IS TERROISM A greater threat than GLOBAL warming?

Question

IS TERROISM A greater threat than GLOBAL warming?

Answer 1

NO! Terrorists may kill a few people, but global warming COULD mean the end of us ALL!

Answer 2

I think the implied assertions of GW,could far out weigh any terrorist plot.At least from a economical and social stratification level.

Answer 3

Absolutely not.  Global warming has the potential to wipe out millions of people.  Terrorism tends to be concentrated on small regions in order to intimidate enemies.  On that note I've never been afraid of terrorism.  It is fairly obvious to me that 911 was a single event to basically tell us to back off, IF it wasn't a conspiracy for the "betterment of the US in the long run" which I do not rule out as a possibility.  It took a lot of planning and money, and the so called terrorists have their own problems over in the middle east.  There's a civil war going on there guys, we are just poking our noses in it.

Answer 4

No, more people stand to be affected by global warming than terror.

Answer 5

No, terrorism affects a plane, a building, a train, a subway, a city.  Global warming affects everyone on the planet.  

In fact, as people around the world are affected by global warming, some will blame the United States and we are likely to see a rise in terrorism as a result.

This report includes the army's former Chief of Staff and his thoughts on the global warming, and it outlines implications of global warming for the U.S. military:

Former U.S. Generals on National Security Threats Due to Climate Change

http://securityandclimate.cna.org/report...

If you read one page, read a "Voice of Experience" statement by one of the retired generals who contributed to the report, such as the one by General Gordon Sullivan (retired Chief of Staff, U.S. Army) on page 10. In most of those personal statements, the generals discusses how they came to be involved in the project and to become convinced that climate change represents a serious national security threat due to the droughts, famine, and social upheaval it will cause in other regions, causing issues such as mass migrations and increased threat of terrorism.

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Lately terrorism has been an over-hyped excuse for us to invade Iraq and to enable the government to establish the foundations for a police state:

- unauthorized, unsupervised surveillance of citizens (including those not suspected of any crimes)

- denial of due process - indefinite holding of suspects who have not been formally accused of any criminal charge

- torture of suspects, in violation of international law

- refusing to turn over international fugitives to face trial for war crimes

- covert military action in countries where no war has been declared (Pakistan)

- assignment of political appointees to government offices to ensure complete unilateral control of all branches and functions of government

- denial of freedom of speech, controlling the media, censoring and editing federal scientists' research reports

- evading congressional and judiciary probes into administration behavior, including destruction of evidence

The Bush administration has brought us to the brink of fascism.  We need to take a huge step back away from that edge.  

Thanks to the "War on Terror," the 600,000 Iraqis that have died since the United States invaded have left hundreds of thousands of children that will make excellent terrorist recruits in a decade or two.  Our strategy will backfire spectacularly, but current politicians simply plan of being out of office by then.  The United States shoudn't install dictators such as Saddam Hussein in the first place.  Was it worth the latest $400 billion in cost and the lives lost?  We need to start to learn from our mistakes.

Answer 6

Yeah, because terrorism is real, and global warming isn't.

Answer 7

They're very different and hard to compare.

Terrorists aren't (yet) powerful enough to actually change everyone's lives, unless people allow their the terrorist threat to control their action.  They can, however, kill more people in a developed country than global warming will.  But unless they get weapons of mass destruction, we're talking hundreds or thousands of people, not millions.

Global warming has the power to change everyone's lives, through causing hundreds of billions of dollars of economic damage to our agriculture and our coastal cities.  If we do nothing to reduce greenhouse gases there could be a severe economic depression, similar to the 1930s.  The terrorists can only dream of causing that kind of damage.

Answer 8

Terrorism is real, AGW is not. Terrorism is the worst threat.

Answer 9

Depends. Nukes going off all over the world as a result of terrorisn, or the Sun having more output could potentially wipe us all out, but as GW is natural, then I'd be more worried about terrorism.

Answer 10

There has always been terrorism in one form or another since we evolved from the trees.

Global warming is a new developement and could impact not just our way of living but our lives.

So, I would definetly say global warming.

Humans, by nature, are violent...and self destructive.

Answer 11

Well let's see... worst case terrorism would be a nuclear explosion in/on NY or washington DC.

worst case gw would be triggering the ice age that's 10,000 years overdue...

Gee, i don't know! lol

Answer 12

What a question...............

Answer 13

TERRORISM only kills a few people - Global Warming will kill us all

the biggest threat is actually Human Over Population...

Answer 14

World terrorism at its most successful has never managed to equal U.S. traffic fatalities for the same season. The major threat is that we will continue to throw away our Constitution over this hyped-up problem.

One heat wave in Europe has already caused more deaths than terrorism.  A single weather event such as a heat wave or a hurricane is much more deadly and expensive than the terrorism that we are expending trillions of dollars and giving up our individual rights trying to to combat.

The absolute failure by any nation or coalition of nations to deal with real global problems like climate change is going to be a major cause of the demise of the nation-state as a form of government.

Answer 15

BOB ROSS nails it.  Both are imminent threats to our freedom and prosperity through the actions of our elected officials.

Answer 16

FEAR is the greatest threat.  Fear of terrorism is used to strip us of our civil liberties.  Fear of global warming is being used to impose a global tax.  Neither is acceptable, and these tactics are reprehensible.

Answer 17

NO!!!!!! neither one is real

Answer 18

Yes.

Answer 19

A couple idiots running around with bomb packs, blowing up trains, or crashing planes into buildings - NO.

The same idiots with access to a couple old Soviet biological warfare labs - YES.

Answer 20

It's not an easy comparison, because Terrorism is here now and the serious observable consequences of global warming are still in the future.  Humans are pretty good at responding to imminent problems (e.g. a lion is coming towards us), but they aren't quite as good at preparing for future events (the prevalence of bankruptcy demonstrates this).

While the deaths from terrorism are typically in the 10's or occasionally (9/11) a couple thousand, there is the possibility of much more massive levels of death if they gain access to nuclear technology.  

Global warming will probably never have the same level of "WOW" affect as a bomb blowing up people, because it's changes are gradual.  But as storm surges riding on top of rising sea-level inflict damage to low-lying cities, the destruction and cost (life and material) could be quite significant.  And droughts or flooding in some areas may cause massive migration of peoples, which could result in resource conflicts (over water & food) and significant deaths.

Both terrorism or global warming are significant threats if they aren't taken seriously.  Fortunately, we don't have to choose between which one we battle against.  We can work to minimize the consequences of both.

Answer 21

No, just look at the numbers.

The World Health Organization estimates that 150,000 people are killed annually as a result of global warming (most in poor countries).  That's right now, when global warming hasn't even had a very big impact.   The number is projected to double by 2030.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2003/...

Even after the spike in terrorism deaths after the Iraq War, terrorism is still only responsible for about 20,000 deaths per year.  Two-thirds of those are in Iraq.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18399660/

So just going by the numbers, global warming is a threat 7.5 times greater today than terrorism, and a much bigger threat in the future.