Making Sense of Things

Posts tagged with climate change

• 11 February 2011 - Is the world as we know it going to collapse?

  It seems that the closer we get to 2012 and the more we hear of ‘end-of-the-times’ related cataclysmic stories. Since the 2012 Hollywood blockbuster released in 2009, the belief in the end of our ‘age’ and subsequent birth of a new one as conceived by the Mayan calendar, has become mainstreamed. Personally, we don’t believe in the so-called Mayan prophecy and 2012 does not worry us more than 2011 or 2013. Having said that, one cannot ignore the frenzy around the idea of the collapse of the world as we know it. We’ve decided to look into the subject and see if there is any susbtance behind these warnings – and whether we should worry or not. Please note that this post is a follow-up to this one, where we argued that rather than viewing ‘collapse’ through the lens of conspiracy theories, we could understand it in a historical … Read the rest

• 15 September 2010 - Five daunting climate change scenarios

  The UNFPA 2009 State of the World Population report recalls that “Walter Kälin, Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, has identified five climate change scenarios, each of which has a different impact on the pace or scale of migration or displacement:

  • Hydro-meteorological disasters, including extreme weather events such as hurricanes, flooding and mudslides, which may lead to sudden-onset displacement.

  • Environmental degradation, including desertification, water scarcity and soil exhaustion, which may result in gradual migration or displacement.

  • Losses in state territory, including erosion and coastal flooding resulting from rising sea levels. Persons living in low-lying coastal areas and the so-called “sinking” small island developing states, such as the Maldives, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, will be most affected by this scenario. It may lead to gradual migration and displacement, and possibly even to statelessness.

  • Designation of “high risk” areas by national authorities, including territories that are prone to disasters and that are designated as unsafe, leading to the forced relocation of its inhabitants. This scenario may cause gradual … Read the rest

• 7 September 2010 - To put things into perspective in your life…

  I was reading different documents and thought that the two following excerpts would also be of interest to you too. It looks long, but is an easy read and is both informative and mind-boggling.

  Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes – Opening remarks at UN ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment – 14 July 2010, New York:

  “I have spelled out in previous years how we were expecting demands for humanitarian assistance to grow because of chronic and increasingly acute vulnerability caused by global trends such as climate change, the recent global food crisis, demographics, and changes in the climate and key ecosystems. These are no longer predictions – they have become reality, with profound consequences for humanitarian and development work. Globally in 2010, humanitarian needs continued to rise, sustained and triggered in part by armed conflict, but also driven by natural disasters and global structural challenges. […]… Read the rest