scorpionking

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Posts by scorpionking

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  11

  Hmmm...

  by scorpionking in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  this is for all you idiots who don't believe we're in the last days..

  ecological decline 'far worse' than official estimates .

  leaked paper - oecd's grim warning on climate change .

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  scorpionking

  I hear ya Pope,but this is the Guardian saying this...not the WT!
• 
  11

  Hmmm...

  by scorpionking in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  this is for all you idiots who don't believe we're in the last days..

  ecological decline 'far worse' than official estimates .

  leaked paper - oecd's grim warning on climate change .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  scorpionking

  This is for all you idiots who don't believe we're in the Last Days..

  Ecological decline 'far worse' than official estimates
  
  Leaked paper - OECD's grim warning on climate change
  
  John Vidal in Johannesburg
  Monday August 26, 2002
  The Guardian The real level of world inequality and environmental degradation may be far worse than official estimates, according to a leaked document prepared for the world's richest countries and seen by the Guardian.

  It includes new estimates that the world lost almost 10% of its forests in the past 10 years; that carbon dioxide emissions leading to global warming are expected to rise by 33% in rich countries and 100% in the rest of the world in the next 18 years; and that more than 30% more fresh water will be needed by 2020.

  The background paper for last month's Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development pre-Johannesburg meeting on sustainable development draws on many previously unseen UN, World Bank, World Trade Organisation, and academic papers.

  Although the governments of the world's 22 richest nations who make up the OECD have seen the document, many of the calculations are new and considerably different from their own.

  It calculates that less than 0.1% of of the average income of the 22 members of the OECD actually finds its way to the world's low income countries and just 0.05% went to the least developed countries. Recent US and EU initiatives, it says, "will not meet targets at any time soon".

  Donor assistance for environmental protection and basic social services has declined to less than 15% of all aid compared with 35% at the time of the last earth summit in 1992.

  The OECD paper calculates that rich countries now subsidise their industries by up to $1,000m a year, including more than $300bn in agriculture. This, it says, is having increasing effects on the development of poor countries. and on environmental degradation. If unrestricted market access were given to just the four richest economies in the world, it would increase per capita incomes of more than 2 billion people in the world's most populated countries by 4% a year.

  Meanwhile, the paper finds that foreign assistance from western European countries, including private funding and direct investment encouraged through national policies, was more globally oriented in 1900 than it is today.

  It says that if the EU, Canada, Japan and the US allowed migrants to make up 4% of their workforce, the returns to poor countries could be $160bn to 200bn a year - far more than any debt relief could provide.

  The paper's calculations of environmental degradation suggest the many conventions, treaties and intergovernmental agreements signed in the past decade have had little or no effect on stopping the rush for timber and mineral resources in the developing world and that extinction of species is now reaching 11% of birds, 18%-24% of mammals, 5% of fish, and 8% of plants.

  Over the next 18 years, says the report, global energy use is expected to expand by more than 50%, and by more than 100% in China, east Asia and the former Soviet Union. Transport is by then expected to account for more than half of global oil demand.

  "The non-renewable fossil fuel resource base is expected to be sufficient to meet demand to 2020 though problems beyond that point are foreseen for natural gas and possibly oil," the report says.

  It adds that OECD countries subsidise the emission of global warming gases by $57bn - almost exactly what the report estimates it would cost to meet international targets. The paper suggests that investing the money in reducing climate change emissions would have next to no effect on the global economy. "Through the provision of subsidies on fossil fuels governments are effectively subsidising pollution and global warming as more than 60% of all subsidies flow to oil, coal and gas."

  Environment and development groups yesterday reacted to the report with horror.

  "The rich world knows this is happening," said the chair of Friends of the Earth International, Ricardo Navarrez. "We in poor countries have always known the climate is changing, aid does not come, and the poor are getting poorer. The richest countries are here in Johannesburg to keep the system going."
  
  Depleted resources: Key facts from OECD report

  Fisheries

  Nearly 50% of all fish stocks are fully exploited, 20% are overexploited

  Only 2% of global fisheries is recovering from overfishing

  Forests

  On current trends by 2025 15% of all forest species will be extinct

  Development

  60% of the world's population lives in ecologically vulnerable areas

  3 million people die each year due to air pollution and 5 million due to unsafe water

  Foreign investment

  80% of global finance flows went to rich countries in 2000, with the entire African continent receiving less than 1% of direct foreign investment

  In 1914 40% of western European investment went to Africa, Latin America and Asia. In 1990 less than 20% went to those regions

  Water

  Global water withdrawals are expected to rise 31% by 2020

  Most groundwater resources are being replenished at a rate of between 0.1% and 0.5%
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  13

  Question from a newbie

  by scorpionking in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello everybody.... i was disfellowshipped about 8 years ago at the age of 19.i was raised in the truth by my mother.my father was a non-believer.i willfully left of my own free will.to this day i still believe it's the truth.i've got a question for all you doubters...if the wts was truly in it just for the money,then why the hell would they be so strict?

  ?if they wanted millions upon millions of members,then why not loosen up the requirements a little?

  ?why not allow gays like other churches?to me,the fact that the organization is growing with requirements as strict as they are says something.and about the child abuse issue...remember ancient israel had some pretty corrupt priests and leaders but jehovah still claimed them as his people.just because the elders fuck up doesn't mean the whole organization is bad,right?anyway if you ask me i place the blame on the abused kids' parents and the elders.why the hell didn't the parents go to the police?fuck the elders.i'll tell you what...if i was in the truth again and a witness touched my 5 year old daughter the last place i would go would be to the elders.i'd be headed straight for my gun cabinet or the police.any thoughtful answers would be appreciated.

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  scorpionking

  Thanks everybody for replying! I was disfellowshipped because somebody saw me smoking a joint outside my house and told the elders.They wanted to talk to me about it but I never showed up so they disfellowshipped me.If I had wanted to I could have gone to them and told them I was repentant and all that but I didn't,knowing full well they would disfellowship me.The reason I chose not to show up anymore(with the elders or at the meetings)was I felt too controlled.I felt suffocated and restricted.I was only 19 and I couldn't handle that.Nobody from my old congregation talks to me anymore but my mother still speaks to me like nothing ever happened.In fact,the elders told her there was nothing wrong with her talking to me cuz I was immediate family.My wife's a witness and the elderly lady who studied with her talks to me like we're old friends...and she's been in the truth over 50 years!The reason I believe it's the truth is cuz no other religion or philosophy satisfactorily answers questions I have like: "why are we here? why are things getting worse and worse? why are there so many wars? why are people so miserable and depressed? why are families falling apart? why do we yearn for peace and living forever?"Anyway I truly feel for all of you who feel damaged by the WTS.Thanks for replying!
• 
  13

  Question from a newbie

  by scorpionking in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello everybody.... i was disfellowshipped about 8 years ago at the age of 19.i was raised in the truth by my mother.my father was a non-believer.i willfully left of my own free will.to this day i still believe it's the truth.i've got a question for all you doubters...if the wts was truly in it just for the money,then why the hell would they be so strict?

  ?if they wanted millions upon millions of members,then why not loosen up the requirements a little?

  ?why not allow gays like other churches?to me,the fact that the organization is growing with requirements as strict as they are says something.and about the child abuse issue...remember ancient israel had some pretty corrupt priests and leaders but jehovah still claimed them as his people.just because the elders fuck up doesn't mean the whole organization is bad,right?anyway if you ask me i place the blame on the abused kids' parents and the elders.why the hell didn't the parents go to the police?fuck the elders.i'll tell you what...if i was in the truth again and a witness touched my 5 year old daughter the last place i would go would be to the elders.i'd be headed straight for my gun cabinet or the police.any thoughtful answers would be appreciated.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  scorpionking

  Hello everybody...

  I was disfellowshipped about 8 years ago at the age of 19.I was raised in the truth by my mother.My father was a non-believer.I willfully left of my own free will.To this day I still believe it's the truth.I've got a question for all you doubters...If the WTS was truly in it just for the money,then why the hell would they be so strict??If they wanted millions upon millions of members,then why not loosen up the requirements a little??Why not allow gays like other churches?To me,the fact that the organization is growing with requirements as strict as they are says something.And about the child abuse issue...remember ancient Israel had some pretty corrupt priests and leaders but Jehovah still claimed them as his people.Just because the elders fuck up doesn't mean the whole organization is bad,right?Anyway if you ask me I place the blame on the abused kids' parents AND the elders.Why the hell didn't the parents go to the police?Fuck the Elders.I'll tell you what...if I was in the truth again and a witness touched my 5 year old daughter the last place I would go would be to the Elders.I'd be headed straight for my gun cabinet or the police.Any thoughtful answers would be appreciated.