Archive for January, 2019
A Sage’s Thoughts…
Posted by Zaheer Jan in Analysis, Democrats, Editorial on Friday, January 11, 2019
“Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
And whose strong citizens are yet in cradle
Pity the nation divided into fragments
Each fragment deeming itself savior of the nation!”
(Adapted)
By Zaheer Jan
As the new year dawns and as we, the Democrats take control of the house, I, a person who has been running from country to country, in the hope of having found the ultimate haven, am hopeful that we all in general and Nancy Pelosi in particular will hark to the words of President Abraham Lincoln and, “strive on to. . . bind up the nation’s wounds”, because “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.” And, “With malice towards none and justice for all”, take courage; go into the ‘Lion’s den, the states President Trump claims as his base, and reach out to HIS base.
Citizens of these states have for long felt disenfranchised from the decision making processes that affect them financially. Invite them and include them in the democratic party’s vision.
Our country and its system of government, our constitution is too great to be allowed to fall victim to petty rivalries and cheap theatrics. For if we allow that to happen, and let us be sucked into the whirlpool of international jealousies, then the only option left will be a cataclysm for mankind, nay perhaps the planet itself.
Our country’s adversaries are lying in wait, are deadly serious, and are playing for keeps.
Zaheer Jan
Sounding the Alarm
Posted by Jonathan Cloud in Carbon Pollution, Climate Change, Economy, Editorial, Energy & Environment, Finances, Global, National, Policy, Politics, Sea Level Rise on Sunday, January 6, 2019
New observations show that climate change is already harming us in a wide variety of ways. Possible Planet is looking at what we can do about it, from rewarding carbon capture on a global scale to refreezing the Arctic.
Mounting Evidence of Harm to Humanity and the Biosphere
Climate change—or, as Dr. Janice Kirsh prefers to call it, climate disruption1—is already upon us. The effects are real, costly, and increasingly measurable. Amongst several other dire warnings issued near the end of 2018, the latest report of the Lancet Countdown notes that “Vulnerability to extremes of heat has steadily risen since 1990 in every region, with 157 million more people exposed to heatwave events in 2017, compared with 2000,” and “153 billion hours of labour were lost in 2017 because of heat, an increase of more than 62 billion hours since 2000.” Moreover,
The direct effects of climate change extend beyond heat to include extremes of weather. In 2017, a total of 712 extreme weather events resulted in US$326 billion in economic losses, almost triple the total losses of 2016.2
Add to this the “excess costs” of rising sea levels, and rising levels of ocean acidity; the agricultural impacts and the spread of vector-borne and water-borne diseases; and the broad range of public health impacts—and it’s clear that today’s costs and consequences alone are reason enough to sound the alarm.
But the planet also faces other imminent disasters:
- the loss of natural habitat and biodiversity, precipitating what is widely considered “the sixth mass extinction event”
- the widespread loss of soil fertility threatening agricultural production
- and wars, conflicts, and mass migrations that are already being precipitated by environmental changes
Though some people are still apparently unwilling to believe that climate change is real, or that humans are the major cause of it, these very real economic and biophysical costs are of increasing concern to global policymakers, public health professionals, the insurance industry, and even the military. And ironically it’s perhaps the risk to the economy, even more than to the biosphere, that will drive a meaningful response.
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