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Stand Still For the Apocalypse, by Chris Hedges

Apocalypse

Image by Walt Jabsco via Flickr

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
November 26, 2012

Humans must immediately implement a series of radical measures to halt carbon emissions or prepare for the collapse of entire ecosystems and the displacement, suffering and death of hundreds of millions of the globe’s inhabitants, according to a report commissioned by the World Bank. The continued failure to respond aggressively to climate change, the report warns, will mean that the planet will inevitably warm by at least 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, ushering in an apocalypse.

The 84-page document,“Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must Be Avoided,” was written for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics and published last week. The picture it paints of a world convulsed by rising temperatures is a mixture of mass chaos, systems collapse and medical suffering like that of the worst of the Black Plague, which in the 14th century killed 30 to 60 percent of Europe’s population.

[…]

via Truthdig

Chris Hedges spent two decades as a foreign reporter covering wars in Latin America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His latest books are Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, Death of the Liberal Class, and The World as It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.

Copyright © 2012 Truthdig

From the archives:

The Climate Question: Degrees of Change, Parts 1 and 2

She’s Alive… Beautiful… Finite… Hurting… Worth Dying for.

Will Superstorm Sandy Break The Silence on Climate Change?

James Balog: Capturing our Disappearing Glaciers + Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss

The Collision Course Is Set by Chris Hedges

A New Dust Bowl? by Chris Williams

27 thoughts on “Stand Still For the Apocalypse, by Chris Hedges”

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  14. I am profoundly conflicted about climate change. It is exceedingly difficult to evaluate the science. Moreover, sheer intuition does not adequately serve either, as perception can be so easily affected by emotional responses.

    There is so much opportunism abroad in the world it is hard not to suspect everything and everyone. The World Bank commissioned this document…should we trust them?

    Might they not have a vested interest in the implications of these conjectures, and how global finance can be manipulated to their corporate advantage, if they can sell this argument?

    And what about weather modification, should we not be concerned about the consequences, both intended and unintended of human- engineered effects on the jet-stream, for example by HAARP? And are “chemtrails” a fact and related to GM dominance of agriculture?
    The only facts I am unequivocally sure about are these: species are becoming extinct through the agency of mankind’s sheer greed, by industrial pollution and the insane destruction of natural habitat.

    We are over-fishing our seas and oceans, and polluting the marine ecosystem in multiple ways, as for example from agricultural run-off and toxic wastes.

    We are poisoning our water tables whilst exhausting fossil aquifers & destroying old growth forests, & all these environmental insults should be treated as crimes against life, and preferably also as grievous acts of sacrilege.

    Carbon emissions may not be the problem they are alleged to be, if adequate means to absorb carbon were assured, like universal coppicing and increasing our soil biomass.

    I am sure many of us are perplexed, uncertain and sceptical. All science is provisional. Corporate interests are corrupting the scientific method. Scientists are not exempt from such influence.

    • If a mere fraction of the money that is being spent to monitize the atmosphere was instead to be spent on the issues you have brought up I’d be much happier. The CO2 hypothesis is falsified by CO2 rising AFTER temperature rises, among other things.

  15. How wonderful to be so enlightened on every thing.

    Procreation creates ever expanding carbon foot prints.

    What scientific solution is offered by extreme green agenda for this enigma?

    Chris, where are you?

  16. There are alternative arguments on most things.
    Has Chris Hedges the definitive on everything,

    Caution might be exercised and quantity publications on every subject under the sun may raise eyebrows.

    A starting point might be…the more one learns the less one knows?

    For example, how can continued procreation be argued when this basic human function creates an accumulator effect carbon foot print?

    Should procreation be banned to save the World?

  19. The World Bank commissioned this document?
    Do they not perhaps have a vested interest in its conclusions and the implications for the engines of global finance ?

    • Did you go to the document yet?

      Here is their statement:

      This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions.
      The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not
      necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors,
      or the governments they represent.

      The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work.
      The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in
      this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the
      legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

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