By John Scales Avery,
New Age Islam
15 January
2-21
Ceasefire In Our Suicidal War Against Nature
Here are
some quotations from a December 2, 2020 article by Justin Rowlatt entitled
“Humans waging suicidal war on nature - UN chief Antonio Guterres”:
“Humanity
is waging what he describes as a suicidal war on the natural world.
“Nature
always strikes back, and is doing so with gathering force and fury, he told a
BBC special event on the environment.
“Mr
Guterres wants to put tackling climate change at the heart of the UN's global
mission.
“In a
speech entitled State of the Planet, he announced that its central objective
next year will be to build a global coalition around the need to reduce
emissions to net zero.
“Net zero
refers to cutting greenhouse gas emissions as far as possible and balancing any
further releases by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere.
“Mr
Guterres said that every country, city, financial institution and company
should adopt plans for a transition to net zero emissions by 2050. In his view,
they will also need to take decisive action now to put themselves on the path
towards achieving this vision.
“The objective, said the UN secretary general,
will be to cut global emissions by 45% by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.
“Here's
what Mr Guterres demanded the nations of the world do: 1) Put a price on carbon. 2) Phase out fossil
fuel finance and end fossil fuel subsidies. 3) Shift the tax burden from income
to carbon, and from tax payers to polluters
. 4)
Integrate the goal of carbon neutrality (a similar concept to net zero) into
all economic and fiscal policies and decisions. 5) Help those around the world
who are already facing the dire impacts of climate change.
“It is an
ambitious agenda, as Mr Guterres acknowledged, but he said that radical action
is needed now.
“The
science is clear, Mr Guterres told the BBC, unless the world cuts fossil fuel
production by 6% every year between now and 2030, things will get worse. Much
worse.
“Climate
policies have yet to rise to the challenge, the UN chief said, adding that
`without concerted action, we may be headed for a catastrophic three to
five-degree temperature rise this century.
“The impact
is already being felt around the world. Apocalyptic fires and floods, cyclones
and hurricanes are the new normal. Biodiversity is collapsing. Deserts are
spreading. Oceans are choking with plastic waste.
“Mr
Guterres said the nations of the world must bring ambitious commitments to cut
emissions to the international climate conference the UK and Italy are hosting
in Glasgow in November next year. As well as pressing for action on the climate
crisis, he urged nations to tackle the extinction crisis that is destroying
biodiversity and to step up efforts to reduce pollution. We face, he said, a
moment of truth.
“But he
does discern some glimmers of hope. `He acknowledged that the European Union,
the US, China, Japan, South Korea and more than 110 other countries have
committed to become carbon neutral by the middle of this century. He said he
wants to see this momentum turned into a movement. Technology will help us to
reach these targets, Mr Guterres said he believes. The coal business is going
up in smoke' because it costs more to run most of today's coal plants than it
does to build new renewable plants from scratch, he told the BBC.
“We must
forge a safer, more sustainable and equitable path, the UN chief concluded. He
said it is time for this war against the planet to end, adding: We must declare
a permanent ceasefire and reconcile with nature.”
The Danger Of A Catastrophic Global Famine
As glaciers
melt in the Himalayas, depriving India and China of summer water supplies; as
sea levels rise, drowning the fertile rice fields of Vietnam and Bangladesh; as
drought threatens the productivity of grain-producing regions of North America;
and as the end of the fossil fuel era impacts modern high-yield agriculture,
there is a threat of wide-spread famine involving billions rather than millions
of people.
People
threatened with famine will become refugees, desperately seeking entry into
countries where food shortages are less acute. Wars, such as those currently
waged in the Middle East, will add to the problem.
What can we
do to avoid this crisis, or at least to reduce its severity? We must urgently
address the problem of climate change; and we must shift money from military
expenditure to the support of birth control programs and agricultural research.
We must also replace the institution of war by a system of effective global
governance and enforcible international laws.
Optimum Population In The Distant Future
What is the
optimum population of the world? It is certainly not the maximum number that
can be squeezed onto the globe by eradicating every species of plant and animal
that cannot be eaten. The optimum global population is one that can be
supported in comfort, equality and dignity - and with respect for the
environment.
In 1848
(when there were just over one billion people in the world), John Stuart Mill
described the optimal global population in the following words:
“The
density of population necessary to enable mankind to obtain, in the greatest
degree, all the advantages of cooperation and social intercourse, has, in the
most populous countries, been attained. A population may be too crowded,
although all be amply supplied with food and raiment.
“... Nor is
there much satisfaction in contemplating the world with nothing left to the
spontaneous activity of nature; with every rood of land brought into cultivation,
which is capable of growing food for human beings; every flowery waste or
natural pasture plowed up, all quadrupeds or birds which are not domesticated
for man's use exterminated as his rivals for food, every hedgerow or
superfluous tree rooted out, and scarcely a place left where a wild shrub or
flower could grow without being eradicated as a weed in the name of improved
agriculture. If the earth must lose that great portion of its pleasantness which
it owes to things that the unlimited increase of wealth and population would
extirpate from it, for the mere purpose of enabling it to support a larger, but
not better or happier population, I sincerely hope, for the sake of posterity,
that they will be content to be stationary, long before necessity compels them
to it.”
A new freely downloadable book
I would
like to announce the publication of a new book, which discusses the
exponentially increasing stress that humans are placeing on their natural environment.
The book may be downloaded free of charge from the following link:
Other books and articles about global problems are on these links
http://eacpe.org/about-john-scales-avery/
https://wsimag.com/authors/716-john-scales-avery
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2020/11/free-online-books-on-serious-global-problems/
I hope that
you will circulate the links in this article to friends and contacts who might
be interested.
URL: https://newageislam.com/current-affairs/our-suicidal-war-nature-un/d/124079
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