Pentagon Report on Catastrophic Climate Change: Twilight 2020 setup?

[Malenfant]

There's no doubt that the weather has been getting very wonky over the past 20 years or so, and I doubt dismiss climate change at all.

But when I read things that say "by 2007 violent storms will smash through the sea protection in the Netherlands and render it uninhabitable", I am more inclined to throw it in the trash where it belongs. That's just prophetic nonsense - fact is that nobody can predict that sort of thing to that sort of accuracy.

Heck, we can't predict the weather beyond a few weeks with any accuracy, how are we expected to believe these catastrophic predictions for the next 50 years, especially when the climate is being even more dynamic than it usually is anyway?

I suspect the Pentagon may be saying this more as an excuse for America to get even more paranoid and insular about global troubles than it already is.

 

[vutpakdi]

The Observer has a report that there is a secret Pentagon report which predicts catastrophic climate changes in the next 20 years. The list of predictions sounds like a perfect skeleton on which to build a Twilight 2020 world.

Ron

 

[Whipsnade]

Mr. Vutpakdi,

Interesting article and a nice starting point for building a Twilight:2020 world.

It is also interesting to see the Observer grant the Pentagon so much credence. Normally, if the Pentagon had stated " 2 + 2 = 4 ", the Observer could counted on arguing the opposite.

You'll also notice how the Observer confers great status to the originators of the report; the Office of Net Assessment and Andrew Marshall. This is at complete odds with the Observer's opinion regarding both the Office of Net Assessment's and Andrew Marshall's support for a ballistic missile defense.

If the Observer is to be believed, Marshall and the Office are idiots about SDI and savants about climate change. It always pays to keep the messenger in mind.

The Office of Net Assessment is a not-so secretive think tank that prepares plans to handle various 'What If' scenarios. That office would also prepare plans to handle ebola-influenza epidemics, civil war in Canada, K'Kree landing on the White House South Lawn, and a whole host of other, equally 'far-out' possibilities.

Plans of this type are a long standing US trait. We've had a variety of war plans on the books ever since founding the naval war college in the late 1800s and setting an army staff in the early 1900s. Some plans even predate that.

Many will be famailiar with War Plan Orange; the plan to handle a US-Japan conflict in the Pacific. Nimitz was quoted as saying that, aside from the use of kamikazes, most of the Pacific portion of WW2 had already been foreseen and planned about.

The US also had a War Plan Black for Germany, a War Plan Red for Great Britain (even after WW1), and a variety of other color-coded plans. In the 50s, the US even planned thermonuclear war against the USSR under the plan name 'Drop Shot'.

The Pentagon most likely directed the Office of Net Assessment to gather the most dire predictions of climate change and forecast their effect on civilization. Does this mean the Pentagon believes they will all come true? No, of course not. However, the Pentagon is paid very well to be prepared for even the most unlikely of scenarios.


Sincerely,
Larsen

 

[mike wightman]

And here is another way they plan to make sure they are prepared for all eventualities.

 

[Straybow]

Decline in proofreading skills strikes again

· By 2007 violent storms smash coastal barriers rendering large parts of the Netherlands inhabitable. …

Good news for the Dutch—they've been struggling so long to reclaim land from the sea, and now the storms will do it for them!

 

[Malenfant]

I suspect this is more how the Pentagon would like the world to be in the future rather than anything based on actual scientific research. I'm highly skeptical of pretty much all the claims in there, in fact.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I have the gut feeling that what the naysayers put out in regard to climactic changes sound like famous last words...

I can distinctly remember being younger and not needing spf 500 sunblock to go out in the sun for extended periods, and at least in my part of the world, there being a clear delineation between seasons. (Winter was Winter, What?)

Also, considering that it full-on SNOWED on my wedding day (May 18th, 2002) sort of brought it home that something is indeed rotten in Denmark... Freak storms happen, yes, but...

I often think the ostriching on this subject veils an agenda on the parts of the prime polluters of the world, and I suspect also that that agenda involves the putting of profit before a workable biosphere...

One of your Terran prophets once said "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," and think only time will show how badly we messed up.

Pardon an old Scout, most Gracious Lords...

 

[ElHombre]

I find myself agreeing with the good Baron. The weather does seem to be getting most peculiar. Admittedly, I do live in Texas where the saying goes: 'If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait a moment. It'll change.'

 

[ACK!!]

Originally posted by ElHombre:
I find myself agreeing with the good Baron. The weather does seem to be getting most peculiar. Admittedly, I do live in Texas where the saying goes: 'If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait a moment. It'll change.'

It was the same in Atlanta. I use to live Southeast Ga too.


Here is one minor league example. You couldn't grow the Ga Belle peach anymore in Georgia you have to grow the Texas Belle a different variety all together.

The climate has changed enough that crop growing patterns in some regions have already changed slightly.

Both sides have their own agendas. The apologists for the polluter's interests and the environmental groups and there appears to be no real voice of sanity unwilling to pander to either side and come up with truly lasting solutions.

 

[robject]

Originally posted by ElHombre:
I find myself agreeing with the good Baron. The weather does seem to be getting most peculiar. Admittedly, I do live in Texas where the saying goes: 'If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait a moment. It'll change.'

Whereabouts in Dallas? You know Daryen is in far-north Dallas too...

 

[flykiller]

this petagon report, combined with a little paranoia, could provide a basis for many traveller adventures. greedy corporatists deliberately polluting their home, ideological environmentalists exacerbating the situation so they can feel superior and say "I told you so", panicky populations rioting and forming vigilante bands, trade opportunities going in, passenger opportunities going out, political groups and recovery teams moving in to scavenge opportunities and equipment, mercenary bands hiring in and then trying to fight their way back off-planet, impartial science teams moving in to observe, biased science teams moving in to make news and money, new animals appearing (if you believe in evolution), aliens better suited to the new climate moving in to take over, engineering organizations trying new weather-control techniques ... quite a bit of potential activity there.

 

[ElHombre]

robject,

I live on the other side of the river in cedar hill. about a stone's throw away from the county line. I do have family up in plano & parts north from there.

*for you non-dallasites out there, the river refers to the trinity river which goes east-west in the dallas area. although calling it a river is a MASSIVE stretch of the imagination. it's more of a broad, VERY smelly stream.*

*plano is a suburb about 20 miles/32km north of dallas. it's where they filmed the tv series 'dallas' in the 70's & 80's. it doesn't smell as bad as the aforementioned river.*