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Facing Oblivion, Island Nation Makes Big Sacrifice
Damien1972 writes "Kiribati, a small nation consisting of 33 Pacific island atolls, is forecast to be among the first countries swamped by rising sea levels. Nevertheless, the country recently made an astounding commitment: it closed over 150,000 square miles of its territory to fishing, an activity that accounts for nearly half the government's tax revenue. What moved the tiny country to take this monumental action? President Anote Tong, says Kiribati is sending a message to the world: 'We need to make sacrifices to provide a future for our children and grandchildren.'"
Quite enjoyed J. Maarten Troost's The Sex Lives of Cannibals which takes place on the island of Kiribati. A great beach book.
It's interesting to hear the government making a commitment like this. As the article has the president saying: "One million is 1+1+1 and so on. Every person and every action is important." Too often forgotten methinks. The cynic in me is losing out today; facing extinction of their islands, I can hope enough that they're sincere, and they others will listen.
Or, since no one can fish, they will move away from low lying Kiribat and there will be fewer people to be swamped by rising sea levels.
Daft.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
If only we could get all the ostrich-minded lot like you to move there. Still, it'll be small consolation being able to say "I told you so" when it's going to affect the rest of us anyhow. In a more just reality, there'd be two planets, one that could be stewarded responsibly, and one that denialists could ruin.
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
Ahh, so what does that have to do with rising sea levels? If it's only about conserving their cash crop then it makes sense, but when you tie it into global warming it gets screwy. Also how does stopping all fishing in these areas really help it any better then limiting fishing? This article is poorly written at best, anyone care to shed some light on this from other sources?
The biggest thing I've seen for the resistance towards human caused global climate change isn't the science (the criticism is just an excuse), it's the fear of wealth transfer - people in rich countries are afraid their money will be taken by the UN to compensate small countries like Kirbati. I have doubts about the UN's competency myself, btw.
Basically, I get the impression in the West that we want to shit in others yards, eat their cake and keep ours. It's really not a moral failing of Westerner (read White), but a human failing - if the South Pacific Islanders got developed before us, they'd be doing the same thing.
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
as far as google maps is concerned the islands have already sank in to the pacific
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
They've already been starting to pan out and once it becomes obvious to everyone, the Fox News and talk radio morons who now blabber continuously about the "global warming hoax" will find a Democrat to blame for the entire problem. Just as they blame the housing bubble and economic crash on Barney Frank (ranking opposition member of the House banking committee during 2002-2006 when the GOP controlled the WH and both houses of Congress), oh, maybe 100,000 times a day.
>>>They're gonna feel like fools when the doom and gloom prophesies don't pan out.
Not really. Even if 2100 arrives and nothing terrible has happened, they'll still benefit from a smaller population and abundant food supply. So it's a win-win solution.
In fact I think population control, like China's 1 baby per family, will eventually become necessary... especially after oil becomes scarce and skyrockets to $1000/barrel (~$30/gallon of gasoline). Simply put either WE will impose population limits, or nature will do it for us (via starvation in the cities).
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
It's not a "prophesy," it's a measurement. (Unless you think that trend will suddenly reverse for some unexplained reason?)
Actually it's the other way around. Well developed countries with higher income per capita, have fewer children, their growth is caused by immigration.
Do you even know anything about Kiribati? The country is so small that in New England towns that size still use town meetings for most government decisions. He is closing the fishery to protect fish stocks and to make a point for the world at large. As for sea walls, those would do nothing against the salinization of groundwater on those islands. When your well draws sea water, you have to leave the island anyway, which is what is happening in those islands.
I'm guessing TFA is talking about fishing rights sold to other countries or companies.
not local fishermen.
How do you know this was forced on "the people"? Where did you get that info? Seeing as the islands will cease to be inhabitable shortly I'd say they aren't losing anything here. I'm sure they considered seawalls and such but constantly holding back the open ocean when your land is only a couple of feet above sea level isn't a simple task. However, you know it is a conspiracy with those awful environmentalists with their concern for our collective future and all that.
Enjoy your paranoid axe-grinding.
This reminds me of a study I read about a year ago, The author pointed out that most reefs were dying, obviously because of global warming. The only ones that are still healthy are the ones where the large predators (sharks, groupers, etc) are still present to control the smaller fish that eat the coral. But the conclusion was that removing the large predators wasn't the problem, it is obviously global warming. Obvious to that scientist anyway.
>>>it becomes economically viable to use non-fossile sources for all our hydrocarbon needs.
Like what? What could you possibly replace oil in the Trucks and Trains that move food/goods across the continent, and for less than $30/gallon? (And before you say hydrogen - virtually all of it comes from reformed oil, which will of course be scarce.)
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>>>Oh, and for nature to impose population limits for us she better start working now, because we're nowhere short of stopping technological advancements allowing us to be more than ever before, in increasingly smaller spaces.
Or not. You can't know that. We were supposed to have flying highways/cars by now, and yet they never happened. And unlimited energy that was free - that never happened either. As for Nature - it only took 2 years for it to decimate Europe to 1/3rd its previous population during the Black Plague. (The continent had been over-populated and barely surviving.)
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>>>By year 3000, we'll be a hundred billion people
Asimov described that future in Caves of Steel. He also described the hellish existence (people lived in dorms), and how they were experiencing an energy crisis because the earth was running out of . Just as stars eventually run out of fuel (and collapse) so too do planets.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
The story said they would be one of the first, BUT when will that be? Let's see, some ice at the pole and HUGE oceans around the world. It will slowly rise and they will be under water in what...250 years from now?
jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
>>>Like what?
I'm not a fuel engineer so i'm not sure on the specifics, but there are methods for deriving hydrocarbon equivalents or good enough substitutes from organisms that are only recently dead, biofuels you know, I also have a distinct memory of hearing about some technique to turn CO2 into fuel, that of course is probably something we'll only bother with when the coal run out in a few hundred years.
>>> We were supposed to have flying highways
We were also supposed to face global famine/population caps in the 20th century due to the old cliche of overpopulation, along came the green revolution and food suddenly could be made availible in abundance.
>>>Asimov described that future
And the Turner Diaries have the neo-nazis take over the US and exterminate all black people(according to wiki atleast). Just because a book paints a picture of doom and gloom doesn't mean reality will follow.
Energy wise we have an extreme abundance, it's just that the necessary technologies for utilization of it is lacking, geothermal, solar or fission, and if you are allowed to belive in fusion could all single handendly supply the entire earth with all our energy needs if refined and developed on a large scale, that's _all_ forms of energy, not just our electricity needs, and if we ever find ourself in need of ludicrous energy levels we can presumable paint the moon in solar panels or anchor huge arrays of them in the lagrange spots. Or start building that bloody dyson sphere if we find a need to support more than a few trillion people.
In recent history, no negative prediction fortelling catastrophic economical, societal or otherwise a really really bad turn of events have turned out to be true. I don't see why i should assume any future prediction along those lines should have any more luck, more likely we're getting better at adaptation and as such being more capable of mitigating he impact of whatever that's threatening to ruin our day. And no, the recent economic downturn does not qualify a catastrophic events, it was bad and ugly, but far from a catastrophe.
Well, then, do a Google Image Search on Kiribati. And Tuvalu. You'll find pictures of beaches lined with dead palm trees. Those trees are dead because sea level rise raised the average salinity of the ground water they're rooted in. This is what they are "whining" about: our energy consumption is raising sea levels and making their islands uninhabitable.
I used to be on that bandwagon for a long time; the story made sense on the surface and independent research on the subject was very difficult to do. Measuring the behavior of the biosphere is not like researching most other subjects. Human history or astronomy or technology, where the observations and recordings are the sort of thing which are either set in amber or easily verified through observation, are far easier to research because the facts don't change in your hands. Biosphere measurements are hard to take because the whole thing is in a state of permanent flux, because we haven't been around taking measurements for long enough to know it very well, and because we are right in the middle of the thing we are trying to measure. It's hard to see.
But as the dust began to settle, it has become increasingly clear that there is a large scam in the works and that it is dependent upon the normal population being guilted into accepting totalitarian control. The end results being that the elite make even more money without there being any actual industrial carbon reductions. (Quite the trick!) People don't seem to realize that a "Carbon Tax" isn't some vague notion which affects only big companies and governments. Oh no! Carbon taxes are for you and me on the street level. We would have to pay an extra tax on virtually everything we do in our lives which can be traced back to energy consumption. A tax bonanza! Take a look into it to see what is being proposed.
This kind of story, (and note that Rockefeller is involved in this island thing. The Rockefellers are champions of population control and oligarchic power structures, so yeah, his showing up is an indicator of badness.)
And of course it's all based on bullshit. As has been already noted, this island situation doesn't just include shrinking islands but rather, growing ones as well...
One island, Funamanu, gained 0.44 hectares or nearly 30 percent of its previous area.
And the research showed similar trends in the Republic of Kiribati, where the three main urbanised islands also "grew" - Betio by 30 percent (36ha), Bairiki by 16.3 percent (5.8ha) and Nanikai by 12.5 percent (0.8ha).
Webb, an expert on coastal processes, told the New Scientist the trend was explained by the fact the islands mostly comprised coral debris eroded from encircling reefs and pushed up onto the islands by winds and waves.
The process was continuous, because the corals were alive, he said.
In effect the islands respond to changes in weather patterns and climate - Cyclone Bebe deposited 140ha of sediment on the eastern reef of Tuvalu in 1972, increasing the main island's area by 10 percent.
And while this article is critical of the base story, it still takes for granted that sea-levels are rising. I'm not convinced that this is A) even True, or B) if it IS true that it is due to ice pack melting; we've actually been seeing expansion of the ice packs in some areas. It has also been noted (quietly) that the planet has been spinning a little slower over the last few years, and that this is having a strong effect on the biosphere and the shapes of land masses and oceans.
There is no question that the weather hasn't been changing, but it has also been changing on the other planets in the solar system. And the Sun has been behaving oddly as well. There are theories as to what is going on, and they are more complex than the highly profitable Global Warming story. Just like real life, things are more complex than the simple black & white government brochure would lead us to believe.
Just some thoughts.
-FL
Increased demand from the aquifers-the islanders just using more fresh water that can be replenished from rainfall- would do the exact same thing, allow the saline water in. Happening all over the planet now, like in south Florida..and we do NOT have any major sea level rises anyplace. You are talking single digit millimeters at the most, an insignificant amount.
From the title (not having RTFA nor RTFS), I pictured this island nation makes virgin sacrifices to the volcano god and all Kitibatian (Kiribatan? Kiribatinese? Kiribatish?) slashdotters have scattered and gone underground.
It's written "i-kiribati" and pronounced ee-keereebas, thats the adjective for that country. Also, don't knock the pacific island countries! Although poor and tiny, some countries have higher phd/capita ratios than the US (although it's mostly in humanities disciplines).