While The Arctic Superheats, Pipeline Wars Continue

By John Scales Avery

21 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org

It is disturbing to see how little effect the the earth's present critical climate emergency has on the behaviour of politicians and the mass media. Recent data show that the earth is heating much faster than expected, and that this is most pronounced in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. An extremely dangerous methane hydrate feedback loop could be initiated by melting permafrost and by the warming Arctic seas. This feedback loop could lead to uncontrollable and catastrophic climate change. But although the use of fossil fuels must stop within one or two decades if a planetary disaster is to be avoided, pipline wars continue as usual.

Here are some links to articles reporting the drastic jump in average planetary temperature measured in February, 2016.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/14/nasa-drops-major-bomb-march-toward-ever-warmer-planet

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/15/record-breaking-temperatures-have-robbed-the-arctic-of-its-winter

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35283-arctic-sea-ice-volume-nears-record-low

http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/03/does-methane-threaten-life/

https://theconversation.com/meltdown-earth-the-shocking-reality-of-climate-change-kicks-in-but-who-is-listening-56255

http://www.countercurrents.org/bardi150316.htm

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44427.htm

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35202-antarctica-on-the-brink-nasa-emeritus-scientist-warns-of-dramatic-loss-of-glaciers

http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/02/february-record-hot/

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/03/01/3754891/arctic-sea-ice-growth/

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/02/16/3749815/carbon-pollution-hottest-12-months-january/

In the Arctic and Antarctic regions, this superheating is magnified by an order of magnitude. Meanwhile pipline wars continue in the Middle East, producing floods of refugees, and perpetuating our global addiction to oil.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/18/what-would-thoreau-do-community-builds-replica-walden-pond-cabin-block-pipeline

http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse200316.htm

http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/25/robert-kennedy-jr-syria-pipeline-war/

Both our mass media and our entertainment industry have failed completely in their duty to warn us that the climate emergency calls for a drastic change in lifestyle. Television programs and films show us totally unchanged patterns of life: huge, luxurious cars crowded bumper-to-bumper on six-lane highways, while heroes and heroines jet off to holidays in the tropics.

When it became clear that smoking is a serious danger to health, films and television dramas rose to their responsibility and stopped showing people with cigarettes drooping from their lips. Can we not have similar responsibility today, when the future of the biosphere depends on everyone rapidly adopting an oil-free lifestyle?

http://www.countercurrents.org/avery080914.htm

http://human-wrongs-watch.net/2016/03/15/peace/#utm_sguid=155260,0adb92da-1648-9cf2-dc86-398f57b49ffb

John Avery received a B.Sc. in theoretical physics from MIT and an M.Sc. from the University of Chicago. He later studied theoretical chemistry at the University of London, and was awarded a Ph.D. there in 1965. He is now Lektor Emeritus, Associate Professor, at the Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen. Fellowships, memberships in societies: Since 1990 he has been the Contact Person in Denmark for Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, this group received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. He was the Member of the Danish Peace Commission of 1998. Technical Advisor, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (1988- 1997). Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy, April 2004. http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at [email protected]