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The Union of Concerned Scientists has released a report entitled The Climate Deception Dossiers.
For nearly three decades, many of the world's largest fossil fuel companies have knowingly worked to deceive the public about the realities and risks of climate change.
Their deceptive tactics are now highlighted in this set of seven "deception dossiers"—collections of internal company and trade association documents that have either been leaked to the public, come to light through lawsuits, or been disclosed through Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests.
So now we have some idea of "What fossil fuel companies knew and when they knew it". Full report available here [pdf].
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Climategate: the Shoe is on the Other Foot
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The sooner our happiness together begins, the longer it will last.
-- Miramanee, "The Paradise Syndrome", stardate 4842.6
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2015, @12:50AM
...is that global warming will screw up their own lives about as much as everybody else's lives.
Except that it wont. They have the money to move to a safe location when the coastal areas flood. They have the money to never go hungry when the crops fail because of drought, flooding or swarms of locusts. They have the money to pay for bodyguards to keep the sick people out when the plagues start.
When it all hits the fan HARD they will be living in luxury while the rest of the world starves, drowns, freezes and continue to suffer in all manner of ways because of climate change.
If they really understand what they have done they don't care. They will have enough to eat, clean water to drink and a safe place to sleep soundly knowing that they got what they wanted.
Other than your last assertion your summation is dead on.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Friday July 10 2015, @01:18AM
Except that, in an apocalyptic scenario as you described, their electronic money has no value.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday July 10 2015, @01:30AM
And I'd also like to point out that in an apocalyptic scenario, that shiny yellow metal that a lot of people think will protect their wealth is also pretty useless. If you have a pile of gold, and I have a pile of non-perishable food, I am much better off than you are, even if that pile of gold has a much higher dollar value than my pile of food.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday July 10 2015, @05:04AM
Having a stash of tools will be more valuable than that shiny yellow metal. Provided you can protect that stash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday July 10 2015, @07:00PM
Hell, even a stash of whiskey will be more valuable than gold. But it doesn't keep as well, it takes up more room, and the bottles are fragile. Similar arguments apply to food. Guns are another matter, of course.
OTOH, there's a very large population, if the apocalypse happens over 90% will die. But not quickly. Pick your retreat carefully, and be sure that you can trust your guards, as you won't be able to depend on any outside legal system.
That said, the apocalypse is unlikely. (Not quite unlikely, unfortunately.) We're talking about a slow process, that will take decades, perhaps centuries. People who are currently elderly will miss the worst effects. People who are currently young will have time to adapt...of course, it also requires foresight and wealth. Don't buy a house on a flood plain. Try for areas about 500 feet above sea level. (I hope I'm figuring in a sufficient margin of safety.) Expect crop failures, droughts, floods, etc. ... but not in a historic pattern.
*THAT* said, climate isn't the only cause of civil disruption on the horizon. People are still in denial about the rate at which jobs are disappearing...and replacements haven't been showing up. Plumbing still looks like a safe job, but it's heavily unionized. Electrician may be an easier bet, and is nearly as difficult to automate or off-shore. And, of course, if you don't have any ethics being a con man is a growth industry...just don't bother with telemarketing.
Then there's the economy. Lots of people with tell you how it's doing with great certainty.. I don't believe ANY of them. I don't actually believe anybody knows how the overall economy is doing, only what they can currently scrape out of it. Remember that ALL current money if fiat money, with no actual value, and most of it is just numbers in a computer somewhere. And you *know* what can happen to those numbers.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday July 10 2015, @02:55AM
Except that, in an apocalyptic scenario as you described, their electronic money has no value.
It has no value now, other than that which is given it by consensus. Same as gold or silver or jewels. But that is irrelevant, in the Middle Ages there was no electronic money. Yet there were probably even more lords and kings ruling ruthlessly over others. Our apocalypse won't come with a bang, but with many whimpers. Most of those that control with power and wealth now will be positioning themselves to do the same as their ancient predecessors, and same as then there will be plenty of thugs and criminals willing to ally themselves with the "lords" for a piece of the pie. Sociopaths unfortunately almost always win out, at least until another sociopath displaces them.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday July 10 2015, @01:46PM
It isn't likely to reach the point of apocalypse in their lifetime, just the point where it will really suck for people who aren't rich.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday July 10 2015, @03:19PM
Except that, in an apocalyptic scenario as you described, their electronic money has no value.
Unless, of course, it does have value. There is an assumption here that apocalypses are bad for everyone without exception. I doubt that will be the case. Some places will be safer than others, and wealth allows you more opportunity to both acquire goods of value in the post-apocalyptic future and move to the safer regions of the world.