Independent journalist and broadcaster Gwynne Dyer premiered a new idea in front of a two-thirds capacity crowd at the Humanities Theatre Wednesday. The talk, titled Climate Wars, predicted that the wars of the future would not be fought over oil or to punish rogue states, but that they would be fought over food.
He addressed the crowd in a comfortable leather jacket, jeans and sneakers while predicting that the world was going to be something different. As a well-known freelance journalist with contacts around the world, Dyer keeps his ear close to the ground. On the question of Cuba? "Castro's finished. They don't want him back." The issue of climate wars first occurred to him when he was in Britain shortly after the British government announced that they were going to replace their current fleet of nuclear submarines, set to be mothballed by 2020, with a new generation fit for service through 2050. The British defence minister went on record to say, "Well, you never know what might turn up." Confused, Dyer discussed the issue with several of his British contacts. "It's about climate change," they said, "Lifeboat Britain." That didn't help Dyer at all, so he had to do some more digging. "They're not worried about the ice caps melting or polar bears drowning, though someone might set up a fund to buy polar bear life jackets, or rising seas. They're worried about food supply." The British theory goes that should climate change continue at the rate that it will, Britain will be able to sustain approximately 60 million people on agriculture. This normally wouldn't be a problem, except that the British planners predict that continental Europe will suffer an agricultural collapse, where a hungry population might look to a well-fed Britain with envy. Dyer had some final thoughts for his audience after spending more than an hour on dire prognostications. "Cheer up, it could be worse, but I can't just remember how. Nobody's to blame. As soon as we began mass civilization, we were bound to end up at this point. And now we have to deal with it." [If this seems unlikely or far-fetched, try a Google search on the term 'climate wars' and see how many hits turn up. Here's on of the more interesting articles: http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=22410 ] ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
