Jeremy Rifkin: 'Europe can lead the third industrial revolution'

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.euractiv.com/en/energy/jeremy-rifkin-europe-lead-third-industrial-revolution/article-170005

Jeremy Rifkin: 'Europe can lead the third industrial revolution'

Published: Thursday 31 January 2008

Climate change and the depletion of oil reserves are taking place faster than expected and the policies we are putting in place will be insufficient to keep up, leading economist Jeremy Rifkin told EurActiv.fr in an interview, where he pleads for the EU to lead the way towards a “Third Industrial Revolution”.

Leading US economist Jeremy Rifkin is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends.

To read a shortened version of this interview, please click here.

You presented a survey called "Leading the Way to the Third Industrial Revolution". What does this third industrial revolution mean?

We are now in the twilight, in the sunset of an energy regime. Sunsets take a long time and we're going to still have this energy regime for some time in the 21st century, but the externalities are building up quickly. Climate change increases rapidly in developing countries because of the price of oil and gas going up on the markets. If we think we're taking a hit, with prices going up to $90-100, imagine what's going on in developing countries today. That's the untold story actually - added to political instability in all the regimes of the countries producing oil and gas.

The first thing that hits you about the third climate report of the United Nations (UN) is the speed and acceleration of this climate change. What is clear is that it is happening faster than the models can keep up. The second report said that we'd probably see the snow disappearing in the Everglades by the 22nd century. The third report shows that it will now disappear in the first 30 years of the 21st century. The second report said we'll see more intense hurricanes in the Caribbean and the Gulf Stream in the 22nd century. The new report says we are doubling the intensity of hurricanes already now in the 21st century, giving the example of Katrina.

...

[NNadir]

1. Really? He and Amory Lovins left the "hydrogen car hype" business?

[AlecBGreen]

2. lol

"The second report said that we'd probably see the snow disappearing in the Everglades by the 22nd century"

The Everglades? The largest swamp in America, at the southern end of Florida, will be free of snow? Ya dont say :eyes: What is this guy talkin about?

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Yeah, I saw that. I expect it's a typo

Probably should have been the "Himalayas."

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. See for example:

http://www.japanfocus.org/products/details/2633

Global Warming Thaws Himalayan Glaciers at Frightening Speed

Tomioka Shiho and Sato Osafumi

Katmandu--In the Himalayas, global warming is making its presence felt in dramatic fashion.

Aerial photographs taken by The Asahi Shimbun aircraft Asuka, in cooperation with Nagoya University field researchers, show that glaciers there have become thinner while lakes that hold the water of melted glaciers have rapidly expanded in the 30 years since the last photos were taken by the university.

...

If global warming proceeds, snow that falls in the Himalayas could change to rain. The rain will melt glaciers instead of expanding them. "The glaciers in the Himalayas are a sensitive sensor to measure global warming," Fujita said.

...

[bullimiami]

5. it did snow here, in the everglades, one day in 1977 i think.

A few snowflakes that melted as soon as they touched anything.
We were going crazy though.
Funny though.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. I remember when I was a boy...

My cousin drove his VW up from Miami in the early 70's. We had a storm while he was visiting, and got over a foot of snow. He had never seen snow before...

You can imagine what his reaction was...

[hunter]

7. Jeremy Rifkin is a con man.

He is not a "Leading US economist."

He has a lot in common with Bev Harris and other grifters who take up causes for their own self-aggrandizment.

The corporate machine tolerates and even encourages people like this because they disrupt and discredit the political movements they claim to represent.