What Would The World Be
Like At 2°C?By John James
04 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org“Even the most progressive governments are giving up on the key target, which is to prevent temperatures rising by more than 2°C. This is the critical target. If you get beyond that, the positive feedbacks start to begin.
That's when the biosphere begins to absorb less of the CO2 that we produce, and that is a point beyond which we can't do anything more about it. 2°C global warming leads automatically to 3°, because of positive feedbacks. 3° leads automatically to 4°.
Once we get to that point, we wash our hands of it. There's nothing more we can do. So we must not get to that point. That is critical. We can't allow 2°C of warming to happen.” George Monbiot
Combine the current temperature increase with the latent heat yet to be released from the oceans, and top it off with a temperature increase of 20% from the dispersal of aerosol dimming, and we get approximately 1.5°C without any further input from us. Given a few years more of the coal and oil bonanzas and we will be at 2°C before we know it. Knowing the greed of this industry, we can predict that 2°C is now inevitable. For scientific evidence see our report in Footprints #10.
What can we expect in a world of 2°C? What will it be like? Calling it the Age of Chaos may not be far wrong - and there certainly wont be any beaches left.
Think about these imaginary yet likely excerpts from a future newspaper:
Air strikes threatened against Chinese immigrants.
The Russian air force has been ordered to napalm the refugees pouring into Siberia from the flooded Yangtze Valley unless the Chinese government holds them back. Millions of men, women and children have been moving north in search of food and shelter. Fresh water is particularly scarce as most water supplies are massively polluted.
The rapidly rising sea-levels have inundated so much of China’s food-bowl that two hundred million people have had to flee. Most of them are moving north to the milder climate that has recently come to Siberia.
The Russian cabinet issued a warning today ….
Sea walls breached
The sea walls finished only a few months ago to protect the wealthy houses on Long Island, the Florida Keys and Byron Bay have been breached by the torrential rains and sea surges. This has been feared for a while, especially since the Dutch dykes were swept away last year leaving half the country under water.
Observers said that in spite of efforts by the owners and the municipalities to strengthen the walls, the impact of the hurricane-like winds and the torrential rain was too great to overcome.
In at least one place the Damn the Dammers League deliberately broke down the walls. A spokesman for the League stated “Why should only the wealthy be protected?” Social unrest …..Christian Aid disbands
The major missionary charity has decided to close its doors and its 50 regional outlets. The political, and in some instances, military opposition to their efforts to obtain food and tents has become so destructive to their work the directors have been forced to suspend all operations.
“This is a world tragedy” stated the Chairman. “There are more hungry people every day, especially those fleeing the great coastal cities that no longer have docks or sewage. Food in some areas can only be transported by train, and lines have been broken in many places by storms and mud slides.”Founded over 50 years ago Christian Aid has been the major NGO attempting to redirect food supplies to starving city dwellers in Africa, Asia and lately to Europe. The largest cities have been particularly affected by the 6 meter sea-rise in low-lying coastal areas.
The English Prime Minister, speaking from the relocated House of Parliament in Sheffield, stated ….UN annual report
The Secretary-Generals report, issued from new UN headquarters in Ottawa, states that it is no longer possible to obtain accurate figures of world population as record-keeping has broken down in nearly every country. As far as can be gathered the world population has declined to just over 3.8 billion in the past decade, though this figure could be exaggerated.
Africa and Asia have suffered the worst losses, mainly from starvation and war. Australia has gained most, and now has a population of over 40 million, almost entirely from refugees. The tensions this has ….Home reallocation scheme called a failure
The administrator of the Family Hospitality Law has complained that refugee families are being refused entry. Under the law only homes of less than 60 sq meters are exempt from hosting one or more additional families. In the wealthier larger houses refugees have been ousted at gun point.
Families demanding the right of free hospitality are complaining that local vigilantes have forced them onto the street, and in one case out of the suburb. “Its like an armed camp” one declared. “We once had a waterfront home and when sea rose we could not renew the insurance and the bank called in our mortgage. Though it was waterlogged they took over our house and we were allocated to this place - and now they have thrown us out. What do we do now?”
The local police office, when questioned, said “I am here to protect this area. These homes are far above sea-level and we intend to keep the area safe for those who live here. Federal law does not cut much ice down here now.”Last shopping Mall closes
The closure of the Westfield Mall in Carolina has shocked locals, but they were not surprised. One resident said “The small stores can no longer obtain the range of goods that enabled them to flourish, and now that petrol rationing has become more severe few people are prepared to walk to the Centre.”
The manager said “It has been tough, especially as we were the last mall left in the city. We tried to stay open, but could not.”
The government distribution of essential supplies and food from local warehouses within walking distance of most suburban homes has alleviated the situation. But even with most back-yards being converted into vegetable gardens the cost of protecting the warehouses has driven up prices....
Cabinet Report from the Ministry of Health
… Concerning the spread of malaria the Minister stated that it is now prevalent over most of the globe to latitude 40. Because hospitals have been overwhelmed by other tropical diseases such as Ross River Fever, and from the injuries sustained in gang violence from the dispossessed and unemployed, it has been decided to limit the government action to providing advice to afflicted families. Drugs are in short supply, especially as most were once manufactured overseas ……
OK, these imaginary articles give a general picture of what we need to prepare for. You can imagine that were we to plan our response in time, these transitions could be made with a lot less suffering.
Leave A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Digg it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So, as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.
Get CC HeadlinesOn your Desk Top