Make you Fink on Friday

Green decline ‘may bring irreversible change’

Climate change threatens to make life worse in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa

With forests and fish stocks declining, water demand rising and lack of action on climate change, humanity’s path is anything but sustainable, the UN warns.

The Global Environmental Outlook says significant progress is seen on only four out of 90 environmental goals.

Meanwhile, a team of scientists warns that life on Earth may be on the way to an irreversible “tipping point”.

The UN Environment Programme (Unep) urges leaders to agree tough goals at this month’s Rio+20 summit.

Where governments have agreed specific treaties, it says, major change has transpired.

However, negotiations leading up to the summit appear mired in problems, with governments failing to find agreement since January on issues such as eliminating subsidies on fossil fuels, regulating fishing on the high seas and obliging corporations to measure their environmental footprint.

Source: BBC News Read more

We are in the final week counting down to Rio +20, that is the 1982 environmental conference twenty years on.

The United Nations conference on sustainable development.

I am not holding my breath for anything spectacular; unless you consider hot air and rhetoric as spectacular.

Everything from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which targeted this year (2012) for all nations to reduce their carbon emissions to pre-1990 levels; and what has been done?

Nothing!

The countries that were the worst offenders then, are still the worst offenders, many of whom wouldn’t sign the agreement.

I fully expect a similar result from Rio +20. Like Copenhagen was sabotaged by the Chinese, these conferences are a grand excuse for lots of talking, fancy dinners and exhibitions.

The world is in imminent danger, we are creeping closer to irreversible changes by the day and the world’s leaders make promises, then breath a sigh of relief and go home to worry about how to get elected again. If that means pushing environmental issues to the background because big money demands it, so be it.

I disagree with the use of ‘may’ in the title, ‘may’ implies a strong possibility. I would prefer to think ‘is going to’ is more appropriate, ‘is going to’ implies a high level of certainty.

Because I am certain that the irreversible changes are already here.

We no longer have a beautiful green planet.

The planet has been relegated to being a dirty mud ball.

Oh, the conference will talk about pollution, water, agriculture, food shortages, hunger, sustainability, etc. All wonderful things, but will it address such issues as Japan’s nuclear power and the ever present danger of the moment where a catastrophic collapse of the cooling towers will release enough radiation to contaminate the entire northern hemisphere.

If the northern hemisphere becomes uninhabitable, where the hell are the survivors going to go?

The southern hemisphere, of course. There isn’t enough habitable land mass in the southern hemisphere.

Just think, all of Europe, North America and much of Asia fitting into Australia, Africa and South America. Do the math, it doesn’t fit.

Stop for a moment and think of the entire northern hemisphere migrating to the south. Think of the sovereignty issues, think of the enormous refugee camps, think of the food shortages then.

Americans, the British, the French, the Israelis, the Libyans, the Mexicans, the Russians; where are you going to put a billion Chinese… all refugees clambering for space and survival.

The result:

Total chaos!

That is a high probability situation for the future given the prevalence of earthquakes in Japan that could collapse the cooling towers.

And, nobody is talking about it, neither governments, nor media, nor Japan, nor nuclear vested interests.

If you are in the northern hemisphere, and if you survive, you could reduced to refugee status.

Now, where is your house, your SUV, your high standard of living, your precious college education, your social media networks?

All gone!