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SCOPE of POLITICS
Things that governments do well:
- Getting elected; someone always gets elected
- Matching their philosophy to the citizen’s mood and wishes
- Avoiding controversy which may get them unelected
Things that governments do NOT do well:
- Taking a leadership position with too much controversy
- Doing anything that might impair the short term economy
- Looking beyond the next election. Climate change is too vague (& falsely far into the future) to be an election issue. It will remain so until it is catastrophic; more catastrophic than it already is.
Stop Electing Climate Deniers
The US has elected a climate denier as President. He has in turn undercut fossil fuel regulations in support of short term economic growth.
As the damage from hurricanes, flood, droughts, wildfires mounts into the billions of dollars, citizens should consider two things
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Extreme weather disasters are painful, both personally and financially. It harms life and the quality of life.
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Unless the grass-roots movements elect leaders who will tackle climate change as a priority over short term economic growth, it is only going to get worse
SOCIAL MEDIA …
… is another aspect of politics and influential communication today. Be aware of the variability of news sources and of skewed information. Check out the frequency of newsfeed sources from these regions:
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How did all the Facebook news feeds from Africa, the Middle East and Scandinavia get completely lost? Was there too much bad news or good news for companies buying Ads?
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SHAPE OF WAR
Wars, economics, forms of government, and power are all heavily inter-related. Civilizations rise and fall. Based on history and human nature, can we create a sustainable global civilization, through understanding what motivates persons in power, and people in general? With media and common interests, anything may be possible. Jump to the Scope of Politics to see how to motivate politicians.
In history, there is a strong pattern of scarcity of resources as triggers of conflict. When nations are starving, their feet take them to places with food. When people are suffering, and they have the means, there can be revolutions. (French revolution) Unless there is some way forward to a sustainable planet, and some reasonable access to resources for most people, more conflict can be expected. Doing nothing really is not a good option. Lack of fresh water has already contributed to civil wars and migrations, which fill our news cycle – Syria, Yemen, Somalia, NE Nigeria, Libya. But how often do we think of drought as one of the prime factors in conflict?
One cannot discount religious differences, past conflicts, and the simple desire for power and wealth, as sources of conflict. But let’s not overlook resource scarcity as another factor that drives people.
MILITARY SPENDING as a PERCENTAGE of GDP
Countries with high military costs as a percent of GDP are highlighted.
Source: Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2016 . (check downloads). By: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute – www.sipri.org. The visual representation of the same data is shown in the next chart:
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As refenced above, SIPRI.org data, from the “Trends” download.
Sahel Countries – Climate Changes
Trends over the past 20 years:
- Improvement in political stability in Saharan region
- Overall increases in average temperature
- Decreases in rainfall in some regions
Higher temperatures and growing water shortages threaten to reverse gains in political stability.
