Reuters: 100 million to die by 2030 if world fails to act on climate

[Triana]

NOTE: Article is from LONDON on Sept 27th, 2012

(Reuters) - More than 100 million people will die and the global economy will miss out on as much as 3.2 percent of its potential output annually by 2030 if the world fails to tackle climate change, a report commissioned by 20 governments said on Wednesday.

As global average temperatures rise due to greenhouse gas emissions, the effects on the planet, such as melting ice caps, extreme weather, drought and rising sea levels, will threaten populations and livelihoods, said the report conducted by humanitarian organization DARA.

It calculated that five million deaths occur each year from air pollution, hunger and disease as a result of climate change and carbon-intensive economies, and that toll would likely rise to six million a year by 2030 if current patterns of fossil fuel use continue.

More than 90 percent of those deaths will occur in developing countries, said the report that calculated the human and economic impact of climate change on 184 countries in 2010 and 2030. It was commissioned by the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a partnership of 20 developing countries threatened by climate change.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/27/us-climate-inaction-idUSBRE88Q0ZJ20120927

[Berlum]

1. "Fabulous." - Republicans (R - 1%)

[Junkdrawer]

2. Then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population

Merry Christmas

[Hugabear]

3. The wealthy will survive

The poor and lower class, those who lack the means to migrate and adapt, will be the ones who suffer and perish.

The rethugs would consider this problem solved.

[Junkdrawer]

6. For a while. Then the Titanic sinks. The rich will commandeer the lifeboats. BUT...

this time there will be no rescue ships or even ports to land.

[Lucky Luciano]

13. Yep. Killing two birds with one stone.

Make a shitpile of cash AND get rid of the riff raff at the same time! Brilliant idea!

[PCIntern]

4. They. Don't. Care. Nt

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Our species has usually failed to act until after the fact, so...

don't expect any miracles here.

Expect instead more Syrias. Syrians were not so upset with Assad until the drought started and he refused irrigation projects for small farmers leading to a food shortage. Small farmers starving, the rest of the population unable to afford the new food prices while unemployed... Revolution. And, as Tom Friedman said in the Times last week, it's not a question who will govern Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and others, but if they can be governed at all at this point.

Even here-- imagine if the Imperial Valley dried up. We're already slaughtering cattle because of localized droughts.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. The Imp Valley is mostly dry

It's the irrigation rejects that keep it going from water brought from somewhere else

[Gregorian]

7. 100 million is very small. That is less than 2 years worth of our present population growth.

We are adding 1.5 million people every week.

[RobertEarl]

8. OP report is optimistic?

What say the pessimists?

We can feed everyone. We can have non-polluting power, as we do have non-polluting energy.

I guess the question is: How will we pay for survival? Can we afford to survive? Cab capitalism bear the costs?

[freshwest]

9. Doomsday threads always remind me of that scene in the movie Independence Day...

Where the young man tries to talk his friend's sister into bed, saying it's the end of the world so it's their last chance at love. But her brother walks in, laughs and shoos him away. I suspect that line has worked for centuries.

[Pragdem]

11. "Less than one-and-a-half percent of the world population" doesn't attract readers. nt

[FarCenter]

12. Maybe a 10% increase in the death rate

The population is about 7 billion. Young people are more numerous than old people, but even so around a billion will die in the next 17 years, mostly from the 50 to 100 year old age group and from the under 5 age group in less developed countries.

So an added 100 million would be a 10% increase in mortality.

Currently, on the order of 200,000 people die per day and 300,000 are born per day.

[eggplant]

14. "If current patterns ... continue."

If the current patterns from 17 years ago continued, we would have a never-ending period of massive economic growth, being in the middle of the dot.com bubble. We would have just barely figured out HAART (AIDS cocktail). Smoking would still be allowed in most public places. Cardiovascular disease and cancer would still be killing a hell of a lot of people. Medical marijuana wouldn't even be discussed.

The list goes on and on.

If everything remains exactly the same for the next 17 years. Hell, only 22 years ago the Soviet Union still existed, and the iPod didn't.