If We Don't Stop Using Carbon Fuels Millions Will Die!
Human life means nothing To Billionaires who think they will survive even when their money becomes useless! Large-scale mayhem has produced some of history’s great fortunes: war, for example, but also the disruptive industrial, digital and—more recently—financial revolutions: A lot of people have become rich, others ruined. Now we are facing the hottest weather the planet has ever seen and even though millions will die there are some who are poised to make mega profits!
Which brings us to climate change. Over the last couple of weeks, the Central Intelligence Agency, the International Energy Agency and the World Bank have released separate dire warnings for civilization should global temperatures rise as scientists now predict they will. Echoing scenarios laid out previously by the US military, the United Nations and think tanks, the new reports forecast the weakening of nations, the migration of populations and rampant disease. Populous places could flood, and others become unsurvivably hot and dry. War could break out over the right to fertile places. These companies are willing to step over the bodies of our children to keep themselves rich and comfortable! But Marie Antoinette once made a bet she could survive with impunity while others suffered, and somehow like our grifter politicians and greedy moguls she couldn't see what was ahead of her!
But such awkwardness aside, the end-of-life-as-we-know-it scenario would seem to be an exceptional opportunity in the classic chaos-boom matrix—and an unbeatable long-range investment. China could implode, gold prices could crater, Apple could become a technology also-ran, but there’s probably no surer bet than a warming planet.
Some businesses have already responded. Around the world, we see carmakers churning out low- and no-emission electric cars in California, China and elsewhere, and other companies pouring billions of dollars into wind and other investments. These are essentially one-way bets—they attempt to shave off the impact of climate change. We also have some signs of shrewd CEOs in the energy sector hedging more broadly. As the Arctic ice-cap melts, ExxonMobil, Statoil and Total are frantically seeking deals along newly accessible oil and gas fields, particularly in Russia and Greenland. Ironically they simultaneously point the finger at African nations who want to use their own oil reserves that are being siphoned at pennies on the dollar.
In a report last year, New York-based Mercer said climate change is negative for real-estate investment in low-lying and coastal areas like Bangkok, New Orleans and Shanghai. Land in currently cool and water-rich nations, though, will boom. So smart investors will abandon their long bets on a wholly exposed and unprepared India, and double down on Russia. As a corollary, agriculture will become huge in Canada, and go bust in Africa and Latin America. These investments will work out unless the ocean currents stop which could happen in the next 5 to 10 years if that happens Europe and Canada will become like the arctic and subSaharan Africa will see monsoons and an increase in rainfall creating more rainforests.
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