The Big Picture

We have often pointed to the increase in world population from one billion a hundred years ago to 7 billion today as one of the primary reasons for economic shortages and violence among non-competitive countries. There is however, another factor that needs to be tied into the equation. So much has been written about global warming that it would be suffice to describe it as the collection of Carbon dioxide and other air pollution in the atmosphere, which forms a thickening blanket. This blanket is trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. Anybody who disagrees with this should wake up and smell the coffee. Or maybe simply step outside and feel the difference.

Outside the developed countries, global warming is one of the major factors having a devastating effect in the  
geopolitical world. Many countries find themselves on the verge of economic collapse and with an even larger problem in the form of mass movements of refugees. Yemen is emersed in a deadly civil war between tribes and sponsored by Al Qaeda, thousands are being massacred and the fighting knows no boundaries. An even larger problem is looming. Daniel Pipes: "But it's the second danger that staggers the mind: an unprecedented emptying out of Yemen, with millions of unskilled and uninvited refugees, first in the Middle East, then in the West, many of them Islamists, demanding economic asylum." 

The Yemen problem begins with an increasingly cataclysmic water shortfall. Gerhard Lichtenthāler, a specialist this topic, wrote in 2010 how, in many of the country's mountainous areas, "available drinking water, usually drawn from a spring or a cistern, is down to less than one quart per person per day. Its aquifers are being mined at such a rate that groundwater levels have been falling by 10 to 20 feet annually, threatening agriculture and leaving major cities without adequate safe drinking water. Sanaa could be the first capital city in the world to run dry."

Yemen might be the first country on the planet to run out of water! As the Earths crust heats up, the drier countries face a diminishing water supply, while the colder countries see their water levels rise as the ice caps melt. Those two words "Threatening Agriculture" need to light a fire under all of us. Changing temperatures and weather patterns across the globe will alter water supply and thus agricultural conditions will change. The great animal migrations in Africa (Tanzania and Kenya) are created by an instinct for survival as the animals migrate because of rain or the lack of it. When a seasonal drought dries up grass and water supplies in one area, the grazing animals move on to the next area along the Serengeti migration route where seasonal rains are falling. This does not apply only to animals and global warming will remove the word "seasonal" from the rationale.

Many also recognize the conflict occurring in Darfur, Sudan as the first war in history caused by a global warming-induced drought. After centuries of relying upon each other for trade and supplies, the nomadic herdsman have been exacting genocide on their agrarian, farming neighbors, starting when both sides armed themselves during a drought in the 1980's and continuing with the advancing deserts of the Sahara.

And for anyone who thinks this is somebody elses problem, far away from home, an historic drought is the cause of an on-going legal battle over water rights between the states of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. On the other side of the continent, researchers predict the parched Southwest has begun a 90 year mega-drought. In Australia, cities are purchasing water from farms to meet their needs as that country also battles an historic drought situation. Spain and Cyprus are importing water by ship with no lasting relief in sight to their water shortage problems. Even normally wet England and Ireland are expected to face water shortages due to population growth and less rainfall due to global warming. Similar patterns of drought experienced by Yemen have developed in Syria and Iraq.

The largest area of global water usage by far comes from agriculture, which accounts for 70% of total global water usage. Expect shortages to increase as humanity attempts to adjust to the changing conditions. Instability is now increasing at a pace where we can no longer sit back and expect the next generation to take care of itself. The time is now! For those of us who believe that global warming is a myth, all I can do is quote my cousin Hilton who often says "There is no cure for stupidity". 

Don't agonize, Organize - Florence Kennedy