The new face of bin Ladin

The world never ceases to surprise you...

Usama bin Ladin has been quite for a while now, however now he has apaprently made a statement again. What is surprising is the subject, it is not about infidels, bombs or terror. His latest statement talks about concern for the environment and climate change in general, and about the recent floods in Pakistan. I was not expecting the environment to be his biggest concern, but you never know there may live a little tree hugger inside him.

On another note intelligence services claim to have disrupted Al-Qaida terror plans against several European cities. Whether this is really the case, or if it is mostly a public relations thing is still unclear.

[Climate Change] [Environment] [Pakistan] [Usama bin Ladin] Share on Facebook

Greenhouse

So far the global warming by an estimated 0,7 degrees Celsius has given effects to plant life on a global level. According to estimates the vegetation has increased with 6% between 1982 and 1999. This is expected as carbondioxide is one essential part of the photosyntesis process that is feeding plant growth.

As an effect it is expected that already dry areas will become drier in many cases, as well as the opposite many rainy countries will get wetter. And some countries will be even wetter due to rise in sea levels. Furthermore, the effects will have the largest negative impact tin development countries and the most positive effects in industrialised countries. Obviously third world countries will require help from richer and more developed countries. Not only in the form of money, but also in the form of a commitment to battling the cause of the problem, the emissions causing climate change.

[Climate Change] [Environment] [Sustainability] [Development] [Future]

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Climate Wars

As earlier written here, the changes in climate may very well be the cause of the next great war. A recently published report by a european governmental agency states that almost 4 billion persons are risking to face armed conflicts or political instability as an effect of climate change. The largest risk is for inhabitants of instable countries or countadries with bad leadership. Furthermore, it states that there is a lack of willingness to respond to the coming climate change in many countries.

A recognition of this problem is needed on an international and intragovernmental level, otherwise this is bound to be a major factor shaping the coming century. Swift action and support is needed from the international community, first and foremost from the industrialized world. A willingness from USA and the European Union will be needed, and a new president in USA may be a prerequisite for this.

[Climate Change] [War] [Future]

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Misdirected punishment

As the climate changes due to global warming gradually comes; the wet areas will be wetter and dry areas will be drier. Many of the developing countries are located in areas that will become very dry or be flooded. This is problematic in several ways, except for the obvious impact on the everyday life of millions of people.

Morally, the global warming is almost exclusively caused by greenhouse gas emissions from the industrialized countries, the Western World. However, the most severe effects will affect the developing countries. In other words they will take the hit for our actions. Furthermore, can the Western World deny the developing countries to pollute as we have done. The people in developing countries are seeking a standard of living as we already have; for this to take place industrialization is needed and it will not come clean. China and India are there now. china has clearly indicated that it will not show any environmental concern while trying to catch up with the West.

Firstly, the Western world need to act as champions of change. Changes and adaptation needs to be done, to minimize climate change. This is important to show the rest of the world that there is a will, and also a way.

[Environment] [Climate Change] [China] [Moral] [Development]

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The oil will not run out anytime soon

Some claim that the oil will run out soon. Actually it has been claimed for almost fifty years that the oil will run out within 25 years. There are two reasons for this, more oil is found and technology changes make more of the oil available for economically beneficial extraction.

What will happen is however that oil prices will rise as extraction of oil gets more expensive. There is much more oil in the earth than that which is extracted today, for example there is oil in minerals in the ground and deeper in the sea.

So to all with environmental concerns, thinking that the lack of oil will force environmentally friendly technologies to be used; this is far away. Maybe the increasing prices will hurry up the search for environmentally friendly fuels, but it will not be the most important force. Action to minimize global warming needs to be taken much sooner, actually it should have been done yesterday.

[Oil] [Gas prices] [Environment] [Climate Change]

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The next World War?

What will be the reason for the next big war? Is it a trigger-happy US president, a fundamental muslim ayatollah, an imperialistic Russian leader, a communistic Asian leader or terrorist attacks?

Another possibility is climate change. When the climate changes for the warmer, some areas will turn uninhabitable and water will become scarce in some areas and too abundant in other. This will have an enormous effect on the politics during the rest of this century.

Furthermore, the climate change will generally have the worst effects on developing countries, because of their geographic locations and smaller economic resources. This is a huge moral issue, since these countries have only contributed marginally to the emission of green house gases. Will the Western World take their responsibility in helping the developing countries?

Also this change in climate will create streams of refugees, some quoting numbers as several hundreds of millions. How will this be solved? Will they be let in to their neighbour countries? This is likely to start major civil unrest and probably opportunities for strong leaders to spread questionable ideologies.

This future also sees the booming economies and emerging power factors China and India meeting a shortage of water, and also competing with each other for the existing water. Is this the source of the next war? Water and inhabitable soil?

[War] [Water] [Resources] [Refugee] [Climate Change]

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Science and Technology is the answer

Firstly, there is a need to acknowledge that there is a such a phenomenon as climate change caused by human activities. This is not arguing the fact that there are natural climate changes as well, and that such has occured throughout the history of our planet. However, what is happening today is not solely caused by natural factors.

Secondly, this is a problem that needs to be solved or at least to be slowed down. In order to solve this, the emission of greenhouse gases needs to be decreased. But there are some troubles with this on an international level. Rapidly growing economies, such as China and India, are also rapidly increasing their effects on the environment. Justifying it by pointing out the fact that, the Western world has has much higher emission rates for a long time.

Obviously this situation is not sustainable. The growth of these new economies cannot be halted, but there need to be a shift in focus. For example, today 16 out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China (according to the World Watch Institute).

This environmental challenge will not be solved by a stop in consumption or lower standards of living. It needs to be done in a way where our standard of living can be kept, but rather focusing on scientific and technological change. There are a lot of technology already available to battle this, but there need to be a willingness to invest in and commit to technology changes.
Furthermore, the industrialized countries with an ability to change need to take the lead in this process.

[Climate Change] [Environment] [Technology]