Tuesday, August 28th, 2012
JENNIFER WEEKS, - AlterNet (U.S.)
Stephan: While the climate deniers wave their hands and spout their cant, locales that have no choice but to face factual reality are struggling to deal with what is coming, as this report spells out. Climate change deniers, like Creationists, and Materialists are all part of the willful ignorance movement that is sabotaging our future.
Links:
[1] http://www.dailyclimate.org/
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/jennifer-weeks
[3] http://www.nrdc.org/water/readiness/water-readiness-report.asp
[4] http://www.norfolk.gov/flooding/
[5] http://gis.norfolk.gov/pdf/firm.pdf
[6] http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/rising-tide-in-norfolk-va/13739/
[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/virginia-0
[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/norfolk
[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/sea-level-rise
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/climate-change
[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/global-warming
[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/oceans
NORFOLK, Va. — Water is inescapable in Virginia’s second-largest city, home to the world’s biggest naval base, three major port facilities and public and private shipyards. Norfolk is nearly surrounded by water: it sits at the mouth of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and the junction of the Elizabeth and James Rivers. Canals and creeks penetrate into many neighborhoods, and home sale listings highlight water access – ‘Within 50 feet of H2O – You can canoe and kayak!’
Yet as much as water is a resource in Norfolk and the surrounding area, known as Hampton Roads, it also represents a threat.
City and county leaders, already burdened with typical tasks of local governance – zoning, construction permits, liquor licenses, school board appointments – are also weighing multi-million-dollar flood control projects to keep the ocean at a livable distance.
While they struggle to pull together know-how and funding, those with the broader view and resources – state agencies – are absent from the discussions: In a study [3] released earlier this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council ranked Virginia as one of 29 states that were ‘largely unprepared and lagging behind’ on planning for climate change at the state level.
In many […]
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Tuesday, August 28th, 2012
GINA-MARIE CHEESEMAN, - Triple Pundit
Stephan: I am teaching at the Omega Institute this week, in Rhinebeck, NY, and an SR reader, whom I did not know, came up to me at lunch to ask why the local weathermen never seem to talk about climate change? A good question. Here's at least part of the answer. Once again willful ignorance wreaks its havoc.
Call him one of the bravest weathercasters in the country. Broadcasting in South Carolina, a red state for sure, Jim Gandy is not afraid to link extreme weather events and patterns with climate change. Gandy does a segment called Climate Matters, a segment that Grist describes as placing ‘weathercasts in the context of climate change.
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Monday, August 27th, 2012
TRAVIS WALDRON, - Nation of Change
Stephan: Here is further information about the collapsing state of American higher education, and the implications that holds for the nation's economic future.
he United States’ share of global college graduates fell substantially in the first decade of the 21st century and stands to drop even more by 2020 as developing economies in China and India have graduated more college students, presenting challenges for American workers’ ability to remain competitive in a global economy in the future. The U.S. share of college graduates fell from nearly one-in-four to just more than one-in-five from 2000 to 2010, according to ‘The Competition That Really Matters,
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Monday, August 27th, 2012
PETER V. MILO, - CBS (Seattle)
Stephan: It reads like science fiction but it is, in fact, part of the growing ability of science to reach into your brain. And, of course, it is only a matter of time until this technology is co-opted by the surveillance/state security apparat.
BERKELEY, Calif. — It sounds like something out of the movie ‘Johnny Mnemonic,
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Monday, August 27th, 2012
CHRIS ARSENAULT, - Aljazeera (Qatar)
Stephan: If you have been reading SR for a while you know my view that water is destiny. Here is a new assessment of where that stands. It holds very negative implications for much of the world, and the U.S. is not immune. Already major corporate interests from Big Agra, to Frackers, are jockeying to get control over water. As I have said many times, there are going to be two major internal migrations in the U.S.: Away from the coasts, because of rising sea levels, and out of the American Southwest because of rising temperatures, and lack of water. In my view cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tucson, are doomed in their present configuration. If you own real estate there I would begin planning your exit out of that market which, I believe, over the next 15 years will completely collapse. Water is destiny.
The author Mark Twain once remarked that ‘whisky is for drinking; water is for fighting over’ and a series of reports from intelligence agencies and research groups indicate the prospect of a water war is becoming increasingly likely.
In March, a report from the office of the US Director of National Intelligence said the risk of conflict would grow as water demand is set to outstrip sustainable current supplies by 40 per cent by 2030.
‘These threats are real and they do raise serious national security concerns,’ Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said after the report’s release.
Internationally, 780 million people lack access to safe drinking water, according to the United Nations. By 2030, 47 per cent of the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Environmental Outlook to 2030 report.
Some analysts worry that wars of the future will be fought over blue gold, as thirsty people, opportunistic politicians and powerful corporations battle for dwindling resources.
Dangerous warnings
Governments and military planners around the world are aware of the impending problem; with the US senate issuing reports with names like Avoiding Water Wars: Water Scarcity and Central Asia’s […]
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