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?climate change: EU must boost military capabilities?
Posted: 11 Mar 2008, 16:41
by emordnilap
http://euobserver.com/9/25811/?rk=1#top
"Significant decreases [in crop yields] are expected to hit Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia and thus affect stability in a vitally strategic region for Europe," predicts the report, while "water supply in Israel might fall by 60 percent over this century."
The document also warns of major changes to landmass leading to territorial disputes, political radicalisation in poorer regions of the world, and the effects that sea-level rises and increases in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters would have on port cities and oil refineries.
Posted: 17 Mar 2008, 13:28
by fifthcolumn
Here's an idea.
The Romans used the army to build large scale engineering works.
Why can't we have our boys put to work installing wind farms and digging reservoirs for pumped storage instead of shooting iraqis and afghanis?
Posted: 17 Mar 2008, 13:31
by Andy Hunt
fifthcolumn wrote:Here's an idea.
The Romans used the army to build large scale engineering works.
Why can't we have our boys put to work installing wind farms and digging reservoirs for pumped storage instead of shooting iraqis and afghanis?
We will have to wait until market conditions make it a desirable investment.
Posted: 17 Mar 2008, 13:40
by Norm
fifthcolumn wrote:Here's an idea.
The Romans used the army to build large scale engineering works.
Why can't we have our boys put to work installing wind farms and digging reservoirs for pumped storage instead of shooting iraqis and afghanis?
The armed forces these days are highly skilled technicians in various fields. I don't think they would take too kindly to Navvy duties. Using prisoners though would get my vote.
Posted: 17 Mar 2008, 13:43
by RenewableCandy
Andy Hunt wrote:fifthcolumn wrote:Here's an idea.
The Romans used the army to build large scale engineering works.
Why can't we have our boys put to work installing wind farms and digging reservoirs for pumped storage instead of shooting iraqis and afghanis?
We will have to wait until market conditions make it a desirable investment.
That's not a fair comparison after all has war in Iraq been a desirable investment? Funnily enough the notorious PLA (China) spent some time planting swaths of trees in an effort to stop the Gobi Desert invading: sadly they planted too-thirsty trees and it didn't work. You need a system in which information (e.g. "This isn't working, but we can see that
that might...") can travel upwards as well as downwards. But the personnel would be perfect: can-do, patriotic and tough.
Posted: 17 Mar 2008, 13:43
by Andy Hunt
Dinor wrote:Using prisoners though would get my vote.
Me too. It's probably a violation of their 'human rights' though I would imagine.
Posted: 17 Mar 2008, 13:45
by Andy Hunt
RenewableCandy wrote:Andy Hunt wrote:fifthcolumn wrote:Here's an idea.
The Romans used the army to build large scale engineering works.
Why can't we have our boys put to work installing wind farms and digging reservoirs for pumped storage instead of shooting iraqis and afghanis?
We will have to wait until market conditions make it a desirable investment.
That's not a fair comparison after all has war in Iraq been a desirable investment?
I was being 'ironic' . . . the current mantra in government circles seems to be 'the market will provide' . . .
Posted: 17 Mar 2008, 13:53
by RenewableCandy
Dinor wrote:fifthcolumn wrote:Here's an idea.
The Romans used the army to build large scale engineering works.
Why can't we have our boys put to work installing wind farms and digging reservoirs for pumped storage instead of shooting iraqis and afghanis?
The armed forces these days are highly skilled technicians in various fields. I don't think they would take too kindly to Navvy duties. Using prisoners though would get my vote.
It needn't be navvy duties. Installing a wind turbine, or a water system, I would have thought that kind of technical work would be right up their street. Leave the prisoners where they are, they can always grow veg in the prison grounds or something. The rate food prices are going, that could soon be self-funding.