Armageddon

In his latest book, The Revenge of Gaia, James Lovelock, a prominent British climate scientist, predicts that by 2020 extreme weather will be the norm, causing global devastation; that by 2040 much of Europe will be Saharan; and parts of London will be underwater.

Worse, he argues that global warming has passed the tipping point, and catastrophe is unstoppable. Relative to many of the proposed approaches, he argues, "It's just too late for it," he says. "Perhaps if we'd gone along routes like that in 1967, it might have helped. But we don't have time. . . . he fears we won't invent the necessary technologies in time, and expects "about 80%" of the world's population to be wiped out by 2100. Prophets have been foretelling Armageddon since time began, he says. "But this is the real thing."

To read the article in The Guardian, see http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/mar/01/scienceofclimatechange.climatechange?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

It’s fascinating to think ahead to 2100 and begin to grasp what he is saying. Think: by 2100, everyone now alive will, arguably be dead.  But, more to the point, he asserts that only 20% of the people born between now and 2100 will still be alive—the world will lose 80% of its total population.  This, all because the climate deniers (aka the 1% and the large global polluters—see Koch Brothers) have been denying that such a thing as climate change is occurring. And, they have been spending untold millions to sway the world’s decision-makers so as to avoid anything like real action.  Lovelock asserts that, had the world’s global powers begun taking action during the 1960s, when they knew that such effects were occurring, we could have avoided the disaster he now predicts is inevitable. So, thanks to the polluters of the world, and all the 1%ers who have backed them.

Some recent articles have stated that people like the rich republicans who try to block anything and everything that Obama wants to do are striving for a Downton Abbey life, i.e., they are the lords of the manor and everyone else would be servants. But really, in this case, they are much worse than that. Here we are talking about the destruction of most the world’s population, now and into the foreseeable future. Apparently, we will run out of arable land and our food supply will shrink to a point that it will no longer support the population. And he is not even worried about the likelihood of wars.  Remember, that the stupid people of the Earth are mostly heavily armed and willing to destroy neighbors just because they can. So, should food become scarce, guess what will happen?

This argument is so devastating that it seems almost unthinkable. But, we have been procrastinating for so long that I assume his argument has to ring true at some stage. And the republican flat earth society continues to deny that climate change is real.  Maybe when they’re all dead, they will believe.

Ah well, onto other topics.

And speaking of stupid people, it seems on another exoplanet, the nation’s big banks are refusing to do business with the supply side of the legal marijuana business in Colorado and Washington. Mainly, I gather because the Feds still think marijuana sales should not be legal.  But really, banks are afraid of doing business with legal entities carrying on legal business because of the fear of running afoul of the law? Really? Aren’t these the same banks that seem to have no problem laundering drug money for Mexican drug gangs and setting up offshore accounts for them. Or selling fraudulent real estate transactions, or carrying on fraudulent hedge fund operations. These banks??? Well, the mind boggles.