The True Terror

As the world awakes to the real problems of our time, we begin to see scenarios that are truly terrifying. And it makes you understand that the true terrorists are those leaders who would mislead their people into the false fears and concerns of the current political moment while ignoring the looming challenges ahead.

Here is a story from the New Zealand Herald which makes the point pretty effectively.

Global warming will threaten millions say climate scientists
New Zealand Herald
Wednesday October 4, 2006
By Michael McCarthy

Drought threatening the lives of millions will spread across half the land surface of the earth in the coming century because of global warming, according to new predictions from Britain's leading climate scientists.

Extreme drought, in which agriculture is effectively impossible, will affect nearly a third of the planet, according to the study from the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research.

It is one of the direst forecasts so far of the potential effects of rising temperatures around the world - yet it may be an underestimate, the scientists involved said yesterday.

The findings, released at the Climate Clinic at the Conservative party conference in Bournemouth, drew astonished and dismayed reactions from aid agencies and development specialists, who fear that the poor of developing countries will be worst hit.

"This is genuinely terrifying," said Andrew Pendleton of Christian Aid. "It is a death sentence for many millions of people. It will mean huge migration off the land at levels we have not seen before, and at levels poor countries cannot cope with. It will mean huge conflict."

One of Britain's leading expert on the effects of climate change on the developing countries, Andrew Simms from the New Economics Foundation, said last night: "There's almost no aspect of life in the developing countries that these predictions don't undermine - the ability to grow food, the ability to have a safe sanitation system, the availability of water.

I think that for hundreds of millions of people for whom getting through the day is already a struggle, this is going to push them over the precipice."

The findings represent the first time that the threat of increased drought from climate change, long feared, has actually been quantified with a modern supercomputer climate model such as the one operated by the Hadley Centre.

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Andrew Pendleton of Christian Aid said: "This means you're talking about any form of development going straight out of the window. (snip)

"If we fail to take action to stop this we are committing what in my mind is effectively genocide."

If our leaders cannot honestly and intelligently deal with these challenges,

They should be replaced.

If our leaders choose to misrepresent these challenges,

They should be put on trial for their crimes towards humanity.

And they should be granted the opportunity

to work with the starving and the oppressed,

until they comprehend the gravity of their failures,

and with that comprehension,

solemnly "reject their philosophy of markets and greed",

and thus be transformed in their minds and hearts

into powerful vessels of care and hope,

that see the true terror.

And the real terrorists.

For the Earthfamily


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