An unprecedented effort to protect the world’s food supplies from the ravages of climate change will be launched today by an international consortium of scientists. The move marks a growing recognition that serious changes in weather patterns are inevitable over the coming decades, and that society must begin to adapt.
Some £200-million a year will be poured into the research by governments across the world to help agricultural experts develop crops that can withstand heat and drought, find more efficient farming techniques and make better use of increasingly fragile soil and scarce water supplies.
The Stern review of the economics of climate change said a 2-3C rise in average global temperatures would put 30-200 million more people at risk of hunger. Once temperatures rise 3C, 250-550 million extra people will be at risk, more than half in Africa and western Asia. At 4C and above, global food production is likely to be hit hard. The British scientist James Lovelock warned last week that such food shortages could trigger a growing number of conflicts this century between nations desperate to find fertile land to feed their people.
Thankfully, these organizations realize this particular effect of global warming, and work to counter it. However, the article says nothing about preventing man-made global warming in the first place. The dangerous gases that certain corporations and people let into our air cause many other problems in addition to global warming.
In fact, the legal immunity with which these polluters destroy our environment shows the governmentally-enforced socioeconomic inequality, which factors into the serious issues of hunger and poverty.
Live and let live. If these corporations and other polluters want to make money, good for them, but they must only do it without offensively harming anyone else. When they pollute our air and kill our environment with poisonous gases and such, they offensively harm us. Let’s defend ourselves, and the hungry and poor.
How does the USA stand in relation to other countries as to laws (passed and enforced) intended to stop corporations from contributing to those portions of the global warming problem that are avoidable?
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The United States is as of 2005 the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.
The United States now accounts for roughly a quarter of all manmade greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere worldwide.
For example, in the U.S. the oil and gas companies donated 112 billion dollars to the Republican Party in the period between 1990 and 2002. (The Republican Party received 78% of the money oil and gas companies contributed.)
The United States government literally works for the oil and gas companies, who make profits by destroying the environment. See Bush’s record.
“When President George W. Bush neglected the Kyoto Treaty he was heavily criticized by the other nations that signed the treaty. The rejection of the treaty came although the treaty had been negotiated and signed by the US. The European Union considered financial penalties on imported goods from USA but went away from that idea again since it would cause more bad than good. Instead a dialog with the US was tried but it had no effect on the decision. The no to the Kyoto Treaty almost stopped it from being set into function since there was a minimum of countries that had to sign and ratify the treaty for it to take effect. In fact, the treaty itself stated a minimum of countries that had to sign it. The rest of the world united on the treaty after some discussion and left USA out. Environmental grass-roots movements from Europe still complained about the US rejection…” –Source
“U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased 1.7 percent between 2003 and 2004, setting a new global record for the highest level of emissions ever recorded by any country. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the new figures quietly on Monday, April 17, 2006…” –Source
Thanks,
Scott