GLOBAL WARMING AND THE AFTER EFFECTS FOR BANGLADESH.

[Banglar Bir]

http://www.bdface.net/newsdetail/detail/34/258607

সংবাদ >> আন্তর্জাতিক
নোয়াম চমস্কির ভবিষ্যতবাণীতে বাংলাদেশ

16 Nov, 2016

যুক্তরাষ্ট্রে প্রেসিডেন্ট নির্বাচিত ডনাল্ড ট্রাম্প ও তার প্রশাসন নিয়ে পূর্বাভাষ করতে গিয়ে বাংলাদেশ প্রসঙ্গ টেনে আনলেন মার্কিন দার্শনিক, ঐতিহাসিক, রাজনৈতিক কর্মী নোয়াম চমস্কি। ট্রাম্প জলবায়ুু পরিবর্তনের ইস্যুটি অস্বীকার করায় বাংলাদেশের লাখ লাখ মানুষ গৃহহারা হবেন বলে তিনি মনে করেন। কারণ, আগামী কয়েক দশকে সমুদ্রপৃষ্ঠের উচ্চতা বৃদ্ধি পাবে। যেসব দেশ এ জন্য দায়ী জলবায়ুু শরণার্থীদের সেসব দেশে প্রবেশের অধিকার থাকা উচিত বলে তিনি মনে করেন। তিনি বলেছেন, বিপর্যয়কর এই করুণ পরিণতি শুধু বাড়তেই থাকবে। এটা শুধু বাংলাদেশেই নয়, পুরো দক্ষিণ এশিয়ায় ঘটবে। একই সঙ্গে নোয়াম চমক্কি বলেছেন, বিশ্ব ইতিহাসে এখন সবচেয়ে ভয়াবহ রাজনৈতিক সংগঠন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের রিপাবলিকান পার্টি। প্রফেসর নোয়াম চমস্কিকে কখনও কখনও তাকে বলা হয় ‘দ্য ফাদার অব মডার্ন লিঙ্গুস্টিকস’। একই সঙ্গে তিনি বলেছেন, নির্বাচনে ডনাল্ড ট্রাম্প নির্বাচিত হওয়ায় বৈশ্বিক উষ্ণায়নকে ত্বরান্বিত করবে। আর এটা হবে মানবতার জন্য এক বিপর্যয়। প্রেসিডেন্ট নির্বাচিত ডনাল্ড ট্রাম্প ও অন্য শীর্ষ স্থানীয় ব্যক্তিত্বরা জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনকে প্রত্যাখ্যান করার কারণে তিনি এমন মন্তব্য করেছেন। এ খবর দিয়েছে লন্ডনের অনলাইন দ্য ইন্ডিপেন্ডেন্ট। প্রফেসর নোয়াম চমস্কি বলেছেন, এ জন্য মানবতার জন্য নেমে আসবে এক বিপর্যয়। এরই মধ্যে প্রেসিডেন্ট নির্বাচিত ট্রাম্প তার ট্রানজিশন টিম বা অন্তর্বর্তীকালীন টিমে যাদেরকে নিয়োগ দিয়েছেন তার মধ্যে অন্যতম একজন হলেন জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনকে অস্বীকার করেন এমন ব্যক্তি। তাকে এনভায়রনমেন্টাল প্রটেকশন এজেন্সি (ইপিএ)র দায়িত্ব দেয়া হয়েছে। জ্বালানি হিসেবে ফসিল ব্যবহার করা হয় এমন কারখানার সঙ্গে ঘনিষ্ঠ এমন আরও কিছু ব্যক্তিকে তিনি উপদেষ্টা বানিয়েছেন। উল্লেখ্য, এর আগে জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন বিষয়ক প্যারিস চুক্তি অনুমোদন করেছে যুক্তরাষ্ট্র। ওই চুক্তির প্রশংসা করে প্রেসিডেন্ট বারাক ওবামা বলেছিলেন, এর মধ্য দিয়ে আমাদের এই গ্রহকে নিরাপদ করার সিদ্ধান্ত চূড়ান্ত হয়েছে। কিন্তু ওই চুক্তি বাতিল করার অঙ্গীকার করেছেন ট্রাম্প। এতে জলবায়ু বিষয়ক শীর্ষ স্থানীয় বিজ্ঞানীরা উদ্বেগ প্রকাশ করেছেন। তারা ট্রাম্পের এ সিদ্ধান্তকে এ গ্রহের জন্য এক বিপর্যয় বলে আখ্যায়িত করেছেন। ট্রুথআউট নামের একটি ওয়েবসাইটকে প্রফেসর নোয়াম চমক্কি ওয়াল্ড মেটেরোলজিক্যাল অর্গাইনজেশন (ডব্লিউএমও)-এর একটি রিপোর্টের কথা উল্লেখ করেছেন। এতে বলা হয়েছে, তাপমাত্রার দিক দিয়ে গত ৫ বছর বিশ্ব ছিল সবচেয়ে বেশি উত্তপ্ত। এ সময়ে রেকর্ড পরিমাণ সমুদ্রপৃষ্ঠের উচ্চতা বৃদ্ধি পেয়েছে। অপ্রত্যাশিত দ্রুত গতিতে গলে যাচ্ছে বরফ। এ ছাড়া ওই রিপোর্টে জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের ফলে অন্যান্য প্রভাবের কথা তুলে ধরা হয়েছে। গত ৮ই নভেম্বর যুক্তরাষ্ট্রে প্রেসিডেন্ট নির্বাচিত হয়। এতে মার্কিন সরকারে নিয়ন্ত্রণ পায় রিপাবলিকান দল। নোয়াম চমক্কি বলেন, ‘এর মাধ্যমে তারা এখন বিশ্ব ইতিহাসে সবচেয়ে ভয়াবহ সংগঠন। এ উক্তিটি উদ্ভট ও উত্তেজনাকর মনে হতে পারে। কিন্তু আসলেই কি তাই? বাস্তবতা কিন্তু অন্য কথাই বলে। এ দলটি মানব জীবন সংগঠিত হওয়ার যে উপায় তা যত দ্রুত সম্ভব তত দ্রুত ধ্বংস করে দেয়ার জন্য নিবেদিত। ইতিহাসে এর আগে এমন অবস্থানের নজির নেই। মানুষ তার ইতিহাসে এত বড় প্রশ্নের মুখে পড়েছে এমনটা খুঁজে পাওয়া দায়’। এটা বাড়িয়ে বলা এমন ধারণাও তিনি প্রত্যাখ্যান করেছেন। নোয়াম চমস্কি বলেন, রিপাবলিকান দলের প্রাইমারি নির্বাচনের সময় প্রতিজন প্রার্থী এসব বিষয়ে থোড়াই কেয়ার করেছেন। তারা মনে করেছেন যা ঘটছে ঘটতে দিন। কিন্তু আধুনিক উদারবাদী সচেতন মহল তাদের থেকে ভিন্নটাই মনে করেন। এখানে প্রাইমারিতে অংশ নেয়া জেব বুশের কথা তোলা যেতে পারে। তিনি জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন ইস্যুতে বলেছিলেন, এটা এক অনিশ্চিত ইস্যু। আমরা এ বিষয়ে কিছুই করতে পারি না। আমরা অধিক পরিমাণে প্রাকৃতিক গ্যাস উৎপাদন করছি। নোয়াম চমস্কি তার যুক্তিতে তুলে আনেন প্রাইমারিতে অংশ নেয়া আরেকজন প্রার্থী জন কাসিচের নাম। জন কাসিচ একমত হয়েছিলেন যে, বৈশ্বিক উষ্ণতা বৃদ্ধি পাচ্ছে। কিন্তু তিনি বলেছিলেন, আমরা ওহাইওতে কয়লা পোড়াচ্ছি জ্বালানি হিসেবে। এ জন্য আমরা ক্ষমা চাইতে যাবো না। চমস্কি বলেন, ‘আর বিজয়ী প্রার্থী, বর্তমানে প্রেসিডেন্ট নির্বাচিত ট্রাম্প তো জ্বালানি হিসেবে ফসিল ব্যবহারের গতি বাড়ানোর আহ্বান জানিয়েছেন। এক্ষেত্রে নিয়মনীতির তোয়াক্কা করার কথা বলা হয়েছে। উন্নয়নশীল দেশগুলোর দাবি প্রত্যাখ্যান করা হয়েছে। এসব দেশ টেকসই একটি জ্বালানি খুঁজে পাওয়ার জন্য চেষ্টা করছে। এই যখন অবস্থা তখন ঋণখেলাপি হয়ে যাওয়া জ্বালানি খাত আবার লাভের মুখ দেখা শুরু করেছে। বিশ্বের সবচেয়ে বৃহৎ কয়লা খনি পিবডি এনার্জি। তারা দেউলিয়া ঘোষণার জন্য আবেদন করেছিল। কিন্তু ডনাল্ড ট্রাম্পের বিজয়ের পরে তারা শতকরা ৫০ ভাগ লাভ করেছে বলে জানানো হয়েছে। এসব তথ্যই নোয়াম চমস্কির দেয়া। অন্যদিকে আগামী কয়েক দশকের মধ্যে সমুদ্রপৃষ্ঠের উচ্চতা বৃদ্ধি পাবে। এতে শুধু বাংলাদেশেই লাখ লাখ মানুষকে গৃহহীন হতে হবে বলে পূর্বাভাস দেয়া হয়েছে। এক্ষেত্রে যেসব দেশ গ্রিন হাউজ গ্যাস সঙ্কটের জন্য দায়ী, জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের ফলে শরণার্থী মানুষদের অধিকার থাকা উচিত সেসব দেশে চলে যাওয়া। এটাই বিবেচনাপ্রসূত বিচার। এই বিপর্যয়কর পরিণতি শুধু বাড়তেই থাকবে। এটা শুধু বাংলাদেশের জন্যই হবে এমন নয়। এমনটা ঘটবে দক্ষিণ এশিয়ার সব দেশের জন্যই। কারণ, এখানে রয়েছে অসহনীয় দারিদ্র্য, অস্বাভাবিক সমুদ্রপৃষ্ঠের উচ্চতা বৃদ্ধি, হিমালয়ের হিমবাহের গলন। এসব কারণে পুরো পানি সরবরাহ ব্যবস্থা পড়ে যাবে হুমকিতে। এরই মধ্যে ভারতে প্রায় ৩০ কোটি মানুষ পানীয় পানির অভাবে ভুগছে। এই পরিণতি আরও সুদূরপ্রসারী হবে। তাই প্রফেসর নোয়াম চমস্কি বলেছেন, যুক্তরাষ্ট্রে প্রেসিডেন্ট নির্বাচনের প্রচারণার সময় জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের ইস্যুটি আলোচনায় আসে নি বললেই চলে।

 

[bluesky]

Gist of the Article:

Millions of Bangladeshis going to go homeless as bangladesh will submarge under bay of bengal due to global warming and other shit, so India better be prepared and should immediately create a naval version of BSF to prevent a new breed of mutated bangladeshis coming to India by underwater pole vaulting

Civilized Bangladeshis will go to India to watch Indian adult men and women defecating in the open? Learn civilization and then invite our people.

 

[Banglar Bir]

Feb. 10, 2015

NASA Study Shows Global Sea Ice Diminishing, Despite Antarctic Gains
Sea ice increases in Antarctica do not make up for the accelerated Arctic sea ice loss of the last decades, a new NASA study finds. As a whole, the planet has been shedding sea ice at an average annual rate of 13,500 square miles (35,000 square kilometers) since 1979, the equivalent of losing an area of sea ice larger than the state of Maryland every year.

“Even though Antarctic sea ice reached a new record maximum this past September, global sea ice is still decreasing,” said Claire Parkinson, author of the study and climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “That’s because the decreases in Arctic sea ice far exceed the increases in Antarctic sea ice.”

Furthermore, the global ice decrease has accelerated: in the first half of the record (1979-96), the sea ice loss was about 8,300 square miles (21,500 square kilometers) per year. This rate more than doubled for the second half of the period (1996 to 2013), when there was an average loss of 19,500 square miles (50,500 square kilometers) per year – an average yearly loss larger than the states of Vermont and New Hampshire combined.



“This doesn’t mean the sea ice loss will continue to accelerate,” Parkinson said. “After all, there are limits. For instance, once all the Arctic ice is gone in the summer, the Arctic summertime ice loss can’t accelerate any further.”

Sea ice has diminished in almost all regions of the Arctic, whereas the sea ice increases in the Antarctic are less widespread geographically. Although the sea ice cover expanded in most of the Southern Ocean between 1979 and 2013, it decreased substantially in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen seas. These two seas are close to the Antarctic Peninsula, a region that has warmed significantly over the last decades.

In her study, Parkinson also shows that the annual cycle of global ice extents is more similar to the annual cycle of the Antarctic ice than the Arctic ice. The global minimum ice extent occurs in February of each year, as does the Antarctic minimum extent, and the global maximum sea ice extent occurs in either October or November, one or two months after the Antarctic maximum. This contrasts with the Arctic minimum occurring in September and the Arctic maximum occurring in March. Averaged over the 35 years of the satellite record, the planet’s monthly ice extents range from a minimum of 7.03 million square miles (18.2 million square kilometers) in February to a maximum of 10.27 million square miles (26.6 million square kilometers) in November.

“One of the reasons people care about sea ice decreases is that sea ice is highly reflective whereas the liquid ocean is very absorptive,” Parkinson said. “So when the area of sea ice coverage is reduced, there is a smaller sea ice area reflecting the sun’s radiation back to space. This means more retention of the sun’s radiation within the Earth system and further heating.”

Parkinson doesn’t find it likely that the Antarctic sea ice expansion will accelerate and overturn the global sea ice negative trend in the future.

“I think that the expectation is that, if anything, in the long-term the Antarctic sea ice growth is more likely to slow down or even reverse,” she said.

Parkinson calculated and published the global results after witnessing the public’s confusion about whether Antarctic sea ice gain might be cancelling out Arctic sea ice loss.

“When I give public lectures or talk with random people interested in the topic, often somebody will say something in the order of ‘well, the ice is decreasing in the Arctic but it’s increasing in the Antarctic, so don’t they cancel out?’” Parkinson said. “The answer is no, they don’t cancel out.”

July 19, 2016

2016 Climate Trends Continue to Break Records
Two key climate change indicators -- global surface temperatures and Arctic sea ice extent -- have broken numerous records through the first half of 2016, according to NASA analyses of ground-based observations and satellite data.



Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880, according to scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The six-month period from January to June was also the planet's warmest half-year on record, with an average temperature 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the late nineteenth century.



Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880. Meanwhile, five of the first six months set records for the smallest monthly Arctic sea ice extent since consistent satellite records began in 1979.

This video is public domain and can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio.
Five of the first six months of 2016 also set records for the smallest respective monthly Arctic sea ice extent since consistent satellite records began in 1979, according to analyses developed by scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland. The one exception, March, recorded the second smallest extent for that month.



While these two key climate indicators have broken records in 2016, NASA scientists said it is more significant that global temperature and Arctic sea ice are continuing their decades-long trends of change. Both trends are ultimately driven by rising concentrations of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.



The extent of Arctic sea ice at the peak of the summer melt season now typically covers 40 percent less area than it did in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Arctic sea ice extent in September, the seasonal low point in the annual cycle, has been declining at a rate of 13.4 percent per decade.




Chunks of sea ice, melt ponds and open water are all seen in this image captured at an altitude of 1,500 feet by the NASA's Digital Mapping System instrument during an Operation IceBridge flight over the Chukchi Sea on Saturday, July 16, 2016.
Credits: NASA/Goddard/Operation IceBridge
"While the El Niño event in the tropical Pacific this winter gave a boost to global temperatures from October onwards, it is the underlying trend which is producing these record numbers," GISS Director Gavin Schmidt said.



Previous El Niño events have driven temperatures to what were then record levels, such as in 1998. But in 2016, even as the effects of the recent El Niño taper off, global temperatures have risen well beyond those of 18 years ago because of the overall warming that has taken place in that time.




The first six months of 2016 were the warmest six-month period in NASA's modern temperature record, which dates to 1880.
Credits: NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies

The global trend in rising temperatures is outpaced by the regional warming in the Arctic, said Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NASA Goddard.



"It has been a record year so far for global temperatures, but the record high temperatures in the Arctic over the past six months have been even more extreme," Meier said. "This warmth as well as unusual weather patterns have led to the record low sea ice extents so far this year."



NASA tracks temperature and sea ice as part of its effort to understand the Earth as a system and to understand how Earth is changing. In addition to maintaining 19 Earth-observing space missions, NASA also sends researchers around the globe to investigate different facets of the planet at closer range. Right now, NASA researchers are working across the Arctic to better understand both the processes driving increased sea ice melt and the impacts of rising temperatures on Arctic ecosystems.



NASA's long-running Operation IceBridge campaign last week began a series of airborne measurements of melt ponds on the surface of the Arctic sea ice cap. Melt ponds are shallow pools of water that form as ice melts. Their darker surface can absorb more sunlight and accelerate the melting process. IceBridge is flying out of Barrow, Alaska, during sea ice melt season to capture melt pond observations at a scale never before achieved. Recent studies have found that the formation of melt ponds early in the summer is a good predictor of the yearly minimum sea ice extent in September.



"No one has ever, from a remote sensing standpoint, mapped the large-scale depth of melt ponds on sea ice," said Nathan Kurtz, IceBridge’s project scientist and a sea ice researcher at NASA Goddard. "The information we’ll collect is going to show how much water is retained in melt ponds and what kind of topography is needed on the sea ice to constrain them, which will help improve melt pond models."



Operation IceBridge is a NASA airborne mission that has been flying multiple campaigns at both poles each year since 2009, with a goal of maintaining critical continuity of observations of sea ice and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica.



At the same time, NASA researchers began in earnest this year a nearly decade-long, multi-faceted field study of Arctic ecosystems in Alaska and Canada. The Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) will study how forests, permafrost and other ecosystems are responding to rising temperatures in the Arctic, where climate change is unfolding faster than anywhere else on the planet.



ABoVE consists of dozens individual experiments that over years will study the region's changing forests, the cycle of carbon movement between the atmosphere and land, thawing permafrost, the relationship between fire and climate change, and more.



For more information on NASA's Earth science activities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth



For more information about NASA's IceBridge, visit:

www.nasa.gov/icebridge



For more information about the ABoVE mission, visit:

http://above.nasa.gov/



By Patrick Lynch

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Last Updated: July 19, 2016
Editor: Karl Hille

Tags: Climate, Earth, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Goddard Space Flight Center, Ice
IceBridge

 

[Banglar Bir]

http://www.ecowatch.com/noam-chomsky-trump-2093271018.html
Noam Chomsky: 'The Republican Party Has Become the Most Dangerous Organization in World History

Donald Trump managed to pull the biggest upset in U.S. politics by tapping successfully into the anger of white voters and appealing to the lowest inclinations of people in a manner that would have probably impressed Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels himself.

Noam Chomsky speaks in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 12, 2015.Ministerio de Cultura de la Nacion Argentina


But what exactly does Trump's victory mean and what can one expect from this megalomaniac when he takes over the reins of power on Jan. 20, 2017? What is Trump's political ideology, if any and is "Trumpism" a movement? Will U.S. foreign policy be any different under a Trump administration? Some years ago, public intellectual Noam Chomsky warned that the political climate in the U.S. was ripe for the rise of an authoritarian figure. Now, he shares his thoughts on the aftermath of this election, the moribund state of the U.S. political system and why Trump is a real threat to the world and the planet in general.


Q. Noam, the unthinkable has happened: In contrast to all forecasts, Donald Trump scored a decisive victory over Hillary Clinton, and the man that Michael Moore described as a "wretched, ignorant, dangerous part-time clown and full-time sociopath" will be the next president of the U.S. In your view, what were the deciding factors that led American voters to produce the biggest upset in the history of U.S. politics?

A. Noam Chomsky

Before turning to this question, I think it is important to spend a few moments pondering just what happened on Nov. 8, a date that might turn out to be one of the most important in human history, depending on how we react.

No exaggeration.

The most important news of Nov. 8 was barely noted, a fact of some significance in itself.

On Nov. 8, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) delivered a report at the international conference on climate change in Morocco (COP22) which was called in order to carry forward the Paris agreement of COP21. The WMO reported that the past five years were the hottest on record. It reported rising sea levels, soon to increase as a result of the unexpectedly rapid melting of polar ice, most ominously the huge Antarctic glaciers. Already, Arctic sea ice over the past five years is 28 percent below the average of the previous 29 years, not only raising sea levels, but also reducing the cooling effect of polar ice reflection of solar rays, thereby accelerating the grim effects of global warming. The WMO reported further that temperatures are approaching dangerously close to the goal established by COP21, along with other dire reports and forecasts.


Another event took place on Nov. 8, which also may turn out to be of unusual historical significance for reasons that, once again, were barely noted.

On Nov. 8, the most powerful country in world history, which will set its stamp on what comes next, had an election. The outcome placed total control of the government—executive, Congress, the Supreme Court—in the hands of the Republican Party, which has become the most dangerous organization in world history.

Apart from the last phrase, all of this is uncontroversial. The last phrase may seem outlandish, even outrageous. But is it? The facts suggest otherwise. The party is dedicated to racing as rapidly as possible to destruction of organized human life. There is no historical precedent for such a stand.

Is this an exaggeration? Consider what we have just been witnessing.

During the Republican primaries, every candidate denied that what is happening is happening—with the exception of the sensible moderates, like Jeb Bush, who said it's all uncertain, but we don't have to do anything because we're producing more natural gas, thanks to fracking. Or John Kasich, who agreed that global warming is taking place, but added that "we are going to burn [coal] in Ohio and we are not going to apologize for it."

The winning candidate, now the president-elect, calls for rapid increase in use of fossil fuels, including coal; dismantling of regulations; rejection of help to developing countries that are seeking to move to sustainable energy; and in general, racing to the cliff as fast as possible.

Trump has already taken steps to dismantle the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by placing in charge of the EPA transition a notorious (and proud) climate change denier, Myron Ebell. Trump's top adviser on energy, billionaire oil executive Harold Hamm, announced his expectations, which were predictable: dismantling regulations, tax cuts for the industry (and the wealthy and corporate sector generally), more fossil fuel production, lifting Obama's temporary block on the Dakota Access Pipeline.


The market reacted quickly. Shares in energy corporations boomed, including the world's largest coal miner, Peabody Energy, which had filed for bankruptcy, but after Trump's victory, registered a 50 percent gain.


The effects of Republican denialism had already been felt. There had been hopes that the COP21 Paris agreement would lead to a verifiable treaty, but any such thoughts were abandoned because the Republican Congress would not accept any binding commitments, so what emerged was a voluntary agreement, evidently much weaker.

Effects may soon become even more vividly apparent than they already are. In Bangladesh alone, tens of millions are expected to have to flee from low-lying plains in coming years because of sea level rise and more severe weather, creating a migrant crisis that will make today's pale in significance. With considerable justice, Bangladesh's leading climate scientist said that "These migrants should have the right to move to the countries from which all these greenhouse gases are coming. Millions should be able to go to the United States." And to the other rich countries that have grown wealthy while bringing about a new geological era, the Anthropocene, marked by radical human transformation of the environment. These catastrophic consequences can only increase, not just in Bangladesh, but in all of South Asia as temperatures, already intolerable for the poor, inexorably rise and the Himalayan glaciers melt, threatening the entire water supply. Already in India, some 300 million people are reported to lack adequate drinking water. And the effects will reach far beyond.


It is hard to find words to capture the fact that humans are facing the most important question in their history—whether organized human life will survive in anything like the form we know—and are answering it by accelerating the race to disaster.

Similar observations hold for the other huge issue concerning human survival: the threat of nucleardestruction, which has been looming over our heads for 70 years and is now increasing.

It is no less difficult to find words to capture the utterly astonishing fact that in all of the massive coverage of the electoral extravaganza, none of this receives more than passing mention. At least I am at a loss to find appropriate words.

Turning finally to the question raised, to be precise, it appears that Clinton received a slight majority of the vote. The apparent decisive victory has to do with curious features of American politics: among other factors, the Electoral College residue of the founding of the country as an alliance of separate states; the winner-take-all system in each state; the arrangement of congressional districts (sometimes by gerrymandering) to provide greater weight to rural votes (in past elections, and probably this one too, Democrats have had a comfortable margin of victory in the popular vote for the House, but hold a minority of seats); the very high rate of abstention (usually close to half in presidential elections, this one included). Of some significance for the future is the fact that in the age 18-25 range, Clinton won handily and Sanders had an even higher level of support. How much this matters depends on what kind of future humanity will face.

According to current information, Trump broke all records in the support he received from white voters, working class and lower middle class, particularly in the $50,000 to $90,000 income range, rural and suburban, primarily those without college education. These groups share the anger throughout the West at the centrist establishment, revealed as well in the unanticipated Brexit vote and the collapse of centrist parties in continental Europe. [Many of] the angry and disaffected are victims of the neoliberal policies of the past generation, the policies described in congressional testimony by Fed chair Alan Greenspan—"St. Alan," as he was called reverentially by the economics profession and other admirers until the miraculous economy he was supervising crashed in 2007-2008, threatening to bring the whole world economy down with it. As Greenspan explained during his glory days, his successes in economic management were based substantially on "growing worker insecurity." Intimidated working people would not ask for higher wages, benefits and security, but would be satisfied with the stagnating wages and reduced benefits that signal a healthy economy by neoliberal standards.

Working people, who have been the subjects of these experiments in economic theory, are not particularly happy about the outcome. They are not, for example, overjoyed at the fact that in 2007, at the peak of the neoliberal miracle, real wages for nonsupervisory workers were lower than they had been years earlier, or that real wages for male workers are about at 1960s levels while spectacular gains have gone to the pockets of a very few at the top, disproportionately a fraction of 1%. Not the result of market forces, achievement or merit, but rather of definite policy decisions, matters reviewed carefully by economist Dean Baker in recently published work.

The fate of the minimum wage illustrates what has been happening. Through the periods of high and egalitarian growth in the '50s and '60s, the minimum wage—which sets a floor for other wages—tracked productivity. That ended with the onset of neoliberal doctrine. Since then, the minimum wage has stagnated (in real value). Had it continued as before, it would probably be close to $20 per hour. Today, it is considered a political revolution to raise it to $15.

With all the talk of near-full employment today, labor force participation remains below the earlier norm. And for working people, there is a great difference between a steady job in manufacturing with union wages and benefits, as in earlier years and a temporary job with little security in some service profession. Apart from wages, benefits and security, there is a loss of dignity, of hope for the future, of a sense that this is a world in which I belong and play a worthwhile role.

The impact is captured well in Arlie Hochschild's sensitive and illuminating portrayal of a Trump stronghold in Louisiana, where she lived and worked for many years. She uses the image of a line in which residents are standing, expecting to move forward steadily as they work hard and keep to all the conventional values. But their position in the line has stalled. Ahead of them, they see people leaping forward, but that does not cause much distress, because it is "the American way" for (alleged) merit to be rewarded. What does cause real distress is what is happening behind them. They believe that "undeserving people" who do not "follow the rules" are being moved in front of them by federal government programs they erroneously see as designed to benefit African-Americans, immigrants and others they often regard with contempt. All of this is exacerbated by [Ronald] Reagan's racist fabrications about "welfare queens" (by implication Black) stealing white people's hard-earned money and other fantasies.

Sometimes failure to explain, itself a form of contempt, plays a role in fostering hatred of government. I once met a house painter in Boston who had turned bitterly against the "evil" government after a Washington bureaucrat who knew nothing about painting organized a meeting of painting contractors to inform them that they could no longer use lead paint—"the only kind that works"—as they all knew, but the suit didn't understand. That destroyed his small business, compelling him to paint houses on his own with substandard stuff forced on him by government elites.

Sometimes there are also some real reasons for these attitudes toward government bureaucracies. Hochschild describes a man whose family and friends are suffering bitterly from the lethal effects of chemical pollution but who despises the government and the "liberal elites," because for him, the EPA means some ignorant guy who tells him he can't fish, but does nothing about the chemical plants.


These are just samples of the real lives of Trump supporters, who are led to believe that Trump will do something to remedy their plight, though the merest look at his fiscal and other proposals demonstrates the opposite—posing a task for activists who hope to fend off the worst and to advance desperately needed changes.

Exit polls reveal that the passionate support for Trump was inspired primarily by the belief that he represented change, while Clinton was perceived as the candidate who would perpetuate their distress. The "change" that Trump is likely to bring will be harmful or worse, but it is understandable that the consequences are not clear to isolated people in an atomized society lacking the kinds of associations (like unions) that can educate and organize. That is a crucial difference between today's despair and the generally hopeful attitudes of many working people under much greater economic duress during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

There are other factors in Trump's success. Comparative studies show that doctrines of white supremacy have had an even more powerful grip on American culture than in South Africa, and it's no secret that the white population is declining. In a decade or two, whites are projected to be a minority of the work force and not too much later, a minority of the population. The traditional conservative culture is also perceived as under attack by the successes of identity politics, regarded as the province of elites who have only contempt for the ''hard-working, patriotic, church-going [white] Americans with real family values'' who see their familiar country as disappearing before their eyes.

One of the difficulties in raising public concern over the very severe threats of global warming is that 40 percent of the U.S. population does not see why it is a problem, since Christ is returning in a few decades. About the same percentage believe that the world was created a few thousand years ago. If science conflicts with the Bible, so much the worse for science. It would be hard to find an analogue in other societies.

The Democratic Party abandoned any real concern for working people by the 1970s and they have therefore been drawn to the ranks of their bitter class enemies, who at least pretend to speak their language—Reagan's folksy style of making little jokes while eating jelly beans, George W. Bush's carefully cultivated image of a regular guy you could meet in a bar who loved to cut brush on the ranch in 100-degree heat and his probably faked mispronunciations (it's unlikely that he talked like that at Yale), and now Trump, who gives voice to people with legitimate grievances—people who have lost not just jobs, but also a sense of personal self-worth—and who rails against the government that they perceive as having undermined their lives (not without reason).

One of the great achievements of the doctrinal system has been to divert anger from the corporate sector to the government that implements the programs that the corporate sector designs, such as the highly protectionist corporate/investor rights agreements that are uniformly mis-described as "free trade agreements" in the media and commentary. With all its flaws, the government is, to some extent, under popular influence and control, unlike the corporate sector. It is highly advantageous for the business world to foster hatred for pointy-headed government bureaucrats and to drive out of people's minds the subversive idea that the government might become an instrument of popular will, a government of, by and for the people.

To read Chomsky's answers to non-eco-related questions, click here. Reposted with permission from our media associate Truthout.

 

[Prince of Dorne]

Civilized Bangladeshis will go to India to watch Indian adult men and women defecating in the open? Learn civilization and then invite our people.

I bet some Indian must have openly defecated in your mouth, no wonder you can't help but bringing it in every thread no matter what the topic is about . For the record its your people coming in hoards to clean our shit and earning livelihood, you are such an ungrateful A$$ if you do not acknowledge that.

BTW I wonder why the fcuk would you creatures come here to seek medical attention if we are so backwards?

 

[Hassan Guy]

Im guessing the effects aren't good. Thats what I reckon.

 

[Prince of Dorne]

Only to watch how the defecating Indians talk in action. M*therfucker bastard Ghatia Indian.

Yes I did do your mother, but you don't have to shout it out loud dumb bangladeshi, and show some respect boy, for all we know you could very well be my son

 

[Homo Sapiens]

@maroofz2000 what are you trying to establish here by copy pasting these long climate change articles? That Bangladesh will submerge and crores of people will forced to migrate to India as a climate refugee like indian are fond of saying? There are tons of discussion on this subject here you can search.Climate change is real but whether the long term trend is global warming or cooling is debated among the scientist and academia.Many western climate change religionst use Bangladesh as a perfect poor,third world poster child to scare the western public into carbon tax and create pressure on policy maker and politician to act.

These type of news on Bangladesh usually show up on western media during a major climate change conference like the current one in Marrakech,Morocco.But what you will not find in their narrative is the ongoing massive sedimentation in Meghna estuary and net increase of our land mass in the south and elevation of our land by the flood slit sedimentation.Moreover we have a master plan to mitigate the adverse effect of so called global warming named as the 'Delta plan 2100' in which we will undertake necessary steps to build coastal embankment, coatal forestation and if needed a sea wall or dyke.So my request,before turning into a prophet of doom and gloom on Bangladesh's future, study some geo-morphological dynamism of Bangladeshi land mass.You can check these thread posted here.

https://defence.pk/threads/another-bangladesh-emerging-from-bay-of-bengal.443810/
https://defence.pk/threads/bangladesh-drowning-a-reality-or-a-myth.219498/
https://defence.pk/threads/bangladesh-the-poster-child.427935/
https://defence.pk/threads/banglade...-the-making-to-counter-sea-level-rise.445924/
https://defence.pk/threads/country-gets-new-land.55344/

 

[Bilal9]

Only to watch how the defecating Indians talk in action. M*therfucker bastard Ghatia Indian.

ভাইরে পাগল ছাগল খেপাইয়া লাভ কি?

 

[Banglar Bir]

Top 10 Most Polluting Countries
Published on Jun 21, 2014
This is the top 10 most polluting countries in the world. Which country pollutes the most? Which country is the worst polluting? Which country produces the most carbon emissions? Which country is the most polluted? Watch more to find out!

Future Sea Level Rise: Top 10 Countries In Danger
Published on Jul 30, 2015
These are the top 10 countries threatened by the 6 meter sea level rise we are almost guaranteed to see in the not-too-distant future, according to the projected pace of global warming and ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica.

Mega Cities Under Water Rising Sea level Full Documentary 2014
Published on Oct 1, 2014

• Category
  • People & Blogs
• License
  • Standard YouTube License

 

[Pandora]

Gist of the Article:

Millions of Bangladeshis going to go homeless as bangladesh will submarge under bay of bengal due to global warming and other shit, so India better be prepared and should immediately create a naval version of BSF to prevent a new breed of mutated bangladeshis coming to India by underwater pole vaulting

You are one sick bastard. On one hand you are talking about misery of people and on the other insulting them. People like you make my stomach turn.

 

[Prince of Dorne]

You are one sick bastard. On one hand you are talking about misery of people and on the other insulting them. People like you make my stomach turn.

Please don't call me names, you would not like if I reply you back with the same coin, and for god sake stop being so sanctimonious, I have seen you people calling genocide, advocating public lynching for afghan refugees, that post was meant to be a harmless joke, now you may not like my way of humor, but this is no excuse to badmouth me

 

[Pandora]

Please don't call me names, you would not like if I reply you back with the same coin, and for god sake stop being so sanctimonious, I have seen you people calling genocide, advocating public lynching for afghan refugees, that post was meant to be a harmless joke, now you may not like my way of humor, but this is no excuse to badmouth me

Afghan refugees are getting money food and residential tents while they are being sent back home. Secondly they are eing sent back after 3 decades of hospitality not by force. Only afghan who are complaining were illegal refugees who were living on forged documents and with their own nefarious agendas. We for one hosted afghans three decade when disaster fell upon them.
Secondly this is not an isolated comment as you made another comment about Khans in another thread which just show you sick racist mindset where Indians supposedly became super power in 2012.

 

[fallstuff]

I don't see folks with the fancy homes along the coast all over the world rushing to sell their properties. I wonder what these folks know that we don't ?

 

[Prince of Dorne]

Afghan refugees are getting money food and residential tents while they are being sent back home. Secondly they are eing sent back after 3 decades of hospitality not by force. Only afghan who are complaining were illegal refugees who were living on forged documents and with their own nefarious agendas. We for one hosted afghans three decade when disaster fell upon them.
Secondly this is not an isolated comment as you made another comment about Khans in another thread which just show you sick racist mindset where Indians supposedly became super power in 2012.

I agree with you on the Afghan refugee part, A nation can not and should not act as per the whims and wishes of its online community, that being said we host around 20 million illegal Bangladeshis in our soil, they commit all kinds of illegal activities, bring drugs and driving our tribal population of north east out of their native land, just like you we can not have them anymore.

One thing that amuses me is when I was called blackie, monkey worshipper all your holier than thou kinds turned a blind eye, now since I started replying back all hell seem to have broken loose, this is called showing the mirror, reverse racism maybe. Although that Khan part was a complete misunderstanding I should have used Pakistani instead of Pathan, that was my bad.

Please don't bring superpower, open defecation every time you reply to an Indian, you are better than that.