Climate change implies political change
Bob Morris @ Dec 26th 2006 00:23 - Category: Climate change, Renewable energy ;
Global warming claims first inhabited tropical island
Lohachara island, off India, was home to 10,000. It is now underwater. Much of a nearby populated island is too.
As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities.
I’ve been blogging more lately about global warming and renewable energy. As these vanishing islands clearly show, climate change is happening. This can not help but become a major worldwide political issue. In fact, it’s already becoming one.
For example, Australia made a major shift recently, based on the “apocalytic” governmental Stern Report that warns of impeding global warming disaster, and now has accepted climate change is occurring and that switching to renewable energy will help remediate it.
“I think it’s an important shift [to support renewables] and a welcome shift. I think we are seeing from the federal Government for the first time, a recognition that there is such a thing as global warming.”
– Victorian premier Steve Bracks
Ditto for piggish consumption based on using petroleum products. It can’t last. It won’t last. Maui now has 10% of their power coming from wind power. Maybe that could be 50% or even 100% one day, rather than the current insanely wasteful and unsustainable system of bringing in petroleum products by ship to be used as fuel to create electricity.
As companies and countries (maybe even someday the deeply backwards United States) continue to get on board here, vast dislocations will also occur. Dinosaur industries and countries will fail, new ones will be born. Formerly prosperous areas may become arid or underwater while currently poorer ones could flourish. Given changes like these, the political instabilities and opportunities this will create will also be massive.
