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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Pentagon is preparing for societal collapse due to Climate Change
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/11/1320245/-The-Pentagon-is-preparing-for-societal-collapse-due-to-Climate-Change?detail=facebookMost of us on this site are well aware that climate change impacts will exacerbate marginal living in the southern hemisphere, particularly Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. These humanitarian and natural disaster impacts will be occurring in multiple places all around the world, possibly occurring all at once and on a scale human civilization has never seen before. But what about the developed world, particularly the United States?
National Security and the threat of Climate Change prepared by CNA and released in 2007 with an advisory board of 11 of the country's top retired generals and admirals summarizes those threats and how the military will need to adapt.
The report finds that in the US, security threats will consist of an unimaginable need for worldwide humanitarian aid and increasing migrations to the US from our neighbors to the south. This does not take into account that we will be dealing with our own catastrophic climate change impacts. There will be scarcity of water and melting of glaciers which currently provide water for millions of people. Drought and decreased rainfall will cause more severe droughts and devastate food production. For example, the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides 27% of the irrigated land in this country, is very stressed from human impact. The water table level is down 100 feet in some areas. Three of the top grain producing states, Texas, Kansas and Nebraska each get 70 to 90% of their water from the Ogallala which will be stressed even further with the predicted lack of rainfall. The Colorado River Basin, the source of water for 10's of millions of people, is already experiencing reduced river flow. The World Meteorological Organization predicts an increase in tropical hurricane speed strength and increased rainfall amounts potentially devastating coasts up and down the eastern seaboard, GoM, and the Caribbean as the climate continues to bake.
From Earth Island Journal:
Much more at link.
Faux pas
(14,706 posts)geardaddy
(24,931 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)Because climate change deserves immediate consideration. I still don't see why we can't install space mirrors around the planet to redirect heat away from us but let enough light in to sustain us. At least that would buy us some time.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]
NickB79
(19,297 posts)It costs roughly $3,000-$10,000 per pound to reach high-Earth orbit with current launch systems. The newest-gen Falcon rockets can do it for closer to $1,000 per pound: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/21/138166072/spaceflight-is-getting-cheaper-but-its-still-not-cheap-enough
Given the many TONS of weight we'd need to lift, any idea what a functioning space mirror system large enough to work would cost?
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]Sometimes it seems like the only purpose in life is to keep your car from touching another's.[/center][/font][hr]
zappaman
(20,606 posts)NickB79
(19,297 posts)You'd need to set up an automated factory somehow, complete with robots to mine raw materials from the lunar surface (unless we first build a manned lunar base).
Yes it is, so let's spend the money and time we have to invest in things that will give actual, tangible benefits today.
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]If you don't give yourself the same benefit of a doubt you'd give anyone else, you're cheating someone.[/center][/font][hr]
Orrex
(63,263 posts)FSogol
(45,582 posts)Orrex
(63,263 posts)The dark leaves will block all the white paint. Duh!
FSogol
(45,582 posts)And some white birch while they're at it.
We'll beat this "global warming" hoax yet!
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]
Orrex
(63,263 posts)I'm sold!
ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Said poster just LOVES them some govt.
randome
(34,845 posts)Let us know so we can emulate you. All seven billion of us.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]
NealK
(1,895 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)look over your monitor.
Look to the Left. That's This Party. Look to the Right. That's Their Party.
That's what we have to work with.
Lower your head. You understand now, yes?
You can apply that in many, many situations, btw.
randome
(34,845 posts)Once people can no longer ignore that it was Republicans who made the situation much, much worse than it needed to be. At least I hope that's how this plays out.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)PoutrageFatigue
(416 posts)...interesting that their benefactors in the rethuglican party are busy pretending the CC isn't real, and yet the military sees it for the massive problem it is about to become...
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)a bit so there will be less work later.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)NickB79
(19,297 posts)A Pentagon-inspired plan to keep some of our civilization intact is preferable to an all-out, uncontrolled collapse into anarchy and rule by regional warlords.
Auggie
(31,230 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Unless you're a 1%er, I doubt they're going to keep it intact for YOU, and I know for sure I'm not going to be one of the ones kept safe and provided with food, water, and security.
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)had the dual purpose of securing the remaining oil and water and creating the pretext for stripping our rights and liberties for the coming totalitarian future.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)It is a suggestion that the PTB have looked into the future with an eye on what the PTB might do to protect their security against the masses of refugees.
Some people would call that a conspiracy theory, eh?
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)If one of the functions of government is planning and preparing for likely events and eventualities, what would planners do knowing we are running out of fuel and facing ecological disaster? How far would the US go to ensure survival of the nation? It's confusing how little the government seems to be doing about the grave issues already upon us. I contend they have been preparing, not with prevention, but with social engineering aimed at future control. Unfortunately that's the "plan".
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)They plan for the benefit of the PTB, the rest of us do as we are told.
They told us to go ____ ourselves and we are. Bareback.
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)They deny that anyone could be smarter than they are. And since they can't see beyond the end of their noses, they deny that the PTB plan to ensure the PTB stay the PTB.
And they live amongst us!!
Adam051188
(711 posts)some among them have, over the last half century, become incredibly isolated and insulated due to their increased socioeconomic status. they are surrounded by yes men and women.
any truly serious global ecological disaster will result in a nuclear holocaust and the extinction of humanity. i'm sure the billionaires think their bunker/silos/ships/whatevers will save them and they'll get to play house for a decade or three in a confined space and then it'll be like a space movie and they will explore the brave new world like an adventure guy or something.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)redqueen
(115,108 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)will be fighting for. Our lovely planet Earth can only take so much drilling holes into while and our atmosphere can only take so much pollution. I always hear so called Christians say that GAWD will take care of the Earth, ummmmmmmmm noooooooooo. GOD gave mankind the brains and ability to take care of the Earth. If mankind ignores the warning signs than we are effed.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)Hotler
(11,475 posts)take it to the streets now before they can get their shit together. strike swift and hard and don't let up. 5-1- million people on the Washington all at once might just get someone's attention.
KansDem
(28,498 posts)...even though neo-cons and TeaPublicans still tell us that climate change is a hoax.
NealK
(1,895 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,853 posts)They love trickery and deceit, they are destabilizing forces like poverty, joblessness and ignorance.
They are classic abusers.
It is amazing how this chart applies to their actions.
littlemissmartypants
(22,853 posts)With evil intentions, of course.
Love, Peace and the Righteous Fight.
Lmsp
Amonester
(11,541 posts)~original
ancianita
(36,216 posts)Last edited Mon Aug 11, 2014, 06:01 PM - Edit history (1)
I'll bet their standards for labeling people 'terrorists' -- just because those protesters are trying to prevent the damage of climate change -- actually reveals that military "preparations" are for something other than societal collapse.
"Crippling political viability" is yet another way the military has seized control of this country from the civilian command structure. Glad somebody in the FBI calls them out.
Adam051188
(711 posts)because yaknow, that could never happen.
and yes "crippling political viability" is an effect of their strategy for dealing with individuals who entertain the previously stated notion. the u.s. is not a police state, it's a mafia state effectively owned by the military industrial complex, the oil industry, and lastly but mostly the financial sector.
first hand experience
merrily
(45,251 posts)posting on a board that welcomed people of all political persuasions. The rightist members could not understand why he got a peace prize for environment work. Small, unimaginative minds, they had.
littlemissmartypants
(22,853 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Does anyone really think that police departments across the country have been arming and armouring up with military gear and weaponry, simply because they 'like toys'? Crowd control and pacification gear.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)Auggie
(31,230 posts)Holy shit!
maindawg
(1,151 posts)The more people want to fight. There will be a world war over resources. There will be fighting between war lords and tribes. There will be no more need for wall street. No need for billionaires. There will be 10 or 12 billion people on the planet in 50 years, the earths supply of nitrates will be exhausted. Droughts are what have caused civilizations to collapse since the beginning of time. Floods and droughts will be the end of us. I am sorry for the furure.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,853 posts)Thanks.
Love, Peace and Shelter.
Lmsp
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)geretogo
(1,281 posts)Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)toby jo
(1,269 posts)They are the ones doing the payout on these disasters. I think they may be the linch pin, the ones who push the righties into action. Money talks.
That is about the only wake-up call I've seen in all this.
Secondary markets are being affected. I put up hay in Ohio. We've had the wet, here. Prices have gone up from $2/bale to as high as $9-10/bale, depending on where you sell. In FL and NC a few years ago people were paying upwards of $15/bale. They were struck by drought. Anymore you can target who's getting the drought and sell your product there for a good mark-up. Or keep it home, like I do, and sell to a hungry market with reduced product for a mark-up.
Out west they irrigate from the aquifer. When that thing goes dry the shit will really start to fly.
Go green.
belltower
(74 posts)An excellent summation of material from http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/, that clearly states what the timeline is for our extinction, is below. It's happening now and will surely be abundantly clear in time for 2016.
Louisiana1976
(3,962 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)on plans to grow food in areas that are not too dry to grow and encouraging alternative energy and conservation. They would be looking at availability of resources locally and government programs that provide services in long term crisis. I do not see any of this change even discussed let alone experimented with.
WHEN CRABS ROAR
(3,813 posts)you need to become very aware and active.
Sadly, I don't see that happening.
Hekate
(91,005 posts)Seriously, on the one hand we had Bush-Cheney and all their enablers in Congress and the media disavowing the validity of climate change and mocking Al Gore every time it came up.
On the other hand, the Pentagon, which apparently is NOT composed of idiots, was looking at the situation through their own lens and taking it very seriously indeed. They have acknowledged reality.
They (the Pentagon) cannot compel the politicians to behave rationally toward a necessary political solution. However, within their own boundaries they are tasked with certain things, and preparing for eventualities. Flooding coastlines and millions of climate-change refugees WILL create chaos and unrest. Then what?
In any case I took some comfort, ironic though it was, in knowing that our military command was composed of intelligent reality-based people.
whistler162
(11,155 posts)Which given the track record of U.S.ofA verses Canada might be of more use, 0 for 3 maybe 4 war related encounters.
belltower
(74 posts)makes me wonder about this site - better to focus discussion on articles from The Onion - outrageous and disgusting.
Duppers
(28,132 posts)Thanks for posting this!
kjones
(1,053 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)justifiably angry people with torches, pitchforks, and guillotines.
Right now they are protecting the power of the 1% to desecrate and destroy the earth; later they will be trying to protect the 1% from the people who wish to make them pay for destroying the earth.
"When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you cant eat money" ~ Alanis Obamsawin