"Because of the delays in the system, if the global society waits until those constraints are unmistakably apparent, it will have waited too long."

Limits to Growth, 1972
Abstract by Eduard Pestel

The Last Generation: How Nature will take her Revenge for Climate Change

Posted Fri, 26/06/2009 - 11:47 by Pointer

by Pearce, Fred

Another excellent book on climate change that goes beyond the conservative conclusions of the IPCC reports, with the emphasis here being on change that happens with speed and violence after the crossing of certain tipping points, in contrast to the IPCC’s gradualist approach.

original post on Sublime Oblivion

HEALTH: Climate Change Brings New Diseases

Posted Sun, 21/06/2009 - 09:37 by Pointer

BERLIN, Jun 19 (IPS) - As its name suggests, the West Nile virus, a leading cause of a form of meningitis and a neuro-invasive disease, has until recently been reported mostly in tropical and sub-tropical African regions. But it is now about to become a global virus.

"Due to climate change, regions with moderate temperatures, that is most of Europe and North America, are now facing diseases that were thought completely exotic in these areas," says Thomas Mettenleiter, president of the German Federal Research Institute for Animal Health

Full story by By Julio Godoy (IPS)

Fatalistic Friday: Reality bites. Chu bites back.

Posted Sat, 20/06/2009 - 14:06 by Pointer

Chu is certainly aware of all this. But instead of evading the question, he takes it a step further. "The fact is, we're not going to level out at 450 ppm," he says. "We're going to go over 450 ppm. So what will we do? I'm not in favor of deploying geoengineering. But thinking about it is OK." For a moment, the room goes quiet. In effect, the United States secretary of energy has just told an elite group of scientists and politicians that, no matter what happens with climate legislation this summer in Congress, no matter what China does or does not do, no matter what targets are set at climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year, our future as a species is likely a grim one.

Quote from Rolling Stone's profile of Secretary of Energy, Stephen Chu

Climate Armageddon

Posted Sat, 20/06/2009 - 08:33 by Pointer

Is Climate Armageddon upon us? Well, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is yes, I believe that it is. The good news is that while we cannot stop it, we still have a little time to prepare for it. I am not trying to be an alarmist, that bell has been rung by others. And, while I am not a climatologist, you do not have to be one to read the message in the bottle. From all that I have read, the climate tipping point has been reached and we cannot stop the rising tide, pun intended, of major climate change impacts. The best we can do is to prepare and brace for impact, and, take immediate actions to try to lessen the duration of the climate event that has already begun.

Read the analysis by Philip F. Harris, American Chronicle.

Main points, White House Report on Climate Change...

Rise in CO2 levels 200 mln yrs ago led to sudden collapse in plant biodiversity

Posted Fri, 19/06/2009 - 06:50 by Pointer

Global warming has long been considered as the culprit for extinctions, but the surprise, according to this research, is that much less carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere may be needed to drive an ecosystem beyond its tipping point than previously thought.

Duniyalive.com

US already suffering effects of climate change, study finds - Summary

Posted Wed, 17/06/2009 - 06:25 by Pointer

The report makes clear that man-made pollution is "primarily" to blame. Temperatures in the US are predicted to rise between 4 degrees Fahrenheit and 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 depending on pollution levels - slightly faster than the rest of the world.

Earth Times

Is It “Mean” to Tell Someone Their House is on Fire?

Posted Sat, 13/06/2009 - 08:54 by Pointer

Is it “mean” to wake somebody up to tell them that their house is on fire? A lot of people seem to think so. I’ve lost friends by trying to wake them up. Waking up at this time of the Great Turning from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining way of life is painful. Many people still don’t want to know, don’t want to think, because it would entail facing painful truths and making hard choices. They can stand to think about it only briefly on one day out of the year. This is the reason I write letters to the future.

Suzanne Duarte has been teaching Buddhadharma, Deep Ecology, and Ecopsychology for over thirty years

With global warming, low-level conflicts become more susceptible to escalation.

Posted Fri, 12/06/2009 - 08:20 by Pointer

Scientists have seen the Sahara in North Africa expand in recent years at alarming rates as desertification and overgrazing has exacerbated water and wind erosion as well as increased soil salinity. This accelerated degradation forces nomadic tribes, such as the Berbers, to become more sedentary and urban, further magnifying the pressure on local resources. Taking into consideration the well-established history of Arab-Berber violent conflict in the region, continued desertification of the Sahara will undoubtedly lead to further and more widespread violence as people come into competition over decreasing arable land and resources.

Effects of Desertification on Arab-Berber Relations by Jon Phillips

World faces daunting refugee crisis because of climate change

Posted Thu, 11/06/2009 - 21:10 by Pointer

In coming decades, climate change will motivate or force millions of people to leave their homes… Although the precise number of migrants and displaced people may elude science for some time, the mass of people on the move will likely be staggering and surpass any historical antecedent,” says the report, which is being released Wednesday.

Martin Mittelstaedt, Globe and Mail

Under the gun

Posted Tue, 09/06/2009 - 06:03 by Pointer

The clathrate gun is in a different category. On a large enough scale it would probably eliminate most agriculture and fishing as sources of food production and return the Earth to one of its earlier desert states - a blistering, wind-scoured landscape of barren rock and sand. Whether a handful of humans might cling on amid the wreckage is unknowable - but if the Permian is anything to go by, then we’d have about three chances in ten of doing so.

Julian Cribb