Friends,
This news item just popped up on my screen today. It should make clear the importance of our attention to sustainability and climate change.
Since I have not analyzed carefully the topics and issues in this specific presentation, I make no claims. I do recognize that the theme is serious and reasonable. The Canadian Broadcasting Company is a responsible and respected organization known for its attention to important public news.
Worth a thought ...
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS
Professor
Dean
Swinburne Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia
Telephone +61 3 9214 6755
www.swinburne.edu.au/design
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CLIMATE WARS: BECAUSE WE'VE ALWAYS NEEDED REASONS TO KILL EACH OTHER
By John McGrath
Grist
February 4, 2009
http://gristmill. grist.org/story/2009/2/3/142425/2971
Canada's public broadcaster, CBC, has just finished airing the three-part series Climate Wars, based on the Gwynne Dyer book of the same name. I haven't yet finished reading the book, but the thesis is easily summarized: If you thought that the effects of climate change only included withering droughts, torrential storms, and general freaky-deakiness, you've missed one
of the big ones: anthropogenic mass death, or as the political scientists call it, "war."
Yup, on top of all the other things we'll have to worry about in a melting world, there's the sad fact that we'll have more and more reasons to kill each other over dwindling water and food supplies. When you consider that the 20th century was bloody enough as economic and industrial opportunities were expanding, the 21st century is looking mighty depressing if you believe that wars can start over resource scarcity.
You can download the podcasts of Parts I, II, and III of Climate Wars below, though I can't testify as to how long they'll stay up there. So give it a listen soon. And do check out the book -- like I said, haven't finished it, but it's excellent so far.
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CBC CLIMATE WAR PODCASTS
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/podcast.html
Global warming is moving much more quickly than scientists thought it would. Even if the biggest current and prospective emitters -- the United States, China and India -- were to slam on the brakes today, the earth would continue to heat up for decades. At best, we may be able to slow things down and deal with the consequences, without social and political breakdown. Gwynne Dyer examines several radical short- and medium-term measures now being considered -- all of them controversial.
Climate Wars - Part One January 19, 2008 http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/ideas_20090119_10989.mp3 http://www.nhne.com/files/audio/climatewars/cbc_climatewars_01.mp3
Climate Wars - Part Two January 28, 2008 http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/ideas_20090126_11172.mp3 http://www.nhne.com/files/audio/climatewars/cbc_climatewars_02.mp3
Climate Wars - Part Three February 2, 2009 http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/ideas_20090202_11529.mp3 http://www.nhne.com/files/audio/climatewars/cbc_climatewars_03.mp3
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NHNE's Climate Change Resource Page: http://www.nhne.org/tabid/490/Default.aspx
NHNE's 1000 Most Recent Climate Change Articles: http://www.nhne.org/tabid/1050/Default.aspx
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