The “geniuses” recommend the 3 “P”s as the solution: Poverty, population control and propaganda.
The Guardian reports:
Celebrated scientists and development thinkers today warn that civilisation is faced with a perfect storm of ecological and social problems driven by overpopulation, overconsumption and environmentally malign technologies.
In the face of an “absolutely unprecedented emergency”, say the 18 past winners of the Blue Planet prize – the unofficial Nobel for the environment – society has “no choice but to take dramatic action to avert a collapse of civilisation. Either we will change our ways and build an entirely new kind of global society, or they will be changed for us”.
The stark assessment of the current global outlook by the group, who include Sir Bob Watson, the government’s chief scientific adviser on environmental issues, US climate scientist James Hansen, Prof José Goldemberg, Brazil’s secretary of environment during the Rio Earth summit in 1992, and Stanford University Prof Paul Ehrlich, is published today on the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the UN environment programme (Unep). The paper, which was commissioned by Unep, will feed into the Rio +20 earth summit conference in June…
The paper urges governments to:
• Replace GDP as a measure of wealth with metrics for natural, built, human and social capital – and how they intersect.
• Eliminate subsidies in sectors such as energy, transport and agriculture that create environmental and social costs, which currently go unpaid.
• Tackle overconsumption in the rich world, and address population pressure by empowering women, improving education and making contraception accessible to all.
• Transform decision-making processes to empower marginalised groups, and integrate economic, social and environmental policies instead of having them compete.
• Conserve and value biodiversity and ecosystem services, and create markets for them that can form the basis of green economies.
• Invest in knowledge through research and training.
“The current system is broken,” said Watson. “It is driving humanity to a future that is 3-5C warmer than our species has ever known, and is eliminating the ecology that we depend on for our health, wealth and senses of self.” [Emphasis added]
Correct link to the guardian article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/20/climate-change-overconsumption
Link to the blue planet paper:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/82268857/Blue-Planet-Synthesis-Paper-for-UNEP
I did not see any mention of President Obama’s science adviser John Holdren’s name. Hid long time collaborator Paul Ehrlich was mentioned. I suspect Holdren was barred from this meeting for political reasons now.
This group give you an idea of the type of world those advocating abolishing use of fossil fuels have in store for youl
Waving around Dr. Jim as authority for removing GDP as a measure of wealth (economic activity?) makes as strong a case as possibile – for hospitalization. I’d ask about the empowering women part, but I don’t have the patience to deal with their answer without some assumption that women wouldn’t bear children if they weren’t being forced to. (Would that be Dr. Jim’s or Sir Bob’s empirically derived bit of climate science? How many Watts per meter squared will that save?) To save the planet from unprecedented – absolutley unprecedented – abuse!?!
Living entirely within their own untethered heads. And stop calling them crazy – they hate that!
The needle on my sarcasm meter just went off scale.
That is a great quote I want to use that, when my kids leave the lights or tv on. “Do you see what you are doing? You’re driving us to a future that is 3 to 5 degrees warmer!” That is sure to get their attention.