Apocalypse Tomorrow

Not to get all giddy on you or anything, but last week's No and No vote on the viaduct gave me hope that my kids might possibly get to grow up in a world that doesn't completely suck.

Thank you Seattle. I couldn't vote myself. My opinions stopped counting the day I moved to Shoreline for the schools. Maybe as a follow-up you guys can do something about your crappy education system and expensive housing so I can come back someday and start voting again.

Last Sunday's NYT offered a truly grim picture of the future if global warming trends continue. As usual, the South gets to take it in the teeth for the affluence of the North.

A new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report, which to non-scientists such as myself is virtually incomprehensible, predicts flooding, drought, famine, and disease, but mostly for other people.

By just 2030, death rates in the third world from diarrhea and malnutrition will dramatically climb, and hundreds of millions of Africans and tens of millions of Latin Americans will experience water shortages. By 2080, water shortages will affect billions of people.

North America, Northern Europe, and Australia will be among the last to be affected by the worst aspects of climate change. This is probably why the U.S. is not interested in building a huge military base atop the Guarani Aquifer, as many Latin America watchers believe to be the case.

Being thirsty sucks. Being white, affluent, and armed to the fucking teeth rules! USA! USA! USA!

Um, sorry. Where was I?

The good news is that if carbon emissions are significantly reduced within the next generation, the worst of this can be avoided. Mass transit and improved transportation grids are looking better and better.

So, like, if not now, when?