http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatecha...153530,00.html


Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us

· Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
· Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years
· Threat to the world is greater than terrorism

Mark Townsend and Paul Harris in New York
Sunday February 22, 2004
The Observer

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global
catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..
A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The
Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising
seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear
conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt
across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the
planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to
defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The
threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the
few experts privy to its contents.

'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes
the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'

The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which
has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. Experts said
that they will also make unsettling reading for a President who has
insisted national defence is a priority.

The report was commissioned by influential Pentagon defence adviser
Andrew Marshall, who has held considerable sway on US military
thinking over the past three decades. He was the man behind a sweeping
recent review aimed at transforming the American military under
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Climate change 'should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US
national security concern', say the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA
consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and
Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network.

An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is 'plausible and
would challenge United States national security in ways that should be
considered immediately', they conclude. As early as next year
widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval
for millions.

Last week the Bush administration came under heavy fire from a large
body of respected scientists who claimed that it cherry-picked science
to suit its policy agenda and suppressed studies that it did not like.
Jeremy Symons, a former whistleblower at the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), said that suppression of the report for four months was
a further example of the White House trying to bury the threat of
climate change.

Senior climatologists, however, believe that their verdicts could
prove the catalyst in forcing Bush to accept climate change as a real
and happening phenomenon. They also hope it will convince the United
States to sign up to global treaties to reduce the rate of climatic
change.

A group of eminent UK scientists recently visited the White House to
voice their fears over global warming, part of an intensifying drive
to get the US to treat the issue seriously. Sources have told The
Observer that American officials appeared extremely sensitive about
the issue when faced with complaints that America's public stance
appeared increasingly out of touch.

One even alleged that the White House had written to complain about
some of the comments attributed to Professor Sir David King, Tony
Blair's chief scientific adviser, after he branded the President's
position on the issue as indefensible.

Among those scientists present at the White House talks were Professor
John Schellnhuber, former chief environmental adviser to the German
government and head of the UK's leading group of climate scientists at
the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He said that the
Pentagon's internal fears should prove the 'tipping point' in
persuading Bush to accept climatic change.

Sir John Houghton, former chief executive of the Meteorological Office
- and the first senior figure to liken the threat of climate change to
that of terrorism - said: 'If the Pentagon is sending out that sort of
message, then this is an important document indeed.'

Bob Watson, chief scientist for the World Bank and former chair of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, added that the Pentagon's
dire warnings could no longer be ignored.

'Can Bush ignore the Pentagon? It's going be hard to blow off this
sort of document. Its hugely embarrassing. After all, Bush's single
highest priority is national defence. The Pentagon is no wacko,
liberal group, generally speaking it is conservative. If climate
change is a threat to national security and the economy, then he has
to act. There are two groups the Bush Administration tend to listen
to, the oil lobby and the Pentagon,' added Watson.

'You've got a President who says global warming is a hoax, and across
the Potomac river you've got a Pentagon preparing for climate wars.
It's pretty scary when Bush starts to ignore his own government on
this issue,' said Rob Gueterbock of Greenpeace.

Already, according to Randall and Schwartz, the planet is carrying a
higher population than it can sustain. By 2020 'catastrophic'
shortages of water and energy supply will become increasingly harder
to overcome, plunging the planet into war. They warn that 8,200 years
ago climatic conditions brought widespread crop failure, famine,
disease and mass migration of populations that could soon be repeated.


Randall told The Observer that the potential ramifications of rapid
climate change would create global chaos. 'This is depressing stuff,'
he said. 'It is a national security threat that is unique because
there is no enemy to point your guns at and we have no control over
the threat.'

Randall added that it was already possibly too late to prevent a
disaster happening. 'We don't know exactly where we are in the
process. It could start tomorrow and we would not know for another
five years,' he said.

'The consequences for some nations of the climate change are
unbelievable. It seems obvious that cutting the use of fossil fuels
would be worthwhile.'

So dramatic are the report's scenarios, Watson said, that they may
prove vital in the US elections. Democratic frontrunner John Kerry is
known to accept climate change as a real problem. Scientists
disillusioned with Bush's stance are threatening to make sure Kerry
uses the Pentagon report in his campaign.

The fact that Marshall is behind its scathing findings will aid
Kerry's cause. Marshall, 82, is a Pentagon legend who heads a
secretive think-tank dedicated to weighing risks to national security
called the Office of Net Assessment. Dubbed 'Yoda' by Pentagon
insiders who respect his vast experience, he is credited with being
behind the Department of Defence's push on ballistic-missile defence.

Symons, who left the EPA in protest at political interference, said
that the suppression of the report was a further instance of the White
House trying to bury evidence of climate change. 'It is yet another
example of why this government should stop burying its head in the
sand on this issue.'

Symons said the Bush administration's close links to high-powered
energy and oil companies was vital in understanding why climate change
was received sceptically in the Oval Office. 'This administration is
ignoring the evidence in order to placate a handful of large energy
and oil companies,' he added.




--
Paul

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 09:40:59 GMT, (Paul C) wrote:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatecha...153530,00.html


Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us

· Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
· Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years
· Threat to the world is greater than terrorism

Mark Townsend and Paul Harris in New York
Sunday February 22, 2004
The Observer

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global
catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..
A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The
Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising
seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear
conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt
across the world.



Maybe mankind can have a war about something rational, rather than
which sky-buddy to worship.

JPG

All this happened in the 1980s and 1990s though didn't it?
http://www.globalclimate.org/Newsweek.htm

Seriously though, I had to laugh when I read that old Newsweek article. How
could anybody possibly take a 30 year temperature trend, some minor changes
in atmospheric circulation and a temporary fluctuation in snow / ice cover
and turn it into a global climate disaster scenario?

I'm glad we know better now.

Martin
Guernsey

What a load of Crap!
I'm sorry but how the hell can they come up with a stupid comment like that
when there is no firm proof.
Media hype as all these things are.
I thought a meteor was on collision with us before then?LOL

You got this from The Enquirer, right? Along with the previous article
"Two headed alien wants Elvis' baby".

What total crap-nonsense. All made up. Good for a laugh, though.

Pegleg

(Paul C) wrote in message ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatecha...153530,00.html


Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us

· Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
· Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years
· Threat to the world is greater than terrorism

Mark Townsend and Paul Harris in New York
Sunday February 22, 2004
The Observer

Dear Pegleg,

If you were British you would know that the Enquirer is not published here.
The article is from the Observer, a broadsheet which is one of the oldest
and most respected newspapers in the world.

How come you are following a uk science newsgroup anyway? You
sound just like the typical US anoymous neocon who seem to roam
these group trying to rubbish any mention of AGW. Do you get paid
to do this, or are you just plain dumb?

Cheers, Alastair.

"Pegleg" wrote in message
m...
You got this from The Enquirer, right? Along with the previous article
"Two headed alien wants Elvis' baby".

What total crap-nonsense. All made up. Good for a laugh, though.

Pegleg

(Paul C) wrote in message
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatecha...153530,00.html


Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us

· Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
· Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years
· Threat to the world is greater than terrorism

Mark Townsend and Paul Harris in New York
Sunday February 22, 2004
The Observer

Just a comment to all the squabble above - "left wing hysteria" and
that sort of crap ... as if the Pentagon is a section of the Comintern
.... :-) rofl

These Pentagon people are conducting scenario studies, and this was
one on an extreme (not very likely according to the last IPCC report)
climate scenarios: A repeat of the Young Dryas Cold wave scenario.

That would really be pretty disastrous. And that is what is
described in this study. One of the people working on this study is
Peter Schwarz - who once made scenario studies for Shell. As one can
know Shell had (and still has) quite a reputation on this field.

What is interesting: It doesn't fit into the Bush (a Texas oily smell
emerges ...) beliefs. He doesn't want to hear anything about the
potential risks due to human activities when considering the climate
issue. And now the folks from The Pentagon start pondering on it.

Mazzel & broge / kind regards, Evert Wesker
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
http://come.to/wesker (redirect URL, no adv's), or
http://www.euronet.nl/users/e_wesker/