Catastrophic Weather Events Are Becoming the New Normal --
Are You Ready for Life on Our Planet Circa 2011?
For two decades now we've been ignoring the increasingly impassioned pleas
of scientists that our burning of fossil fuels was a bad idea. And now we're
getting pinched.
by Bill McKibben
Alternet: February 2, 2011 |
If you were in the space shuttle looking down yesterday, you would have seen
a pair of truly awesome, even fearful, sights.
Much of North America was obscured by a 2,000-mile storm dumping vast
quantities of snow from Texas to Maine--between the wind and snow,
forecasters described it as "probably the worst snowstorm ever to affect"
Chicago, and said waves as high as 25 feet were rocking buoys on
Lake Michigan.
Meanwhile, along the shore of Queensland in Australia, the vast cyclone Yasi
was sweeping ashore; though the storm hit at low tide, the country's weather
service warned that "the impact is likely to be more life threatening than
any experienced during recent generations," especially since its torrential
rains are now falling on ground already flooded from earlier storms. Here's
how Queensland premier Anna Bligh addressed her people before the storm hit:
"We know that the long hours ahead of you are going to be the hardest that
you face. We will be thinking of you every minute of every hour between now
and daylight and we hope that you can feel our
thoughts, that you will take strength from the fact that we are keeping you
close and in our hearts."
Welcome to our planet, circa 2011--a planet that, like some unruly
adolescent, has decided to test the boundaries. For two centuries now we've
been burning coal and oil and gas and thus pouring carbon into the
atmosphere; for two decades now we've been ignoring the increasingly
impassioned pleas of scientists that this is a Bad Idea. And now we're
getting pinched.
Oh, there have been snowstorms before, and cyclones-our planet has always
produced
extreme events. But by definition extreme events are supposed to be rare,
and all of a sudden they're not. In 2010 nineteen nations set new all-time
temperature records (itself a record!) and when the mercury hit 128 in early
June along the Indus, the entire continent of Asia set a new all-time
temperature mark. Russia caught on fire; Pakistan drowned. Munich Re, the
biggest insurance company on earth, summed up the annus horribilis last
month with this clinical phrase:
"the high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record
temperatures both globally and in different regions of the world provide
further indications of advancing climate change."
for the rest of this, go to
http://www.alternet.org/environment/149774/
catastrophic_weather_events_are_becoming_the_new_normal_--
***
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/suddenly-israel-sees-peace-asset-1.340971
The Egyptian masses won't play ally to Israel
As long as the masses in Egypt and in the entire Arab world continue
seeing the images of tyranny and violence from the occupied territories,
Israel will not be able to be accepted, even it is acceptable to a few
regimes.
By Gideon Levy
Haaretz: 03.02.11
Three or four days ago, Egypt was still in our hands. The army of pundits,
including our top expert on Egypt, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, said that
"everything is under control," that Cairo is not Tunis and that Mubarak is
strong. Ben-Eliezer said that he had spoken on the phone with a senior
Egyptian official, and he assured him that there's nothing to worry about.
You can count on Fuad and Hosni, both about to become has-beens.
On Friday night everything changed. It turned out that the Israeli
intelligence estimates, which were recited ad nauseum by the court
analysts, were again, shall we say, not the epitome of accuracy. The
people of Egypt had their say, and had the nerve not to fall in line with
Israeli wishes. A moment before Mubarak's fate is sealed, the time has
come for drawing the Israeli conclusions.
Not a plague of darkness in Egypt but the light of the Nile: the end of a
regime propped up by bayonets is foretold. It can go on for years, and the
downfall sometimes comes at the least expected time, but in the end it
will happen. Not only Damascus and Amman, Tripoli and Rabat, Tehran and
Pyongyang: Ramallah and Gaza are also destined to be shaken.
The hypocritical and sanctimonious division of countries by the U.S. and
the West between the "axis of evil" on the one hand, and the "moderates"
on the other, has collapsed. If there is an axis of evil, then it includes
all the non-democratic regimes, including the "moderates" and the "stable"
and the "pro-Western." Today Egypt, tomorrow Palestine. Yesterday Tunis,
tomorrow Gaza.
Not only is the Fatah regime in Ramallah and the Hamas regime in Gaza
destined to fall, but perhaps also, one day, the Israeli occupation, which
certainly meets all the criteria of criminal tyranny and an evil regime.
It too relies only on guns. It too is hated by all levels of the ruled
people, even if they stands helpless, unorganized and unequipped, facing a
big army. The first conclusion: Better to end it well, with agreements
based on justice and not on power, a moment before the masses have their
say and succeed in banishing the darkness.
A second, no less important conclusion: Alliances with unpopular regimes
can be torn up overnight. As long as the masses in Egypt and in the entire
Arab world continue seeing the images of tyranny and violence from the
occupied territories, Israel will not be able to be accepted, even it is
acceptable to a few regimes.
The Egyptian regime became an ally of the Israeli occupation. The joint
siege of Gaza is irrefutable proof of that. The Egyptian people didn't
like it. They never liked the peace agreement with Israel, in which Israel
committed itself to "respect the legitimate rights of the Palestinian
people" but never kept its word. Instead, the people of Egypt got the
scenes of Operation Cast Lead.
It is not enough to have a handful of embassies in order to be accepted in
the region. There also have to be embassies of goodwill, a just image and
a state that is not an occupier. Israel has to make its way into the
hearts of the Arab peoples, who will never agree to the continued
repression of their brothers, even if their intelligence ministers will
continue to cooperate with Israel.
If there's one thing shared by all factions of the Egyptian opposition, it
is their seething hatred of Israel. Now their representatives will rise to
power, and Israel will find itself in a difficult situation. Neither will
anything remain of the virtual achievement that Netanyahu often paraded -
the alliance with the "moderate" Arab regimes against Iran. A real
alliance with Egypt and its sister-states can only be based on the end of
the occupation, as desired by the Egyptian people, and not on a common
enemy, as an interest of its regime.
The masses of the Egyptian people - please note: on all levels - took
their fate in their hands. There is something impressive and cheering in
that. No power, not even that of Mubarak, who Ben-Eliezer likes so much,
can overcome them. In Washington the gravity of the moment has already
been understood, and they were quick to dissociate from Mubarak and tried
to find favor in the eyes of his people. That should happen at some point
in Jerusalem.
--
Macdonald Stainsby
Co-ordinator,
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