Newsweek: Climate report: Droughts, starvation, disease

[Coexist]

WASHINGTON - The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won’t have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium.

At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press.

Tropical diseases like malaria will spread. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be found in zoos, their habitats gone. Pests like fire ants will thrive.

For a time, food will be plentiful because of the longer growing season in northern regions. But by 2080, hundreds of millions of people could face starvation, according to the report, which is still being revised.

the rest...

[Cha]

1. Oh boy! Our poor greatgrandchildren

if this thing isn't turned!

[Dr.Phool]

2. I wonder how long before sea levels start rising in this area.

I live approx. 3 miles from the gulf.

[Coexist]

3. I live pretty far inland -

does this mean I will have waterfront property?!

[Dr.Phool]

4. Probably.

But, your elevation isn't much higher than mine. And I've got the Anclote River across the street. My neighborhood is surrounded on 3 sides by water.

[Bobbieo]

5. Arizona is in a drought right now and there is no way I can blame Bush

for this -(darn it)- as most of the pollution causing the climate change is coming from China.

[Coexist]

6. got any links for that?

[kestrel91316]

7. Well, what about all the CO2 WE (the US of A) has generated in the past

hundred years?????

We are largely responsible for the current situation. In time, China will perhaps equal our responsibility, but they'd be hard pressed to ever exceed it.

[all.of.me]

9. I was listening to Native American Calling a couple weeks ago.

Sheila Watt-Cloutie was on. She is an Inuit global warming activist who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She was saying that global warming is already affecting her tribe. She says it is already killing people. The Arctic ice is not freezing, so people mis-read it. Instead of ice being a roadway for hunting, it becomes a death trap - too soft. She also said that small rivers they normally wade across are very deep with stronger currents, which have whisked people away. Those were the two things that stuck in my head. I pictured the scene there. It was frightening and very real.

[Danmel]

8. I was discussing this regarding "Vector Control"

I work for the Suffolk County legislature in NY and the county is considering a "vector control" plan for mosquito control. Since Long Island's south shore has lots of wetlands and salt water marshes, mosquitoes are a big "quality of life" issue.

There is a lot of controversy right now regarding the use of larvacides such are permethion in the marshes as opposed to using adulticides like Methaprene, known as Scourge and Anvil.

One of the issues is differentiation of DISEASE carrying skeeters, what with West Nile et al, and "Nuisance" mosquitoes. I pointed out that we are already seeing pests that are not native to the Northeast in our area, such as the Long Star Tick and the West Nile Mosquito and that we can only expect to see more and that drawing that distinction is going to get mighty hard. They agreed with me but are still not sure what plan to use to minimize disease and nuisance while limiting damaging shellfish, which are vulnerable to the endocrine disputors in the larvacides.

The things you learn in this job!!!!!

[gatorboy]

10. Clinton did it.

Hey, I'm just sayin... :shrug:

[Telly Savalas]

11. Who gives a fuck about climate change? Gas is too expensive.

[Control-Z]

12. You know

There was a time when America could have made a positive global impact.

With the proper leadership we could begin (or would already have begun) establishing new energy standards.

At this point, though, I doubt we have the credibility to influence anyone even if we could set the example. Of course, with fuckface in office we're screwed either way.