Climate Wars

An unpublished article for the OVYM Quaker Quill, 

The other day an item on the radio caught my attention. Russia had laid claim to a great deal of the sea floor in the Artic to establish their right to the oil and gas reserves that lie there. This reminded me of other items. Some time before there was an interview on the radio with some pundit with what seemed to be reasonable credentials. It was his calculation that there was neither the resolve nor the time to deal with global warming. His advice was to enjoy it while we could. And more recently, a news items about how the Russians had opened a way for a tanker along their Artic coast and that this had been possible because of reduced ice on the Artic Ocean and then another on how with rising ocean levels, the earth might be able to support only about one billion people when ocean levels fully rose, one sixth the current earth’s population, all of this with the expectation that oceans may rise fully within one or two hundred years.

I can not speak to the correctness of any of these propositions or the meaning of any of these observations taken singly. They do not seem to be hysterical or poorly reasoned although the only things seen with certainty are in the past. The singular sign of the odd, lunatic doomsayer with the sandwich board and standing on the street corner or even the lone voice in the wilderness is past. This is no longer the few but the many taken in the aggregate. We ignore what can be seen at humanities peril.

The article here in the Quill, ‘Thinking Green - Quaker Earth Care at Bloomington Friends Meeting’, may have stirred my memory of these. This and a search for an additional item to round out this edition of the Quill lead me to the following article from FCNL (edited to include the url).
                                                                                                DC QQ

New Bill to Help Prevent Climate Wars -Take Action!

On July 20 Representative Pete Stark (CA) introduced H.R. 5783, the Investing in Our Future Act. The bill would place a levy of 0.005% on currency transactions and invest the revenue in programs to help countries adapt to the negative impacts of global warming, improve health systems in impoverished countries, and support childcare programs in the United States.

The bill would tax all transactions starting at $10,000, meaning the levy would not impact small-scale traders and investors or travelers. The financial sector collects huge profits from global currency speculation which can destabilize economies, and a tax might have the added benefit of reigning in this destabilizing practice. You can read Representative Stark’s op-ed on the bill at http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/109869-currency-tax-a-way-to-invest-in-our-future-rep-stark.

As FCNL’s policy brief Global Warming Heats Up Global Conflict   notes, the developing world will be hit hardest by the effects of global warming, including desertification, extreme weather events, an increase in the incidence of infectious disease, rising sea levels, and changes in weather patterns and fresh water distribution. These impacts are “likely to exacerbate societal or cross-border tensions and, in some cases, lead to violent conflict, threatening international and U.S. security.”

This sentiment is echoed by many in the U.S. government, including in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review released by the Department of Defense which states that “assessments conducted by the intelligence community indicate that climate change could have significant geopolitical impacts around the world, contributing to poverty, environmental degradation and the further weakening of fragile governments” and therefore that “climate change… may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict”.

One of the least costly and most effective steps that the U.S. government can take to help prevent an increase in violent conflict spurred by climate change is to invest in global adaptation funding for at-risk countries. Adaptation programs help countries that are experiencing or will experience major negative shocks from climate change to manage the impacts and adapt in positive ways, reducing potential instability and violence. Please write to your representative today and ask her or him to cosponsor H.R. 5783, the Investing in Our Future Act.