In the future, only the rich will be able to escape the unbearable heat from climate change.

[bronxiteforever]

In Iraq, it’s already happening.Baghdad offers a troubling glimpse into a future where only the wealthy are equipped to escape the effects of climate change, Richard Hall writes
The Independent
By Richard Hall
August 10, 2019

...United Nations report released last month warned that the world is heading for a “climate apartheid” scenario, “where the wealthy pay to escape overheating, hunger and conflict while the rest of the world is left to suffer.” In Baghdad, that is already a reality. On 48C days, which are now coming earlier in the year, air conditioners are the most effective way of staying cool. But an electricity crisis in the country is putting even that essential tool out of reach to low-income families.

The crisis – caused by a combination of corruption, mismanagement and a creaking national grid – has exacerbated the country’s energy divide. The result is a huge gap between electricity supply and demand, especially in the summer. A diesel generator can be used to meet some of the shortfall, but running an air conditioner from a generator is a luxury only a few can afford.

Mahmoud Abdul Latif Hamed, a weather forecaster and manager of environment at Iraq’s Meteorological Organisation, says Iraq is experiencing extreme temperatures earlier in the year.
“In 2011, the temperature in Baghdad reached 50 degrees in August. Now it’s June and the temperature in Baghdad is already 49 degrees. That means there has been a two-month shift in reading the temperature,” he says.

“Fifty degrees is very dangerous if you’re out in the open. For the poor it is even more dangerous. They have no air conditioning to cool down. We expect the future climate of Iraq to be very dangerous,” Mr Hamed, the meteorologist says. “I expect that if the issue isn’t fixed, it will bring down the government.”


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/climate-change-apartheid-poor-iraq-effects-heatwave-a9049206.html


Worth the read. The Pentagon has warned that climate change also creates political instability.

[Zoonart]

1. IMHO this is the real reason that people all over the world are flooding north.

The US government does not want to address the effects of global warming on our borders, so they are making it about crimiality and the theft of jobs. The real reason is much more complex and frightening.

Katie bar the door... is not going to cut it.

[Mike 03]

3. Climate Refugees

Yes. They really have worked themselves into a Catch-22 where they can't admit it's climate change, so it's all these other excuses. They DO believe in human-caused climate change, and are no doubt better prepared than the people they lie to.

[Zoonart]

5. Yep.

[bronxiteforever]

6. You are right according to this recent article.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jul/29/guatemala-climate-crisis-migration-drought-famine?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I posted this when it came out because it opened my eyes to one of the main reasons for the refugee crisis. The climate reason is not mentioned by our media.

[CrispyQ]

13. Wait until our own citizens from southern states start migrating north.

How welcoming will northern citizens be to the "southern invasion?" In the book, "The Water Knife" by Paolo Bacigalupi, Texans were the lowest on the totem pole followed by Arizonians & then New Mexicans.

[Zoonart]

18. I will have to check out that book.

[Mike 03]

2. Thanks for mentioning the Pentagon studies

I've been speculating that many of the wealthy climate-deniers know full well that Climate Change is real and are fully prepared for it--probably better prepared than most "preppers." This dangerous phase of denial is a big last-ditch money grab for the people in power, IMO. Keep things running "as usual" right up to the point it can no longer be denied, because at that point there will be, as you point out, instability, and unrest. It's really cynical when you think about it: the wealthy class, which knows the truth, tries to keep the not-very-well-educated base believing it's just a hoax, while they get completely prepared for what is coming.

You post really important articles on the climate, as do several others here. Thank you!

[bronxiteforever]

7. The Pentagon was really clear about the security threat

Of climate change. I really don’t put much stock in the wealthy riding this out on the long term, if nothing is done.
Thank you for your kind words. I am catching up on climate reading now that I have the time. There are some scary smart posters on this and the science boards that are always teaching me.
I have some hope that perhaps we can save ourselves but only if we act now.

[Mike 03]

8. I agree, this idea of "riding out climate change" is a fantasy

But we've seen the capacity of certain people for massive self-delusion. There are very expensive "climate proof" buildings going up on the east coast and parts of Florida, and the expensive bunkers, but after about two weeks that would be a living hell. If you've seen the designs, there's nothing to do down there (some of them have theaters). How many times can you watch "IT's a Wonderful Life?" Eating tuna, never being able to walk outside or see anything wild, no animals, and getting on each others nerves. Who wants to live like that?

[bronxiteforever]

12. +1 all true.

[CrispyQ]

15. This: I really don't put much stock in the wealthy riding this out on the long term...

The animals that will survive climate change - BBC

Guess what? It's probably not us.

[Ghost Dog]

10. I think they/we are planning a massive cull of the human population

before reaching that last stage

[CrispyQ]

16. Then they are delusional.

Not about a die off, but about the condition of the planet after the die off. The planet is already so hot there's no stopping what's already coming down the pike, even if half of humanity disappeared tomorrow. There is an overconfidence that humanity won't go extinct, that our big brains will get us out of this mess. The very mess our big brains got us into.

[Ghost Dog]

17. Truth.

Thanks.

[Iliyah]

4. Maybe . . .

Underground earth communities, maybe. We are still in the early stages of space travel to other inhabitant planets, at least if the other beings even allow us to travel into space (since we are a extremely violent race).

The super rich will be in the same boat as us commoners.

[progree]

9. Those are really high temperatures in the OP: 48, 49, 50 C equals 118, 120, 122 F. Wow!

And needless to say, the running of air conditioners more is a vicious cycle: climate heating -> run A/C more (which requires electricity generation, more often than not fossil fuel, and diesel generators the worst) -> more climate heating -> run A/C more -> etc.

[democratisphere]

11. No one will escape.

No plants, food, other species; nothing. No creatures will survive the extreme affects of global warming and climate change. The wealthiest will not be able to buy their way out of this one. Earth will cleanse itself of all of the human self-destruction and carnage and start over far in the geologic time future.

[Ghost Dog]

14. Time... What is time?

Give us time, please, nature spirits...

[dumbcat]

19. Thank God