A Climate Of War

What can we do to change the minds of decision makers and people in general to actually do something about preparing for the forthcoming economic/energy crises (the ones after this one!)?

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Aurora

A Climate Of War

Post by Aurora »

A new report (in PDF Format) on the war in Iraq and global warming from www.priceofoil.org:

http://priceofoil.org/wp-content/upload ... 008%29.pdf
1. Projected total US spending on the Iraq war could cover all of the global investments in renewable power generation that are needed between now and 2030 in order to halt current warming trends.

2. The war is responsible for at least 141 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) since March 2003. To put this in perspective, CO2 released by the war to date equals the emissions from putting 25 million more cars on the road in the US this year.

3. Emissions from the Iraq War to date are nearly two and a half times greater than what would be avoided between 2009 and 2016 were California to implement the auto emission regulations it has proposed, but that the Bush Administration has struck down. Finally, if the war was ranked as a country in terms of annual emissions, it would emit more CO2 each year than 139 of the world's nations do. Falling between New Zealand and Cuba, the war each year emits more than 60% of all countries on the planet.

4. Just the $600 billion that Congress has allocated for military operations in Iraq to date could have built over 9000 wind farms (at 50 MW capacity each), with the overall capacity to meet a quarter of the country's current electricity demand. If 25% of our power came from wind, rather than coal, it would reduce US GHG emissions by over 1 billion metric tons of CO2 per year -- equivalent to approximately 1/6 of the country's total CO2 emissions in 2006.

5. In 2006, the US spent more on the war in Iraq than the whole world spent on investment in renewable energy.

6. US presidential candidate Barack Obama has committed to spending "$150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of green energy technology and infrastructure." The US spends nearly that much on the war in Iraq in just 10 months.
:shock: :roll: :evil:
Eternal Sunshine
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Post by Eternal Sunshine »

Reading this makes me feel sick. :( The war has been wrong on every level. I wonder if Bush still thinks it was all worth it.

Actually, scrap that - of course he doesn't care whether it was worth it or not. I'm going to stop writing this now before I get too angry. :evil:
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Kentucky Fried Panda
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Post by Kentucky Fried Panda »

Wait until it really kicks off...
fifthcolumn
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Post by fifthcolumn »

Yes it's sickening isn't it?

The thing that keeps me sane is I don't really believe that our leaders want to start wars.

I think that they think it's easier to invest their money in arms companies and start wars than figure out a way to avoid peak oil.
In 2001 there were no obvious solutions.

Will the big money guys invest in renewables and efficiency and electrification of transport or will they invest in arms companies once more?

The answers will be there NOW in the stock charts of the arms companies for all to see.
Toadstool
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Post by Toadstool »

When you know politics, nothing really surprises you with them. It's strange as I'm not angry at all, just the normal feelingless emotion of apathy that there are no limit to how low the powers that be will fall.
Imi place sa ma distrez jucand jocuri de logica si rezolvand orice fel de provocari logice, in special timpul il petrec pe acest site de jocuri gratis.
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