environment: anthropocene foreign policy pakistan
by Warren
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Month 8, Day 22: Imagine…
I figured I’d push the Pakistan/post-climate-change-foreign-policy angle a few more times, and found a suitable article in the NYT to hang it on. This one came out rather well, I think. In any event, I relish any opportunity to use the word “epiphenomena.”
Post-flood Pakistan will not only be a nation full of shattered lives and human misery. It will also be an opportunity for the world to demonstrate a new approach to foreign policy that takes into account the reality of anthropogenic climate chaos. For twenty-five years, climatologists have predicted that the greenhouse effect would lead to ever more erratic and freakish weather; it’s finally here, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Which means that more of the world’s nations will be battered by climatic forces beyond their control. More heatwaves, droughts, massive floods, blizzards, storms — leading to more human misery and political instability. If we as a species are to survive in our self-created Anthropocene epoch, nations must learn to share resources and infrastructure against this common enemy. In an age of climate chaos, war and its profitable epiphenomena are luxuries we can no longer afford.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: foreign policy Hillary Clinton pakistan
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Month 8, Day 21: Time To Speak Truth
Figured I’d continue on the theme outlined yesterday and write to Hillary Clinton.
Dear Secretary Clinton,
It is obvious that the United States’ foreign policy in South Asia is going to be significantly affected by the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan. This will be the first case of important policy alternations being brought about by the effects of climate change, but it is assuredly not the last.
Twenty-five years ago, climatologists begin predicting that increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases would lead to dramatic changes in weather pattern across the globe; they anticipated more storms, more floods, more heat waves, more blizzards, more droughts. Now, despite the frantic protestations of the deniers in the U.S. Senate and their enablers in our country’s mass media, those predictions are coming true.
Climate chaos is going to get worse over the next decades, and the current policy paradigm will soon be hopelessly out of date. Either the nations of the world will be able to agree on a strategy for collective adaptation to the destructive effects of climate change — or we are going to see resource wars that will multiply the current level of global misery a thousandfold.
As Secretary of State, it is crucial that you make this point loud and clear in your public statements. Climate change isn’t going to start happening sometime in the future; it’s making its effects felt right now — in the drowning provinces of Pakistan, in the burning peat-bogs of drought-ridden Russia, and in hundreds of other places around the globe. Our news media is unable or unwilling to make the connection; they must be prodded into recognizing the magnitude of the most significant existential threat our species has yet faced.
We need your help.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment: foreign policy John Kerry pakistan
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Month 8, Day 20: Time To Make Some Connections
Continuing on the theme of political upheaval in Pakistan in the aftermath of the flood, the New York Times had a good analysis (which naturally didn’t mention climate change). I started out reading the article thinking I’d write a standard admonitory letter, bla bla bla disgrace to the media bla bla bla well-informed citizenry bla bla bla.
Then I saw that Kerry was headed over there, and tonight’s letter formed itself.
The UN Development Programme’s statistics on CO2 as a proportion of world population are available here, and are well worth a look.
Dear Senator Kerry –
We learn that the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan is going to have drastic and unpredictable consequences for America’s own foreign policy in the region. The shape of our aid to Pakistan is certainly going to be profoundly transformed. I was glad to hear that you are headed there to assess the situation, for your experience in foreign affairs is invaluable.
It is a tragic coincidence that the disaster in Pakistan should also intersect with another policy area in which you have great knowledge and expertise — climate change.
Pakistan’s inundation, like New York’s heat wave, Russia’s drought, and Washington’s blizzard, is part of our new post-Industrial weather pattern — climate chaos.
Climate chaos was predicted twenty-five years ago and climatologists have been affirming and substantiating their predictions ever since. We’re just getting the first taste of it now, and even if we had taken decisive action in this Congress, climate chaos is going to get worse before it gets a lot better.
As you know.
Please use your public statements on the subject of Pakistan to make the point that the region’s political instability and upheaval is a diplomatic consequence of climate change. Please use your statements on the Senate floor to make the point crystal clear to your colleagues.
Even as America mobilizes to do its very best to alleviate Pakistan’s climatic miseries, we must focus on the conditions that gave rise to them.
The proportion of a nation’s CO2 emissions to its share of world population is a useful measure. America’s is five times greater. Pakistan’s is one-fifth. We put enormous quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere; Pakistan’s contribution, by contrast, amounts to a rounding error. In other words, Pakistanis didn’t create the climate chaos that is now destroying their country. We did.
Weather-triggered political instability is a predictable consequence of climate change, and yet another reason that quick and robust legislative action must be taken.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment: New York Post pakistan Ralph Peters
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Month 8, Day 19: Deeper and Dire
I can’t believe I’ve never written to the New York Post before. Their columnist Ralph Peters raises the possibility that the floods may bring about the downfall of the Zardari government. Maybe. Needless to say, the idea that anthropogenic climate change is somehow implicated in this catastrophe is absolutely out of the question. BTW, the comments on Peters’ article are absolutely horrific. My favorite is this one:
beatitdems
08/18/2010 5:52 AM
35 Million Refugees Drowning in Pakistan is surely a tragedy that tears at the Human Heart , MR. Peters . And we all rush to their aid , and pray for their relief . The closest parallel that comes to mind , are the Millions of Americans who are drowning now , right here in America under the flood of taxes and the inept leadership of a Communist Dictatorship led by Barack Hussein Obama .
Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.
Anyway, here’s my letter:
As Ralph Peters suggests, Pakistani extremists may tout the torrential rains as a judgment from on high. He comments, “Sound incredible? Look at some of the things educated Americans believe.” Indeed. For example, even as New York fries, Russia dries, and Pakistan drowns, many educated Americans believe that global warming is a fraud and a hoax — despite the fact that climate scientists predicted all of these phenomena in the mid-1980s. Zardari’s regime may be the first governmental casualty of climate change; it is unlikely to be the last. The fact that the phrase “global warming” appears nowhere in his article is a sad indictment of a news media that has abdicated its responsibilities. But as Peters points out, “People believe what comforts them and what feeds their rage.” It’s easier to believe in an international scientific conspiracy than it is to face the facts and act on them.
Warren Senders
environment: climate change pakistan
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Month 8, Day 18: Will Rupert Murdoch Give A Million Dollars To Pakistan?
Incredibly tired. The New York Daily News had an article about Pakistan’s misery, so I used my LTE template to save time.
Good night, all.
As devastating floods hammer Pakistan, it’s easy to dismiss both the extreme weather and the twenty million people whose lives have been shattered from our minds. After all, Pakistan is a long way off. But their extreme weather is a manifestation of the same complex set of phenomena that gave New York its most recent heat wave: anthropogenic global warming. If we as a nation are to undertake meaningful action on behalf of the planetary systems that sustain us, we must ensure that our citizenry is genuinely informed about these issues, no matter how complex or daunting they may seem. The fact that the phrase “climate change” does not appear at all in an article on Pakistan’s misery is a demonstration of how poorly our news media handle the most important threat humanity has ever faced.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Charlie Baker Deval Patrick Jill Stein Tim Cahill Worcester Telegram
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Month 8, Day 17: Pronounced Wuh-stuh!
I didn’t feel very passionate today.
Our candidates for Governor had a debate. The Worcester Telegram had an article about it.
That the gubernatorial debate included questions on global warming is a positive reflection on the quality of electoral politics in Massachusetts. Too many politicians at both state and national levels are unable to take a clear position on a matter where public opinion polls reflect a distressing ignorance of unequivocal scientific evidence. Conversely, Cahill and Baker’s unwillingness to agree that humans are to blame for global climate change is a negative reflection on the Republican party, which has made climate denialism a central plank of its policy structure. But the facts are in: human activities are responsible for the changing climate, and our generation must begin paying the bill for the past century’s profligate waste of the planet’s fossil fuel resources. Massachusetts needs more mass transit; it needs more renewable energy; it needs more attention paid to conservation — and it needs politicians who are ready to recognize scientific reality.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: filibuster reform John Kerry
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Month 8, Day 16: Filibusted
Figured I’d write to Kerry and whine about the filibuster.
Dear Senator Kerry,
On the assumption that the upcoming November elections will preserve the Democratic majority in the Senate, I am writing to ask you to speak as powerfully as possible on behalf of filibuster reform. The shelving of critical climate legislation has been a bitter pill to swallow for any of us who are concerned about the looming climate crisis. At the moment when it seemed we might possibly be able to make headway against Republican obstructionism, the problems involved in assembling the sixty votes required for cloture effectively doomed any hope for a meaningful bill. This is not how the Senate is supposed to work.
The behavior of Senate Republicans and a few conservative Democrats has left the United States in a deplorable position: as billions of people around the world face an uncertain future due to the ravages of climate change, a tiny group of rich and powerful men and women hold the power to stall any action. This is not how the Senate is supposed to work.
Even for bills that are broadly popular, a single senator from a state with a population less than that of Massachusetts’ capitol can effectively stymie forward motion — until special provisions, concessions or earmarks are inserted. A single senator can place an anonymous hold on legislation without giving any reason whatever, again halting forward motion. This is not how the Senate is supposed to work.
It should be no surprise that Congress’ approval ratings are low, for voters see that there is no political will to get things done; there is only a will to procrastinate….and procrastination is not a characteristic we expect in our leaders or our representatives. This is not how the Senate is supposed to work.
I am a lifelong Democrat and a fervent environmentalist. I believe deeply in the potential of our system of government. But right now, America’s Senate is completely dysfunctional. The Senate is supposed to work — and it doesn’t.
Please advocate forcefully for filibuster reform. The Senate needs to get to work. We cannot survive another legislative session of delaying tactics.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment: climate change Middle East petroleum subsidies
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Month 8, Day 15: Shhhhh! Don’t Mention The War!
Time Magazine runs an opinion piece by Michael Mandelbaum, stating that we must reduce the impact of the Middle East on our foreign and domestic policy. Duh. Naturally, the closest he comes to mentioning climate change is in these paragraphs:
Lower U.S. oil consumption would also weaken oil-dependent leaders outside the Middle East who pursue anti-American policies: Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Vladimir Putin of Russia. While the world will not be able to do entirely without Middle Eastern oil for many decades, substantially lowering the amount of oil we use would reduce the region’s significance while shifting the balance of power between producers and consumers in favor of consumers — that is, in favor of the U.S. and its friends. (See what Barack Obama needs to do to improve five international areas.)
The best way to reduce oil use is to raise the price of gasoline. People would then use less of it. In the short term, they would drive less and make more use of public transportation. Over the long term, they would demand fuel-efficient vehicles. At the same time, higher gasoline prices would make renewable fuels like ethanol and electrically powered cars economically viable.
While West European countries and Japan impose high taxes on gasoline, the U.S., the world’s largest consumer, does not. Compared with what the U.S. national interest requires, gasoline is ruinously cheap for Americans. The refusal of the U.S. to charge itself as much for gasoline as is good for it (and for other countries) is the single greatest foreign policy failure of the past three decades.
So I wrote a letter trying to draw a connection.
Michael Mandelbaum has perfectly articulated almost all the reasons that America needs to transform its relationship with the Middle East. He notes correctly that US petroleum pricing polity is self-destructive — by subsidizing fossil-fuel consumption so heavily, we’ve created an economy in which waste is rewarded, with all-too-predictable results. Cleaning up after the past century’s profligacy isn’t going to come cheap, and coping with the effects of global warming (heatwaves, fires, floods, catastrophic storms, oceanic acidification, and drought, to name a few) is going to be very expensive indeed. We (and our children) will be paying the bill for the energy we (and our parents) thought was almost free. It’s too bad that Mandelbaum didn’t mention the looming climate crisis, for of all the consequences of our addiction to Middle-Eastern oil, global climate change is the one which will do the most damage in the long run.
Warren Senders
environment: climate change peat fires Russia
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Month 8, Day 14: Peat Fires
Jeebus. This sounds really depressing:
Firefighters laid down a pipe to a nearby lake and pumped 100 gallons of water every minute, around the clock, until the surface of what is known as Fire No. 3 was a muddy expanse of charred stumps.
And still the fire burned on.
Under the surface, fire crept through a virtually impenetrable peat bog, spewing the smoke that — until the wind shifted on Thursday, providing what meteorologists said was likely to be temporary relief — had been choking the Russian capital this summer.
The peat bogs were drained up to ninety years ago, when Soviet electrical generators burned peat. Naturally, nobody thought to reflood them after they’d been harvested. Now they’re just sitting there up to fifteen feet deep. And when they catch on fire, the firefighters’ lives really really really suck:
Fighting peat fires is an exhausting, muddy job, taking weeks or months, in which hardly a flame is visible. Matted, rotting vegetation smolders and steams deep underground.
In my letter, I tried to make the peat fires a specific example of a broader trend of disregarding the long-term consequences of ecological destruction…consequences which are going to affect all of us, sooner rather than later.
Russia’s peat fires are the disastrous result of an earlier failure to respect an ecosystem’s integrity. The early Soviet engineers who drained the peat bogs to fuel their generators but never reflooded them couldn’t have anticipated a smoke-filled Moscow. The Russian crisis is emblematic of the global one; our fossil-fueled economy (so rewarding in the short run) has triggered unintended long-term consequences all over the globe. Smoke, fires, drought, flood, wind, rain, weirdness.
The first rule of getting out of a hole is to recognize that you are in one. Our information economy must recognize and address the connection between global climate change and local environmental crises like the one choking Russia. The second rule is to stop digging. Our energy economy must move off fossil fuels as rapidly as possible.
Warren Senders
environment: climate change heat wave LA Times
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Month 8, Day 13: L.A. Heat Edition.
There’s a heat wave expected in LA this weekend, says the LA Times.
Not a standard boilerplate LTE.
A midsummer heat wave is not particularly remarkable. They happen all the time. But there are more and more of them happening these days, in the U.S. and around the world. As a consequence of climate change, we’re getting very extreme weather, and we’re getting it more often. While it’s impossible to say that global warming caused a specific weather event, climatologists have predicted for two decades that it will bring about ever more frequent extremes of temperature and precipitation. In the past, climate change was something that would happen in the future. But the past is gone and the future is now. Climate change is happening to us. News media must begin including this information as part of their print and online articles on weather conditions. People need to understand what’s going on so they can make informed decisions; ignorance is no longer an option.
Warren Senders
Oh, and for what it’s worth, I only became aware that there was a TV show by that name a few seconds before hitting “publish.”