hrothgar, on 2012-November-16, 06:53, said:
Since World War II, people have grappled with the Holocaust. How could a civilized country like Germany go about trying to wipe a race of people off the earth. One of the telling phrases from these discussions is the banality of evil.
Your discuss about "winners and losers" and those "who have adapted best come out on top" is very reminiscent.
"It's a damn shame those Africans and Bangladeshis didn't adapt better when the developed world started poisoning the commons..."
FWIW, I know Godwin's law better than most.
Even so, when folks are advocating genocide it seems appropriate to bring the Nazi's into the picture.
Since WWII, The Soviets wiped out millions in the gulags, The Khmer Rouge killed an estimated 1.5 million Cambodians, Up to a million may have been killed in the Rwandan genocide, The Ottoman Empire wiped out between 1 and 1.5 millian Armenians. Germany did not have a monopoly on evil or genocide. Mass killings neither began nor ended in the 20th century, and none of these had anything to do with climate adaptation.
History tells of many civilizations that likely disappeared due to climatic changes; the Mayans, Anasazi, Indus, and the Greenland Vikings for starters. Many of the World's poor depend upon the rich nations for assistance. Enacting draconian measures in an ill-fated attempt to curb climate change, would only result in economic decline of the Western world. How much money would be available then to help the poorest nations? Under the worst-case warming scenarios for the 21st century, Bangledesh and other low-lying nations would face disaster, but many of the wealthiest (U.S., Canada, Russia, and Western Europe) would prosper. It would then be our obligation to further assist these impoverished nations - and we would have added funds to do so. Would you deprive these countries of added assistance? By the way, Africa has experienced increase rainfall during past warming episodes, and decreased rainfall during cooling, very little adaption would be required on their part.