Temperatures in China will rise significantly in coming decades and water shortages will worsen, state media has reported, citing the government’s first national assessment of global climate change.
Australia recently had a similar report, and such reports have become commonplace. Climate change is occurring and what’s coming could be ugly.
What there hasn’t been much of, and what I plan to explore here in the coming months, is the political implications of climate change.
The predicted coming water shortages in China also mean there will be crop shortages since there won’t be enough water to grow the crops. People will get thirsty and hungry, something which virtually guarantees unrest and political turmoil. It won’t just be rural areas that are short on food, it’ll be the cities too.
Simultaneous with this is China industrializing rapidly with millions of Chinese getting their first car, etc., all of which will dump more greenhouse gases into the air, accelerating the climate change.
Creating energy from renewable resources not lessens dependence on petroleum, it also cuts way down on greenhouse gas emissions. Hey, wind, tidal, and solar power don’t create any greenhouse gases. So, not only are renewables an ethical treehugger way to go, they are also an important way to start to slow the coming climate change.
Ponder the prospect of food and water shortages in China, then speculate as to what that means to their existing political structures. Extrapolate that worldwide. Because that’s what climate change will bring.
