In A Way, Soldiers Dying, Civil Liberties Disappearing, U.S. Torturing, Neo-Fascism Doesn't Matter!

I'm sorry about the U.S. underclasses (along with a few middle and upper class soldiers), dying for nothing in
Iraq. It's too bad that the government has taken away our civil rights and liberties. And it's too bad that the U.S. engages in state torture with the approval of its frightened, cowardly citizens. Sure, it's awful that hundreds of thousands of citizens die each year due to the lack of health insurance and a fouled up health care delivery system. I'm chagrined that some 1 out of 5 children live in poverty and several millions of Americans go to bed hungry at night. The disappearance of the middle class is also distressing.

But, in a way, so what? If, in the futue, these problems worsen, it won't matter because the effects of global warming will kill us all. The American political system has been so corrupted by money; politicians (except for Al Gore) are so ambitious and shallow; the corporate media so self-protective and superficial in its brain dead presentations of the burning issue of our time; the American people so ignorant about science; the American educational system such a disgrace that most of us don't know our asses from a hot rock about the future of humans on this planet.

The science about climate change is clear as it can be. Only fools, idiots, and Republicans argue about it.

If you can't read any more, go to http://gopoceanclub.cf.huffingtonpost.com/ for a humorous break.

If you can stand to read more about our sorry future after getting a good laugh here it is:

1. COST OF FOOD. Within a decade the cost of food could rise dramatically. One-Half of America’s fruits and vegetable are grown in California’s San Joaquin Valley. What makes all the food possible is irrigation — water brought in from far away from the snow pack in the mountains. But global warming is causing the snow pack to melt too soon. It is leaving many valleys dry by midsummer, and crops withering. Because of this, the cost of produce is rising. Within the lifetime of today’s kids 90% of the snow pack will be gone if the horrible effects of climate change aren’t stopped http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=41231; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/06/MNG8UI43R31.DTL; and http://www.millennium-ark.net/NEWS/06_Food_Water/060806.GW.food.html

2. COST OF INSURANCE. Insurance rates will dramatically increase. The devastating back-to-back hurricane seasons caused a record $ 90 billion in U.S. insured losses in 2004 and 2005. As the severity of flood and fire damage increases due to climate change, some insurance companies will be put out of business (this has already happened due to the hurricanes), and your insurance rates will increase, even if you live in a non-impacted area. Most forms of insurance are vulnerable, including property, liability, health, and life. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA-430-F-00-014; http://www.accessmylibrary.com/comsite5/bin/pdinventory.pl?pdlanding=1&referid=2930&purchase_type=ITM&item_id=0286-15784502); http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5737/1040; http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2006/11/14/ap3171444.html and
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=CA197EB6-E7F2-99DF-3FF75E19500C642C&sc=I100322


2. HEALTH RISKS. Increase in deaths and disease are already evident. We can be pretty sure that as average temperatures climb, there will be more frequent and longer heat waves of the sort that contributed to the death of at least 20,000 Europeans in August 2003. Asthma rates have quadrupled in the U.S. since 1980. Higher levels of CO2 is associated with as well as the growth of some soil fungi which produce many more spores.These are carried deep inside our lungs by diesel particles common in urban areas contributing to acute and chronic lung disease. Warming is projected to increase West Nile Virus, expand the range of ticks that carry Lyme disease, as well as malaria-bearing mosquitoes, and is projected to do so even more in a warmer regime. (http://chge.med.harvard.edu/research/ccf/index.html and http://www.forbes.com/2005/11/15/energy-pollution-oil_cx_)

3. JOBS. Economic impacts will be devastating. A 2006 report by former World Bank Chief Economist Sir Nicholas Stern , suggests that global warming could shrink the world's economy by up to 20%, costing it more than either of the 20th century's world wars or the Depression. Will this impact be felt by you? Time will tell. It appears that it will effect your children, if they are young, in later life. If not them, certainly your grandchildren. (http://www.oxan.com/oxweb/logon.aspx?ReturnURL=%2Fdisplay%2Easpx%3FItemID%3DDB130259

5. HOUSING COSTS. Housing maintenance and other issues are troubling. As severe swings in hot and cold temperatures occur, heating and cooling costs will skyrocket. Catastrophe insurance provides peace of mind and financial security. Climate change can have adverse impacts on insurance affordability and availability, Catastrophic insurance for fire and flood may no longer be available. With the projected flooding of coastal areas, properties affected will be worthless. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5737/1040 and http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/article_detail.cfm?article_num=743

This describes the near term effects. The long term effects will cause the human race to die out because the oceans will be dead also will the various species of plants and animals and most of the earth will be a desert.

You might contact your Senators and Representatives asking them to put this issue at the very top of their political agendas!

This lays it right out. Global overheating is going to kill us all unless we stop it before it reaches the point of no return. "Deck chairs on the Titanic" couldn't be a better metaphor for all our narrow, short-sighted obsessions.

:kick:

The OP was right on, once I got past the "it doesn't matter" part. Because all those thngs DO matter. They WON'T matter in the long run if we do nothing about global warming by reducing carbon emissions. But if we don't address the other matters, in a way, global warming won't matter either -- it will be inevitable because we'll be under a Puke dictatorship with no way to force the government to address global warming.

Bottom line, it ALL matters.

Bake

Sometimes ya gotta have a wierd title and point of view to get some hits. But, the effects of climate change give me nightmares......well, I've got to say all of these other issues do to.

Most people just think, oh well, the polar ice will melt and sea level will rise a little bit. But the concrete effects of the climate on the food supply, the cost of insurance, jobs, etc. -- you did a great job pointing those things out!

Bake