Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Climate report shows security threat

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Climate report shows security threat

Click here to access article by Muniruzzaman Khan from Bangkok Post.

This author is identified as a chairman of the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change. He is a military general (retired?) from Bangladesh, a country very much threatened by rising sea levels. Therefore, he writes much more candidly about the threats of global warming that I have ever seen from any official representing a national or international agency.

When I meet with my colleagues at the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change--generals and admirals from around the world, all with career-long experience in military planning and operations--I am struck by the similarity of our concerns. All countries of the world are experiencing changes that are destabilising communities and increasing security concerns. Diseases are spreading, wells are drying up, storms are smashing cities and destroying crops, and rain is either a distant memory or an acute danger.