Principles

In section 4.2.1 of Principles for a Self-Directed Society, I summarize some of the effects and implications of global climate change, including the 2007/08 United Nations Human Development Report, which concluded that more than 260 million people were adversely affected by climate change related disasters in the first four years of the 21st century alone; and that the only way to prevent long term exponential worsening of the situation is for industrialized nations to make painfully drastic reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions. I then considered an extreme worst-case climate change scenario report, written by private contractors for the Department of Defense. However, that report has been disavowed by the Pentagon; and although it is scientifically not unimaginable, as the report demonstrates with several examples of historical climatological events, most people find the concept of abrupt climate shift to be too much like science fiction, and hopefully it will stay that way.
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