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Africa: Drying, Drying, Disappearing…
ROME - Lake Chad was bigger than Israel less than 50 years ago. Today its surface area is les than a tenth of its earlier size, amid forecasts the lake could disappear altogether within 20 years.
Climate change and overuse have put one of Africa's mightiest lakes in mortal danger, and the livelihoods of the 30 million people who depend on its waters is hanging by a thread as a result.
Climate change and overuse have put one of Africa's mightiest lakes in mortal danger, and the livelihoods of the 30 million people who depend on its waters is hanging by a thread as a result.(AFP/File/Simon Maina) An unprecedented crisis is looming that would create fresh hunger in a region already suffering grave food insecurity, and pose a massive threat to peace and stability, experts say.
"If Lake Chad dries up, 30 million people will have no means of a livelihood, and that is a big security problem because of growing competition for smaller quantities of water," Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, executive secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) tells IPS in Rome.
"Poverty and hunger will increase. When there is no food to eat, there is bound to be violence."
The lake, which shrank 90 percent between 1963 and 2001 from 25,000 square kilometres to under 1,500, is bordered by Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria.
Four more countries, the Central African Republic, Algeria, Sudan and Libya, share the lake's hydrological basin and are therefore affected by its fortunes.
"Lake Chad has experienced shrinkage," Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said at November's World Food Security Summit at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome. "If it dries up, it will be a real disaster. I want to warn the world about this imminent disaster."
That disaster has already started. Villages that used to be thriving lakeside ports are now stranded miles from the water, and have been swallowed by the advancing Sahara desert. Fishers and farmers are struggling to survive.
"The dramatic situation is already taking place," Maher Salman, a technical officer with FAO's land and water division tells IPS. "It's clear that the consequences have started. There is outward migration. People are looking for water, so they leave the basin area."
Fishers have seen once massive catches frequently reduced to half-filled buckets. The FAO says the lake's fish production has fallen 60 percent, and the variety of fish caught has dramatically declined too.
Farmers who rely on lake waters for irrigation are having to move nearer to the water or abandon their activities. Lack of water has caused pasture lands to shrivel up and led to a serious shortage of animal feed, estimated at 46.5 percent in some areas in 2006, resulting in cattle deaths and plummeting livestock production.
This is the sort of situation former World Bank vice-president Ismail Serageldin was worried about in 1995 when he said that "the wars of the 20th century were fought over oil, and the wars of the next century will be about water" - a view echoed in reports by several organisations including the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
While some experts remain sceptical about the prospect of all-out wars being fought over water, there have been numerous reports of clashes between farmers and herds-people competing for productive land in the Lake Chad area.
Biodiversity too has been hit by the lake's retreat. So has the region's health situation.
"Due to the movement of people looking for food there is a high level of interaction, which complicates matters because of the high prevalence of HIV among Lake Chad inhabitants," says Ganduje. "The African Development Bank has come to our aid, and we are tackling this."
Little can be done at the regional level about climate change, which is attacking the lake on two fronts - reducing the rainfall that feeds it, and accelerating evaporation of its waters due to higher temperatures. Its shallowness for such a major water body makes it particularly vulnerable to these attacks.
It is a grim situation, but not a hopeless one. The other half of the problem, over-extraction, can be tackled locally.
"We are optimistic," says Ganduje. "We are regulating the use of Lake Chad water. We are drawing up a charter so everyone has common rules and regulations in the use of water.
"We are also controlling activities on the tributaries to Lake Chad, such as the construction of dams and irrigation activities. We are controlling human behaviour in response to other factors that are outside of our control."
This confidence is justified in part by growing understanding of the need for a response.
"There is recognition of the need for new management strategies to be put into place," says Salman. "The most common conclusion of studies on the lake's shrinkage is that it is due to both human pressure on water resources and on climate change. A solution should be possible.
"There needs to be optimum use of the waters in each sector, up-scaling water conservation and small-scale agricultural technologies for more efficient irrigation. Awareness about use of the waters is important as well, so people cut down."
The LCBC also has high hopes of an ambitious plan to replenish the lake to its 1960s levels by diverting water from the Oubangui River, which is the major tributary to the Congo River.
"The feasibility study has started and a fund has been set up," says Ganduje. "The heads of state are confident of progress. If the feasibility study is positive, we believe we have the political support required."
The FAO says it does not have a position on whether the transfer project should go ahead, although it has called for very careful consideration of its impact, including that on the Congo River system. What it views as key is the presentation of concrete plans to save the lake, so donors can be badgered into committing to a cause that is crucial to millions of people .
"There is a strategic action plan for the sustainable development of Lake Chad, but to translate that into action we need an investment plan," says Salman. "We need more meetings of donors to get them to commit and make good those commitments through investment. The good news is that there is a consensus on the need for action."
43 Comments so far
Show AllLake Chad, the Aral Sea, the increasing desertification of large parts of Africa and Australia, the melting Himalayan glaciers that supply water to hundreds of millions along the Ganges, Jamuna, Indus and Bramaputra Rivers, the disappearance beneath the waves of small Ocean countries- the Maldives and Kiribati, and the inundation of low lying poor countries like Bangladesh, the disapearance of arctic sea ice, bizarre climate patterns in Europe, disappearing species, rivers that no longer reach the sea due to over use and warming, the drop world wide in water tables especially in drought prone countries like India, and on and on.
Canaries in the Mines. Warnings. Alerts. Heads up. Something is going terribly wrong, from a human perspective. While the religious turn to their superstitious prophesies, and the so called experts debate the science, and the deniers bury their heads deeper in the increasingly hotter sand, the rest of us wait and watch- recycle a few cans, watch our games, complain about the taxes, crank up the hot tub and idle our HumV's in the drive through.
Generations from now, we can only hope, our decendents will only shake their heads and wonder how, with all our wonderful technology and giant brains, we could have been so stupid, so selfish and so blind.
It should be obvious to all by now. As a species,we really are destined for extinction, a failed experiment in evolution and natural selection. Too bad- we had such potential.
Bill in Canada (where a little global warming, selfishly, ain't necessarily a bad thing)
It really is all over. I doubt there is anything now that humans could do to change anything about the climate or wars or anything else on the large scale. The juggernaut is just now beginning to roll down hill. Evolution takes a long time. It appears that it turns out that our large intelligent brains are a negative factor regarding survival of the species. The earth will survive. The earth is in no danger. And, once the human species has died off, the remaining creatures, if there are any, will surely breathe a sigh of relief.
And the Corporate Beast will live on..........
It's amazing that so many people do not have any idea of what is occuring around the world, especially in relation to climate change. I'm hoping that my efforts to pass around this info will help correct this problem.
Most people that take my articles really do thank me. But last week I handed one to a guy in a grocery parking lot, he was getting in his car. The article was the one with the title "Real People Will Pay PRice of Copenhagen Stalmate" and it went on to tell a story about a farmer in Iraq and how his kids are dying of starvation and his wife, suffering from malnurishment to the point of not being able to breastfeed their infant. This, because of the rivers drying up. I gave him the article on my way in to the store. When I came back out, his car was gone, but the article was on the ground. That kind of shocked me, because if some people are doing this, I don't see it. So, I picked it up and another man was putting groceries in his car. I gave him my usual line of "Hi, I'm sharing today. We all need to read more... go to this website (pointing to the Common Dreams title) and he looked right at me and thanked me.
Thanks theinitiate- you're part of the solution to the problems we face.
There was a good reason for not wanting the Copenhagen summit to "succeed", because a key focus was "cap and trade" and this is what the big-time profiteers want. If they got this, then taxation would increase, serious polluting cies would be able to continue, etcetera. They want to profit from the carbon "theory" to climate change and they must not succeed, or else humanity will pay ... BIG TIME.
Among other experts, a or the top NASA scientist recently said that the Copenhagen summit needed to fail for the above reason.
If the melting of the North Pole is not evidence it is doubtful that anything will be accepted as evidence of global warming.
I know what the rich think, i.e., that the cost of anything can be transferred to the poor. This time they have done it to themselves. The poor will suffer first, but they won't get away unscathed either.
the solution to climate change is simple. the fat people in the global north have to drasticaly cut their consumption. who says a teenager in Los Angles has to conumpe 50% more than a teenager in Bangledash?
the culprit is Mass consumption. How much junk did you buy this Chritmas?
I neither gave nor received a single present. I haven't for some ten years now.
I couldn't do it anymore, buying trash that I can't afford for people who don't need or even want it anyway---just as part of a ritual?
Too many people are too hungry. I enjoy giving as much as I can. The most painful thing about poverty is that it will not allow people to be generous.
Plus almost every mountain glacier worldwide.
Plus temperature increase and acidfication in Pacific.
Plus hottest decade in 100,000's of years.
"Plus hottest decade in 100,000's of years."
I don't think there's any real record to back up your 100,000 years claim. There may be theories, but no human record based on factual recordings. And given how old the Earth is believed to be, billions of years, 100,000 years is a relatively short timeframe. It seems long based on human lifespans, but is far from long compared to the age of the Earth. So if even only the 100,000 years is important, then this would require serious explanations of the reasons, for why it's important.
Aw that is just a cycle. We now have good evidence that every 4.6 billion years a species will come along that is so stupid as to unearth all the buried carbon that, while buried, allows the Earth to have a climate favorable to Holocene species--so utterly stupid as to even continue with that behavior even after it becomes aware of its catastrophic nature.
At least the Chinese are investing in Africa.
We probably should be focusing our efforts on China todays new superpower because the good ole' USA is toast from greed.
In a couple of years todays Prius will not meet the already mandated Chinese auto standards.
China has just about captured the Photovolaic and Wind Turbine market.
Bye Bye Green collar jobs.
As one poster wrote :
To use hope is good
To abuse hope is dangerous.
"China has just about captured the Photovolaic and Wind Turbine market."
To quote a recent vice president, "So?"
The USA has just about captured the cruise missle, drone, bombs and general military weapons market.
Hmmmm... some invest in green infrastructure... others invest in death and destruction...
And, so it goes.
I believe the Chinese are going to build a new plant here (in the South?)to produce Wind Turbines, so there will be jobs produced here.
Texas has more Wind generation than anywhere else and its spreading up the center of the country.
If Congress were interested in America they could easily change trade and tax policies to generate manufacturing here for Photovolaic's and Wind Turbine's, creating many new "green" jobs.
Photovoltaic, not photovolaic, and where are the links you "forgot" to include?
But there's a bright side! It will be so much easier for multinationals to extract all the goodies from under Africa's dirt if there aren't so many pesky Africans around.
Actually, they can turn them into hydrocarbon fuel too. It's called "vivoleum". The 'Yes Men' announced this at a conference. It bothers me to get into such sick, dark "humor" - but I can't be sure that there aren't actual sick humans around who wouldn't mind having that kind of a "technology".
If not for the fact that global warming is a hoax this would be really bad news. Global warming could not possibly be having such an effect on Lake Chad. The drying up of the lake must somehow be the fault of the people living there. We must find a way to blame the victims.
Who is to say GW is a hoax?
The confusion is sometimes the fault of the experts themselves—and the press that prints all sorts of conflicting pronouncements that confuse the public. A few decades ago, a coming ice age was predicted and now global warming. If one does not know how science works and how findings change, distrust is the consequence.
Along with good science comes not so good science—contaminated by collegial praise, government grants, and what is politically popular. Grants matter—as does the approval of the majority of one’s peers. Money is very much involved.
Global warming has become a little like a new theology for some true believers. What makes this issue hot is that there is a sector of Global Warming deniers who resemble Holocaust deniers. Their claims fly in the face of undeniable evidence: melting glaciers nearly everywhere, and an Arctic Circle almost ice free in the summer.
Perhaps Man is the cause of some of the GW, probably so, and the rest is caused by nature. My view at this point is thaty it is a combination of the two.
The only real and the only important question is can we do anything about it? In any case whats wrong with conversation, reducing emissions, etc, if you don't scare the horses?
Why would an intelligent civilization want to stop poisoning all of the natural world?(snark)
Why indeed glenn? :)
"Perhaps Man is the cause of some of the GW, probably so, and the rest is caused by nature. My view at this point is thaty it is a combination of the two."
Nature? The sun. And NASA scientists have said, recently enough anyway, that when the sun finishes its present cycle, related to sun spots, and which they say will end around 2013 or 2012, then we'll start to see global warming on a truly global scale. For now, we've had cooling and warming, depending on where we look, globally.
I've read that many glaciers have been disappearing and some, I think, pretty much totally disappeared, but one article said that there were also some glaciers forming on another or some other mountain tops. As for Antarctica, I've read articles which reported that some scientific reports said that there's global warming impact on part of the continent, while there was more ice forming on another part of the continent.
Many global warming speakers have pretty much ceased to refer to it this way, having switched to using to climate change, instead. But NASA scientists say that when the sun's cycle of sun spots ends, which is in the very near future, then we'll experience GW globally.
In part, the latter back the global warming deniers; not wholly, but nevertheless to some real degree. And some people who may be called GW deniers aren't really deniers; instead, their real concern is the rich-and-powerful only seeking profit from the GW movement. It's a very critical matter that many of the people in that movement have been ignoring ... for years.
Some GW deniers, however, might be wholly deniers; but I think that probably many people are incorrectly referred to as deniers.
Oh, and some of the deniers have not denied GW, they've only denied that humans are the main cause; while some claimed that we're not the cause, at all. The former have been arguing that the sun has been mainly responsible, while some of this view said the sun's solely responsible.
There're definitely are variations, but it's crucial to not let the rich-and-powerful secretly misuse GW for their own and major profits. If they get their way, then it'll be a major cost to the rest of humanity.
From Wikipedia: "A 2001 study published in the 'Journal of Geophysical Research' blamed the lake's retreat largely on overgrazing in the area surrounding the lake, causing desertification and a decline in vegetation".
kayaker, that was my first thought too. Most people resort to grazing due to lack of other means of livelihood. I have tried to point out that some aid agencies and charities are actually making the situation worse by donating livestock. The first thing to do is to stop aggravating the situation in an arid or semi-arid region. To stop grazing, and allow the vegetative cover to regrow. If possible, aid this process by planting trees near where water is available. And wait for nature to go to work.
You'll find that what the two of you posted about the grazing, so of animals, and because of Lake Chad "disappearing" is like part of what's reported in the France24 investigative news report linked in a post I made further down this CD page. I don't recall the report saying anything about grazing of animals, but it definitely reports regarding agriculture and water from the lake being used for this, since there's extremely less fish for the locals to be able to feed themselves and earn income from, as they historically did.
That reports says the above and that populations of a few or several countries are taking water from the lake as if this is new or somewhat new, and if it's relatively new, then I guess it could have a real diminishing effect on or for the lake; especially when they continue to take the water as the lake's diminishing and has greatly diminished over the past 50 years or so.
This world is in an Ending Which Is A Beginning, since October 1981.
We are in approach to a World Moment, at which time the things of the ending will diminish and disappear and the things of the beginning will emerge and spread.
The worldwide expansion of awareness which is taking place will have us ready for what is coming. No human will can stop it.
There will be peace on this earth.
I do not seek to convince, but, rather, to reach those, who, by their awareness, already know.
Religious fanatics, of every stripe, have nothing to add to this discussion except for their superstitions, their dogma, and their stupidity. Their insane prophesies, which would make a normal six year old laugh, have that horrible self fulfilling ring to them- the glee with which they look forward to nuclear annilation in the middle east to set the stage for their so called savior, Immam, Guru or whatever, threatens us all.
Get your heads out of your religious asses, and make an effort to be part of the solution rather than a big part of the problems we face.
Bill in Canada
Nor do the deniers, anti-religious types that accuse everyone else of dogma and stupidity have much of intelligence to say.
I always look sideways at people that make fun of folks that think differently than they do or believe something different than they approve of.
I don't remember seeing diatribes from people that believe in whatever religion they believe in about non-believers and how "their superstitions, their dogma, and their stupidity in beliving there is nothing more important than themselves.
Perhaps you should feel free to express your own beliefs and keep your offensive remarks about others beliefs to yourself.
This person talked about an "expansion of awareness". I didn't see anything about looking forward to "nuclear annihilation in the middle east to set the stage for their so called savior..." - at least not on this post. I think there's no need for hostility, since others too make references to astrology or other predictions from time to time.
You're spot on with your remarks Bill. People like those you describe have no solution or contribution to offer.
Please stay on topic.
In regards to the demise of Africa, a poignant editorial appeared in my local paper on the 23rd. I reprint part of it below, not only for its unvarnished truth, but because it does something far too few articles seem to do - it asks us to act individually and collectively:
'Of the many words spoken at the climate summit recently concluded in Copenhagen, perhaps the most poignant were those of Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping. Sudanese by birth, Di-Aping was the chief negotiator for the G-77 bloc of mostly poor and developing countries, 134 nations representing 80 percent of the world’s population.
The “majority world,” in other words.
When it came time for him to speak, he was silent. Tears streaked his face. He put his head in his hands. Then he spoke from the heart words that shocked his listeners into a rapt silence. “We have been asked to sign a suicide pact,” he said.
By “we,” Di-Aping meant the African countries represented in his G-77 bloc. The pact he referenced was a proposal by which the world’s richest nations, including the United States, would consider as “acceptable” a 2 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures.
Di-Aping pointed out 2 degrees Celsius globally meant a temperature increase of 3.5 degrees Celsius or more for much of Africa (or 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit). He called it “certain death for Africa” and bluntly told the other negotiators the “acceptable” proposal favored by the wealthiest nations represented a type of “climate fascism” imposed by countries with high emissions of greenhouse gases on poorer countries that suffer the most from climate change.
Strong words, indeed. They challenge our understanding of the whole complicated issue of climate change and its relationship to our daily lives — how we use energy, how we spend our money, how we relate to the rest of the world.
Coming as they do just before Christmas, Di-Aping’s words offer each of us an opportunity to reflect on their relation to the teachings of Jesus, whose birthday we’ve been celebrating for some 2,000 years. Teachings that challenge us to hear the message of Di-Aping in the light of the parable introduced with this question, “And who is my neighbor?” Teachings that remind us, “To whomever much is given, of him or her will much be required.”'
http://tinyurl.com/ycx2jua
All of this might the first chapter in the book, "Camp of the Saints" where all the third world peoples get on boats and sail into the developed world.
Jeevee
For a start, how about reining in our arrogance and do the forbidden: Get down on our knees and pray to God, by whatever Name you call Him/Her?
And say what? Please do a miracle and return the earth, water , and climate to a pristine state so we can fuck it up again?
I would guess God has about had a belly full of the doings of the human race. What if your child came to you and asked you to clean up his room?----after you had begged him to do it a hundred times?
For all the devastation we read about 'africa'....a continent larger than Canada and the USA put together.....one thing we rarely hear is that the continent has a vast amount of 'farmable land'. That is why countries all over the world are buying up the land.
Millions of acres. Thanks to commondreams for pointing this out. But the usual 'american' viewpoint, is that 'it' is a huge wasteland, and deforested area..with yes, jungle and , rainforest that needs to be 'saved' by well meaning westerners......in fact, if WE stop our gov't from arming and supporting dictatorships there, and if WE stop loans with such high interest by the 'western' banks, africans could feed themselves....as they did for hundreds of years,...and in fact did in many countries up until the 1970's.
The ONE big issue for all americans, is to stop our govt. And stop it from overthrowing democracies, and stop it from building dictatorships and export only economies.
how do you do that?
not by 'voting' for third parties.
Not by 'hoping'.
but by mass organization........and try a general strike...will YOU?
my god...typing and typing....and voting. Please. It is really embarrassing.
those silly 'indians' in south and central america have been overthrowing dictatorships for the past ten years, EVEN under the threat and direct military sanction and bombing by the country we live in. Can we rise up?
Will you all please stop typing and hoping, and pleading. AND DEMAND with your power?
general strike three days May 1st. Withdraw from Iran and Afghanistan NOW. Try that.
VERY WELL SAID.
I try to follow as much news about africa as for any other region...and always have for as long as I began to be more concerned about all these world events.
there is a double = edged sword on africa right now...and that has to do with CHINA's rise and obvious need to feed itself and its growing appetite for energy, AND food.
so far - the greater part of reports are on the positive side in that china, as opposed to western imperialists , has , at least officially, or where those can control its businesses and people going to africa , been more careful to show that in exchange for getting what it wants and needs from africa, it is returning investments , assisting in infrastructures that will supposedly benefit africa countries it does business with, including transfer of technology.
but there are also the predictable conflicts where africans want more businesses to provide more work for AFRICANS rather than chinese immigrants . as far as current, that seems to be being addressed by China also, wary that it will be seen as just imitating that western colonialists who practically just stole and left africans with nothing -- of which we see the LEGACY TODAY in all the chaos and famine and maldistribution.
I put that as an example, because that is the most OPTIMISTIC scenario with africa and for africans:
that it is CHINA that has been doing , on the whole, pretty fair dealings with africans for their resources, land or labor -- at least in COMPARISON with the western colonialists who, we all know, LITERALLY enslaved africans to enrich themselves..not to mention leaving the very PRESENT ongoing legacy of africa being so left behind..so much so that it can not "feed itself"....which is , imo, the GREATEST travesty humankind from OTHER regions has ever inflicted on another region.
Africa IS OUR MOTHER LAND. ALL OF US.
africans ARE OUR brethren and sisters and the people of OUR human race....
and to treat them - over the generations and today - no MATTER which country it is --
as if they are just dispensable because of their rich continent - is the WORST we can , any of us, can do ....
as if it is like starving your own father and mother in order to get their wedding rings.
sometimes I can't bear reading about africa because of so much suffering that they really don't and have never deserved inflicted by other regions or countries because africa , apart from the HUMAN SLAVES that were used to enrich other continents, especially Europe and the USA -
is, by scientific community reports - actually the world's
"RICHEST SOURCE OF MINERAL AND OTHER TREASURES"
can you imagine that?
the land, the continent where human civilization began, where HUMANS began and became different from "beasts"....whose original humans had , with so little technology as we have, had such courage, and wit and strength to ,
in a mere few thousand years, by FOOT, actually managed to
COVER the ENTIRE greater part of the globe -- as far away as Australia , north to alaska and down to south america,...
and lastly to europe...while already leaving the "DNA" prints of their wonderful curiosity, resourcefulness and courage?
and this land has hte richest treasure trove of natural riches ...
and YET - its people are STARVING and so left behind?
how can this be?
in the eyes of those starving children and women and men ...sick or dying or diseased or running from chaos and war and famine but hardly hopeful of ever rising from deprivation and poverty ....
are the eyes of our ancestors.
does the world, no matter which country , DARE to CONTINUE to avert its eyes from that?
almost, or perhaps even SO - all the "economic" problems of any OTHER country or region on earth PALES in comparison with the NEGLECT and also the intentional exclusion of africa , except as FODDER , from any "economic advancement" or Concern.
a remarks by a currently very famous young tennis champion from spain -- Rafael Nadal - who is of course considered a great player and competitor and is of course very successful, celebrated and rich ....showed the starkness of the differences of the continents - regardless of what ELSE the problems are in other parts of the world:
he said , when asked about his "playing problems or challenges of the Tennis year Tour"...
"I can not complain...i should not...no matter what my difficulties are in any moment, and play whatever the conditions because I am already so privileged compared to others....as my uncle reminds me often:
' our problems are SMALL compared to those suffering and without food...like in AFRICA' ...".
Instead of talking to the sky, how about just stopping and reversing the over-population that is the prime driver of almost every problem. Since 1950, world population has increased from 2.4 billion to 6.8 billion. And the relative percentage increase in Africa has been far greater. The most important thing the world's women can do for global warming is to stop having babies. Just one less child has 20 times more impact than any other conservation choice a person can make, according to a university of Oregon study. If Africa continues its dramatic population increase, societies there will begin to implode in the very near future.
'lake chad was bigger than israel less than 50 years ago. today it's surface area is less than a tenth of its earlier size'
and we are just hearing about this now!!!
The following is a roughly twelve-minute clip of a France24 investigative news report and it's quite or very good.
"Climate Change: is Lake Chad disappearing?", France24English, Dec 10, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCZyd2bKN8k
The end of that clip says that Lake Chad has diminished and regrown before, a number of times, and that no one has yet shown or proven that this was ever due to climate change.
The following 54-second clip posted last January and is based on UNEP and Google Earth information, showing how much Lake Chad has diminished since the 1950s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXW29zsr6xg
Going to Google Videos and searching for "Lake Chad", quoted, turns up other video links.
If KLM Flt 253 had gone down, there would have been all the weeping and gnashing of teeth about how unfair this was and how awful a person the "terrorist" is.
WAKE UP F...... America. The peoples of the world are not going to quietly sit by as we destroy their habitat with our callous consumption. Ultimately, the terrorists are not going to be only Muslim!
www.StudentsForTheEarth.org
If the human race learned to live holistically, with respect for the earth, it could support many billions. However, especially with the water tables dwindling, it is doubtful we can even maintain 6 billion for long. Many millions of human beings are likely to be culled within the next decade. Sadly, they will be mostly the poor, who were/are living hand to mouth to begin with. The wealthy will likely destroy each other, even if they escape natural disasters.