When Joe Romm, a former official in the Clinton White House who now
runs a popular climate blog called
CLIMATE PROGRESS -- and he's the author of a very important 2006 book
titled HELL AND HIGH WATER, a dire
warming about the possible impacts of climate change in the future --
when Joe recently asked his readers where they and their
children and their grandchildren might be in the year 2035,or 2060,
over 200 comments came flooding in over a period of a few days.
Although nobody mentioned the term "polar city" which I have been
popularizing and advocating as an adaptation strategy since 2007, if
you read the comments closely, you can see that many people are
finally getting ready to confront just where it is
we are headed as a humanity. Come 2035, come 2060, and come 2500 as I
forecast with my Polar Cities Research Institute
project, and which even Joe Romm himself is afraid to blog about! Joe?
Where are your cojones?
Kidding. Joe's blog is vital and important, one of the best online.
For those who care about the future.
Reading through the roughly 200 comments plus or minus, I noted to myself that many people
are now admitting in public that they agree with
James Lovelock's predictions about mass migrations north in the future
to live in climate refuges for climate refugees. And with Danny Bloom,
who as you
know, calls these Lovelockian ''climate settlements'' in the far north
-- and in New
Zealand and Tasmania too -- as "polar cities", where survivors of
climate chaos will be housed to serve as Lovelock's famous "breeding
pairs" of humans in the future.
It's no longer science fiction or mere
eccentricity on the part of Lovelock or Bloom, but many people are now
embracing these ideas, as seen in comments above. Bloom, 61, calls
himself "James Lovelock's Accidental Student" since he got his idea
for polar cities directly from Lovelock. 91, and Lovelock has seen Bloom's
images and ideas of polar citiees and said '''yes yes, it may happen
and soon'' in an email.
So the fact that so many comments actually say what
Lovelock and Bloom have been saying in the past indicates that the
awful A-word -- ADAPTATION -- is now taking over from mitigation. It
would be nice and useful and helpful is one day Joe Romm takes some
time to do a gentle blog post about Bloom
and his polar cities meme.
http://pcillu101.blogspot.com/
To understand just how close people are to mentioning the meme, or
theme, of polar cities, see these comments excerpted from Dr Romm's
blog:
Joe asked his readers: "So where would you receommend your children
live, in a quarter century, and your grandchildren,
in a half century in the future?"
He did not want to go as far as I go, which is to ask: where will
people live in 2121 or 2222 or 2323 or 2424 or God-willing, 2525?
But that's for another day. For now, look at what people said recently
on Romm blog in answerr to his question:
Peter M said: "Great post. In Anglo-America, it's simply the furrther
north near the coast.
Keith said: "Upstate NY and upstate New England will fare better than most."
Richard Pauli said: "Areas closer to the poles, but not too close,
because the heating increase wil be greatest there."
Another poster said: "Figure Alaska and Greenland will be more
geologically stable than Greeenland. And the tip of South Americca
might be desirable."
STILL, NO MENTION OF THE DREADED POLAR CITIES TERM. but it's coming. WAIT:
Chris Winter said: "A secluded mountainside in Alaska or the Canadian
Rockies. I would expect a rather primitive lifestyle"
YOU BET! PRIMITIVE TO THE EXTREME!
John Atheson said: "The degree of Mad Max srtuff going on is the wild card."
Jorg Haas said: "Iceland."
P asid: "I think Lovelock is too optimistic with his saying that the
UK will become a climate refugee hideout. P also mentions "breeding
pairs" and Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD movie, which highlights
canabalism!
W said: "By 2035, no location will be habitable year round...the only
survivors will be those who successfully migrate with climate change."
CAN YOU SMELL POLAR CITIES YET?
SE said: "In any case, we're already locked into utter catastrophe,
however agressive our mitigation efforts might become in the coming
years."
CD in Australia said: "Keep up the good work blogging, Joe. We need
someone like you, combining the science with a SENSE OF URGENCY!'
WP said: "I am glad people are thinking END GAME instead of efficient
light bulbs here. It's not happy talk but it's reality."
FC piped in from NZ saying: "New Zealand might be the best place in
the world to survive future clijmate change."
OCO said: "the only method people will have to use to migrate with
will be their feet."
SO said: "
I strongly believe the Arctic is where you should aim for in the long-term...."
Anne said: "In caves,of course. We're headed back to stone age."
David Smith added: "I cannot believe that nobody here is mentioning
that we must stop using fossil fuels...we blow right past the the part
that is hard and involves creativity and committment and personal
sacrifice!"
P said: "Given that small "arcs" could survive the initial climate
shift..." ALMOST SAYING POLAR CITIES, which are ARKS, YES!
Robert said: "The biggest problem will be the conflict between
exisiting residents and climate refugees. Will the US fortify its
southern border? Will Canada fortify its southern border as the USA
slides into anarchy?
Wp said: "This question shifts the thinking from mitigation of c02 to
adaptation and survival -- exactly where thinking should be now"
Wp added: "Lovelock says man may survive in places like the UK, Norway
and Sweden and polar regions like north Canada and
Siberia........Lovelock forecasts at most 1 billion surviving with 9
billion dying."
STILL NO MENTION OF DANNY BLOOM or his POLAR CITIES IDEAS, but see it
is getting closer. PEOPLE ARE THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE STEP BY STEP.
THE YEAR 2500 is still FAR FAR AWAY.
SE said: "When you look at the year 2060, southern Argentina might be
a good place for your children to be since it's close to the Arctic
Peninsula, the place where survivor colonies will be built."
THE PLACE WHERE SURVIVOR COLONIES WILL BE BUILT! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT
DANNY BLOOM'S POLAR CITIES IDEA IS ALL ABOUT! SE almost mentioned it,
without saying the word.....
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