absurd.

[Utopian Leftist]

47. It's about time that SOMEbody (anybody in power) SAID IT! n/t.

.