Armies Must Ready for Global Warming Role - Britain

[lovuian]

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/42799/story.htm

LONDON - Global warming is such a threat to security that military planners must build it into their calculations, the head of Britain's armed forces said on Monday.


Jock Stirrup, chief of the defence staff, said risks that climate change could cause weakened states to disintegrate and produce major humanitarian disasters or exploitation by armed groups had to become a feature of military planning.
snip...
If temperatures rise towards the upper end of the forecast range we could already start to see serious physical consequences by 2040 -- and that is if things get no worse."

"If things do get worse you don't need to come very much forward from 2040 before, in my terms at least, you are talking about the day after tomorrow," Stirrup said.
more...
I wonder where the Brits will go when the their island is under water

[rwenos]

1. The White Cliffs of Dover

Their island is not going to be under water. The white cliffs of Dover are at least a couple hundred feet high, and most of the island is hilly.

On the other hand, the Low Countries (Belgium and The Netherlands) are going to be SERIOUSLY hurting.

On Edit:

On second thought, there's always New Zealand and Western Canada. Quite mountainous. Else why even BOTHER with colonies??? :-)

[lovuian]

2. Well Suffolk and Norfolk are already losing their shorelines

and London will go under so ok the cliffs of Dover will stick out

http://youtube.com/watch?v=O7Px6xFRsX4

Made a video on it

[rwenos]

3. London would definitely have a problem

They've already got a problem -- that's why they built that huge dyke in the lower Thames.

My only point is that that island has a lot more area than people think.

[lovuian]

4. I understand but it will not be the island they remember

norfolk and Suffolk are definitely vulnerable

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. The Cambridgeshire Fens are the most vulnerable

(a fair amount of them are already below sea level, defended by dykes near the sea). Here's a map of 4m sea level rise - it would turn Cambridge, currently about 50 miles inland, into a port.

http://flood.firetree.net/?ll=52.7363,3.6365&z=10&m=4

The Netherlands fair far worse, of course. Large amounts of the country are already below sea level, and they have to work out if they can continue to protect them, and pump enough to keep them dry.

[Wiley50]

6. Jock Stirrup? Is this "The Onion" or Monty Python?

What is this guy in defence of?

His freekin Family Jewels?

Jock Strrapp?

Jeez!