Pentagon Study Describes Rapid, Catastrophic Climate Change
A recent
Pentagon report describes dramatic worldwide ecosystem changes, resulting in massive political and social instability, due
to rapid climate change over the next 20 years. From food shortages to violent storms, mass human migrations and wars for
survival, the study suggests that the Bush Administration must reverse its position on climate change immediately.[1]
The
report's authors believe that climate change "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern."
The report was commissioned by Andrew Marshall, a strategist and futurist who has advised the Pentagon for 30 years.[2]
An article
in Great Britain's Sunday Observer describes such findings as:
- By 2007 violent storms
or flooding will smash coastal barriers and render low-lying coastal and riparian areas uninhabitable worldwide.
- Between 2010 and
2020, average European temperatures drop by 6 degrees F.
- Deaths from war and
famine will number in the millions until human population levels drop to a sustainable level.
- Rich nations like
the U.S. and Europe will become "virtual fortresses" to prevent entry of millions of migrants fleeing flooded or starving
lands.
- Nuclear arms will
proliferate, with Japan, North and South Korea, Iran, Egypt and Germany developing nuclear weapons capabilities.
- Access to water will
become a major area of strife; Nile, Amazon and Danube Rivers all at risk.
The Bush Administration has yet to publicly
acknowledge the Pentagon study, or reverse any of its positions which oppose taking action to address global warming. In fact,
as reported yesterday in BushGreenwatch.org the administration is threatening to undermine an international treaty that has proven widely successful in reducing
worldwide production of methyl bromide, the most potent ozone-depleting chemical still in widespread use.[3]
The
Pentagon's climate change report has been ignored so far by American media, with the notable exception being an article in
the February 9 issue of Fortune magazine. Fortune describes several disturbing trends that support the theory of rapid climate change, including the
recent break-up of the Arctic's largest ice shelf, and increasing signs of a weakened ocean current which brings warmer water
from the tropics north to the eastern U.S. and northern Europe.
Fortune writer David Stipp notes that "The Pentagon's reaction to this sobering report isn't known...but the fact that [Andrew
Marshall] is concerned may signal a sea change in the debate about global warming."[4]
If so,
there are still no signs of it. Just last week, the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a report on behalf of over 60 scientists,
including 20 Nobel laureates, accusing the Bush Administration of systematically distorting scientific findings to serve policy
goals on the environment, health, biomedicine and nuclear arms.[5]
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TAKE ACTION
Find out where your senators stood on last year's McCain - Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act. Ask why if they voted against it;
thank them if they voted for it.
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SOURCES:
[1] "Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us," The Observer (UK), Feb. 22, 2004.
[2] Ibid.
[3] BushGreenwatch.org.
[4] "The Pentagon's Weather Nightmare," Fortune, Feb. 9, 2004.
[5] "Scientists Say Administration Distorts Facts," New York Times, Feb. 19, 2004.
