Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Polar Bears Are the Least of Our Arctic Worries - Newsweek.com

Polar Bears Are the Least of Our Arctic Worries - Newsweek.com

Uh, excuse me? Rumors of my extinction should not be discussed in my presence. You wreck my habitat and then you want to discuss "how to divvy up the globe's truly last frontier," while I'm still alive and kicking? Not bloody likely, mate.

Sigh.

"...Scientists have declared that both of the world's ice caps are in perilous states; the Arctic is more vulnerable than the Antarctic because of added climate volatility at the top of the planet. The intuitive victims are the polar bear, and further down the line, the world's grandchildren. Those, certainly, are the victims who have received the most attention.

But in his new book, After the Ice, Alun Anderson makes the insightful case that consequences cast too far into the future ignore geopolitical factors of today. Water where ice once stood changes global trade routes and national-security calculations, especially between countries like the U.S and Russia, whose icy relationship used to be separated by the expanse of the great Pacific. Just this summer, for example, the sea above Russia opened to international commercial shipping as the ice melted."

Read rest of absurd Newsweek article

Yes, so much for you all to figure out. Oh goody, we can run a boat through the Artic!! But who owns the shipping lanes?

Better get some more lawyers involved. You'll be hearing from mine.

Rev. Paul R. Bear, Blogger-in-Chief
www.CarbonConfession.org

Ekklesia:> Theology & the "Green Apocalypse"

Theology and the ‘green apocalypse’

By Juan Michel
23 Dec 2009
 
"...The message that God loves the world and every creature on earth "has been the heart-beat of the ecumenical movement facing climate change", said Tveit, recalling the long history of WCC concern with ecological matters.  In an ecumenical perspective, the concern for creation has always been linked to the concern for justice and peace. "It is not a matter of saying this is a planet for some of us", said Tveit, "this is a planet for all of us".

This point was also stressed by Jesse Mugambi, from the University of Nairobi and a member of the WCC working group on climate change. "The world is a world in which we are all relatives, but somewhere along the line we decided […] to treat each other as strangers", he said.

Mugambi explained that in Africa climate change is already causing both severe droughts on the one hand, and flooding on the other.. With the help of maps he showed that those parts of the continent rich in water and cultivable land are also the areas of greatest conflict. Such a conflict "has nothing to do with ethnicity, it has to do with resources."

For Mugambi, the role of Christian faith and religion in general – through its leaders, theologians and ethicists – is that of "bringing us back to the norms" that can contribute to address a challenge like climate change.

"We are not talking about 'helping' African countries", Mugambi said. "It is not a matter of 'help', but of survival for all of us."

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