Category: Global warming

Pentagon: climate change threatens global security

Today, bad news (in the sense that bad things are coming; good news that we are recognizing it). Excerpts from a Washington Post article:

Sweeping assessments released Thursday (10/21/2021) by the White House, the U.S. intelligence community and the Pentagon conclude that climate change will exacerbate long-standing threats to global security.

“Climate change is altering the strategic landscape and shaping the security environment, posing complex threats to the United States and nations around the world,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Drought and other extreme weather can spark conflicts and force population displacements… one report that estimates that by 2050, up to 143 million people in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia could move for climate-driven reasons.

Geopolitical tensions are likely to rise in the coming decades as countries struggle to deal with the physical effects of climate change — which scientists say already is producing more devastating floods, fires and storms.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/intelligence-pentagon-climate-change-warnings/2021/10/21/ea3a2c84-31d3-11ec-a1e5-07223c50280a_story.html

The cow that could feed the planet

Cultured meat — meat from real animals but grown in bioreactors — could (1) greatly reduce global warming and environmental issues, and (2) reduce animal cruelty. About 4,800 words:

https://time.com/6109450/sustainable-lab-grown-mosa-meat/

Eventually, says (Mark) Post, we would need only some 30,000 to 40,000 cows worldwide, instead of the 300 million we slaughter every year, without the environmental and moral consequences of large-scale intensive cattle farming.

…Mosa is in the process of applying for regulatory approval from the E.U. In the meantime, the company is already expanding into a new space with roughly 100,000 liters of bioreactor capacity, enough to produce several tons of meat every six to eight weeks.