27 February 2004

by Anai Rhoads
Veriana Media

Veriana Media - The Pentagon requisitioned two private advisors last Autumn to evaluate potential global impact resulting from precipitous changes to the earth's climate. The report will not be passed along to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld according to a spokesman for Pentagon official Andrew W. Marshall, but instead put on the backburner pending further data.

Marshall issued a statement Friday regarding the speculation that the Pentagon downplayed serious changes to the environment. In his press release he expressed that the findings "reflect the limits of scientific models and information when it comes to predicting the effects of abrupt global warming. Much of what the study predicts is still speculation."

Marshall, head of the Office of Net Assessments, said his intent was to delve into whether countries which are directly affected by rapid climate change would either show significant impairment or benefit from the changes.

Commissioned October 2003 and completed early February 2004, the report examines future environmental disturbances and is said to have a cataclysmic effect on life as we know it.

The thirty-eight page report written by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall of the DoD Global Business Network (GBN) cost the Pentagon $100,000. It suggests global warming will reach its peak by the year 2010, where it is expected to be followed with a sudden cooling trend.

The last time such a dramatic change occurred was 8,200 years ago and lasted for nearly 100 years. The Earth is currently only five to nine degrees warmer than it was 10,000 years ago during the last ice age.

The summary includes the following text:

• Regions may experience severe storms and flooding. In 2007, surging seas break through levees in the Netherlands, making the Hague unlivable
• By 2020, after a decade of cooling, Europe's climate becomes more like Siberia's
• Mega-droughts will hit southern China and northern Europe around 2010 and last ten years. With China's behemothic population and demand for food to sustain it, it will make the country especially vulnerable
• In the United States, agricultural areas suffer from soil loss due to higher winds and drier climate, but the country survives the economic disruption without pernicious losses

Greenhouse Effect

Rejecting pleas from United States' European allies and even many Third World countries, Bush proceeded to eliminate the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Kyoto was instrumental in in reducing greenhouse gases and involved more than a hundred nations combined.

Greenhouse gases have a direct link to global warming. Naturally occuring greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and water vapor. Other pollutants originate from solid waste, fossil fuels, and wood. Some gases occur normally in the atmosphere, while others are caused by human intervention.

Even more formidable greenhouse gases that are not known to occur naturally are hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), which emanate from a variety of industrial sources.

Scientists Speak Out

More than sixty scientists, twenty of which are Nobel laureates, spoke up on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) accusing the Bush administration of having twisted scientific fact to serve its policy agenda.

"Science, to quote President Bush's father, the former president, relies on freedom of inquiry and objectivity," said Russell Train, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Nixon and Ford, who joined the scientists in calling for action. "But this administration has obstructed that freedom and distorted that objectivity in ways that were unheard of in any previous administration."

"Across a broad range of issues, the administration has undermined the quality of the scientific advisory system and the morale of the governments outstanding scientific personnel," said Dr. Kurt Gottfried, emeritus professor of physics at Cornell University and Chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Whether the issue is lead paint, clean air or climate change, this behavior has serious consequences for all Americans."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that unsupervised global warming will cause a discernible increase in human and animal mortality due to an increase of infectious diseases. According to the IPCC, every country, even industrialised, will not be able to dodge such an impact.

©2004 Veriana Media. Reproduction must be authorised in writing only, and altering the material and this copyright is prohibited and protected by international law. Please contact Veriana Media for reprint and licencing permission.

Further Reading

10 Things You Can Do to Curb Global Warming