Thread: Global Warming will save America from the right...eventually

Global Warming Will Save America from the Right...Eventually

by Dave Lindorff

The future political map of America is likely to look a lot different, with much of the so-called “red” state region either gone or depopulated.
Sat., 12/22/2007 - 19:21—Say what you will about the looming catastrophe facing the world as the pace of global heating and polar melting accelerates. There is a silver lining.

Look at a map of the US.


The area that will by completely inundated by the rising ocean—and not in a century but in the lifetime of my two cats—are the American southeast, including the most populated area of Texas, almost all of Florida, most of Louisiana, and half of Alabama and Mississippi, as well as goodly portions of eastern Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. While the northeast will also see some coastal flooding, its geography is such that that aside from a few projecting sandbars like Long Island and Cape Cod, the land rises fairly quickly to well above sea level. Sure, Boston, New York and Philadelphia will be threatened, but these are geographically confined areas that could lend themselves to protection by Dutch-style dikes. The West Coast too tends to rise rapidly to well above sea level in most places. Only down in Southern California towards the San Diego area is the ground closer to sea level.

So what we see is that huge swaths of conservative America are set to face a biblical deluge in a few more presidential cycles.
Then there’s the matter of the Midwest, which climate experts say is likely to face a permanent condition of unprecedented drought, making the place largely unlivable, and certainly unfarmable. The agribusinesses and conservative farmers that have been growing corn and wheat may be able to stretch out this doomsday scenario by deep well drilling, but west of the Mississippi, the vast Ogallala Aquifer that has allowed for such irrigation is already being tapped out. It will not be replaced.
So again, we will see the decline and depopulation of the nation’s vast midsection—noted for its consistent conservatism. Only in the northernmost area, around the Great Lakes (which will be not so great anymore), and along the Canadian border, will there still be enough rain for farming and continued large population concentrations, but those regions, like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, are also more liberal in their politics.
Finally, in the Southwest, already parched and stiflingly hot, the rise in energy costs and the soaring temperatures will put an end to right-wing retirement communities like Phoenix, Tucson and Palm Springs. Already the Salton Sea is fading away and putting Palm Springs on notice that the good times are coming to an end. Another right-wing haven soon to be gone.
So the future political map of America is likely to look as different as the much shrunken geographical map, with much of the so-called “red” state region either gone or depopulated.
There is a poetic justice to this of course. It is conservatives who are giving us the candidates who steadfastly refuse to have the nation take steps that could slow the pace of climate change, so it is appropriate that they should bear the brunt of its impact.
The important thing is that we, on the higher ground both actually and figuratively, need to remember that, when they begin their historic migration from their doomed regions, we not give them the keys to the city. They certainly should be offered assistance in their time of need, but we need to keep a firm grip on our political systems, making sure that these guilty throngs who allowed the world to go to hell are gerrymandered into political impotence in their new homes.
There will be much work to be done to help the earth and its residents—human and non-human—survive this man-made catastrophe, and we can’t have these future refugee troglodytes, should their personal disasters still fail to make them recognize reality, mucking things up again.
It should be considered acceptable, in this stifling new world, to say, “Shut up. We told you this would happen.”

Global Warming Will Save America from the Right...Eventually | BaltimoreChronicle.com

See why there is a divide in this country. Silly ass liberal GW'ers like this moron.

Okay, I'm askeered. How much money do you want?

Seriously, I saw a commercial where (was it Gulf?) is in the process of extracting heat energy from the earth's mantle in order to provide a new energy source.

Now, that's spooky! What if they suck all the heat out of the earth's insides?

The area that will by completely inundated by the rising ocean—and not in a century but in the lifetime of my two cats

Stopped reading there. Cats live, what, 20 years at best?

Nobody serious would claim this. I'm well aware of the reality of man made climate change and the need for change. But even Al Gore's deepest fetish-fantasies don't claim 20 years.

Originally Posted by Howe Itis

Okay, I'm askeered. How much money do you want?

Seriously, I saw a commercial where (was it Gulf?) is in the process of extracting heat energy from the earth's mantle in order to provide a new energy source.

Now, that's spooky! What if they suck all the heat out of the earth's insides?

Now the GWers will claim....without any proof...that this will cause the earth to split in two.

Originally Posted by Dr.Knuckles

Stopped reading there. Cats live, what, 20 years at best?

Nobody serious would claim this. I'm well aware of the reality of man made climate change and the need for change. But even Al Gore's deepest fetish-fantasies don't claim 20 years.

See why no one takes these nuts serious. If they could prove GW'ing is man made with facts and not half truths and down right lies I would listen. But people like this moron who wrote this tripe is the cause of me lumping them all into one big group of fruitnuts.

Originally Posted by Howe Itis

Okay, I'm askeered. How much money do you want?

Seriously, I saw a commercial where (was it Gulf?) is in the process of extracting heat energy from the earth's mantle in order to provide a new energy source.

Now, that's spooky! What if they suck all the heat out of the earth's insides?

(((((((((sigh)))))))))))))

IT is called "hot rock" technology and think in terms of volcanoes - if they have not exhausted the heat supply...............

Originally Posted by Pass the Bong

See why no one takes these nuts serious. If they could prove GW'ing is man made with facts and not half truths and down right lies I would listen. But people like this moron who wrote this tripe is the cause of me lumping them all into one big group of fruitnuts.

Only in America.............

Somehow your political scene that is becoming more and more reminiscent of a civil war, has also fractured the whole global warming debate.

Now I can give you solid facts about change, I can show you the modelled projections for what they think will occur and I can show you the speculation.

What you have to understand though is that prediction is given as probabilities - from low through medium to high.

Just because someone is talking from the low probability side it does not ensure they will be wrong

I think Bong is right. Every screaming meemie making stuff up dillutes the message. And the message is important.

Heat from the Earth's guts? Possible? Brilliant!! Exactly the kind of thinking that will revolutionize our ideas of energy and save us from burning fossil fuels. It and/or other new technologies will work, become standard, became a fact of life... and every right-wing luddite will laugh with glee "see, all those fruitloops thought the sky was falling, but nothing happened, what a bunch of fools" Comfortable with their standard of living provided by scientists.

Originally Posted by Bowerbird

Only in America.............

Somehow your political scene that is becoming more and more reminiscent of a civil war, has also fractured the whole global warming debate.

Now I can give you solid facts about change, I can show you the modelled projections for what they think will occur and I can show you the speculation.

What you have to understand though is that prediction is given as probabilities - from low through medium to high.

Just because someone is talking from the low probability side it does not ensure they will be wrong

What do you mean "only in America?"

Do you mean this as an insult on me or all Americans?

For every so-called fact you present as fact that climate change is man made, I can counter with someones opinion (same as yours) that it is not. There is proof though that the earth for the last two years has seen not a rise in temp but a slow reverse.

Originally Posted by Pass the Bong

What do you mean "only in America?"

Do you mean this as an insult on me or all Americans?

For every so-called fact you present as fact that climate change is man made, I can counter with someones opinion (same as yours) that it is not. There is proof though that the earth for the last two years has seen not a rise in temp but a slow reverse.

Wow. Two years out of billions? That's some hardcore evidence there Bong.