THIS POST PRESENTS A 2004 GUARDIAN ARTICLE [LINK]  ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING CLIMATE CHANGE IN TERMS OF CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE BY THE YEAR 2020 PREDICTED BY THE PENTAGON.  THE RELEVANT CONTENT OF THE ARTICLE IS PRESENTED BELOW. 

THE CONTEXT OF THE ARTICLE IS THAT IN 2004, THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA WAS GEORGE W BUSH WHO WAS WIDELY SEEN AS A CLIMATE DENIER JUST AS TRUMP IS TODAY, BUT WITH SOME DEGREE OF REBELLION IN THE ADMINISTRATION. THE PRIMARY SUCH REBELLION IS CITED AS THE CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT ISSUED BY THE PENTAGON THAT LAID OUT THE CASE FOR HUMAN CAUSED GLOBAL WARMING AND ITS CATASTROPHIC IMPACTS SUCH AS EXTREME WEATHER, SEA LEVEL RISE, FLOODS, AND DROUGHTS THAT THE PENTAGON HAD DECIDED WOULD LEAD TO COLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION AND A NEW KIND OF GLOBAL WARFARE SCENARIO BY THE YEAR 2020 FOR WHICH THE USA MUST PREPARE.

PRESIDENT BUSH SUPPRESSED THE REPORT FOR 4 MONTHS AND THAT LED SOME ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS TO REBEL AGAINST THE PRESIDENT FOR HIS CLIMATE DENIAL. JEREMY SYMONS OF THE EPA RESIGNED IN PROTEST  SAYING THAT THE WHITE HOUSE WAS TRYING TO “BURY THE THREAT OF CLIMATE CHANGE”. 

THE GUARDIAN ARTICLE BELOW WAS ONE OF MANY SUCH ANALYSES THAT USED THESE EVENTS TO BOOST CLIMATE ACTIVISM AND TO ATTACK CLIMATE DENIERS INCLUDING PRESIDENT BUSH. REPORTS OF THESE EVENTS PUBLISHED AT THAT TIME CAPTURE THE EUPHORIC MOMENT FOR THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT THAT SAW THE PENTAGON REPORT AS A VINDICATION OF THEIR CLIMATE ACTIVISM AND THE ATTACK ON PRESIDENT BUSH AS A REJECTION OF CLIMATE DENIAL. 

HOWEVER, WHEN VIEWED 16 YEARS LATER FROM THE YEAR 2020, THESE 2004 EVENTS AND FAILED CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE FORECASTS FOR THE YEAR 2020 PAINT A VERY DIFFERENT PICTURE ALTHOUGH ACTIVISTS CAN INTERPRET THE COVID PANDEMIC AND THE GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS IN THAT LIGHT. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE BIG ISSUE OF THE TIME RIGHT AFTER THE 911 ATTACKS WAS TERRORISM AND SO MUCH OF THE FEARS OF CLIMATE CHANGE INCLUDED THE SPREAD AND RISING THREAT OF TERRORISM. 

THE FORECASTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS BY THE YEAR 2020 INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING.

1. CATASTROPHIC IMPACTS OF ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE EVENTS
2. EUROPEAN CITIES WILL BE SUBMERGED UNDER SEA LEVEL RISE 
3. COLLAPSE OF GLOBAL PEACE AND ORDER THAT IS WORSE THAN TERRORISM.
4. MILLIONS OF LIVES LOST IN WARS AND NATURAL DISASTERS.
5. MEGA DROUGHTS AND FAMINE THAT WILL LEAD TO NUCLEAR WAR.
6. WIDESPREAD RIOTING AROUND THE WORLD. 
7. ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE WILL DESTROY CIVILIZATION AND CREATE ANARCHY. 
8. AS PEOPLE START RUNNING OUT OF FOOD, WATER, AND ENERGY THERE WILL BE WIDESPREAD RIOTING AND WARFARE THAT WILL LEAD TO NUCLEAR CONFLICT. 
9. HUMAN CIVILIZATION WILL BE GONE AND REPLACED WITH A STATE OF WARFARE. 
10. ESSENTIALLY, IT WAS POSTULATED THAT CLIMATE CHANGE WILL DESTROY HUMAN CIVILIZATION AND WE WILL HAVE TO START ALL OVER FROM OUR CAVEMAN DAYS. 

WHAT THE 2004 GUARDIAN ARTICLE SAYS

1. Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us. Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war. Britain will be ‘Siberian’ in less than 20 years. Threat to the world is greater than terrorism. Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters. A secret report, suppressed by US defense chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.
2. The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents. ‘Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,’ concludes the Pentagon analysis. ‘Once again, warfare would define human life. The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. They will also make unsettling reading for President Bush who has insisted national defense is a priority.
3. The report was commissioned by influential Pentagon defence adviser Andrew Marshall, who has held considerable sway on US military thinking over the past three decades. He was the man behind a sweeping recent review aimed at transforming the American military under Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Climate change ‘should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern’, say the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network.
4. A scenario of imminent catastrophic climate change is ‘plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately’, they conclude. As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions. Last week the Bush administration came under heavy fire from a large body of respected scientists who claimed that it cherry-picked science to suit its policy agenda and suppressed studies that it did not like. Jeremy Symons, a former whistleblower at the EPA, said that suppression of the report for four months was a further example of the White House trying to bury the threat of climate change.
5. Senior climatologists believe that their verdicts could prove the catalyst in forcing Bush to accept climate change as a real and happening phenomenon. They also hope it will convince the United States to sign up to global treaties to reduce the rate of climatic change. A group of eminent UK scientists recently visited the White House to voice their fears over global warming, part of an intensifying drive to get the US to treat the issue seriously. Sources have told The Observer that American officials appeared extremely sensitive about the issue when faced with complaints that America’s public stance appeared increasingly out of touch.
6. It is alleged that the White House had written to complain about some of the comments attributed to Professor Sir David King, Tony Blair’s chief scientific adviser, after he branded the President’s position on the issue as indefensible. Among those scientists present at the White House talks were Professor John Schellnhuber, former chief environmental adviser to the German government and head of the UK’s leading group of climate scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He said that the Pentagon’s internal fears should prove the ‘tipping point’ in persuading Bush to accept climatic change.  {More about Schellnhuber: [LINK] .
7. Sir John Houghton, former chief executive of the Meteorological Office – and the first senior figure to liken the threat of climate change to that of terrorism – said: ‘If the Pentagon is sending out that sort of message, then this is an important document indeed. Bob Watson, chief scientist for the World Bank and former chair of the IPCC, added that the Pentagon’s dire warnings could no longer be ignored.
8. ‘Can Bush ignore the Pentagon? It’s going be hard to blow off this sort of document. Its hugely embarrassing. After all, Bush’s single highest priority is national defense. The Pentagon is no wacko, liberal group, generally speaking it is conservative. If climate change is a threat to national security and the economy, then he has to act. There are two groups the Bush Administration tend to listen to, the oil lobby and the Pentagon,’ added Watson.
9. ‘You’ve got a President who says global warming is a hoax, and across the Potomac river you’ve got a Pentagon preparing for climate wars. It’s pretty scary when Bush starts to ignore his own government on this issue,’ said Rob Gueterbock of Greenpeace.
10. Already, according to Randall and Schwartz, the planet is carrying a higher population than it can sustain. By 2020 ‘catastrophic’ shortages of water and energy supply will become increasingly harder to overcome, plunging the planet into war. They warn that 8,200 years ago climatic conditions brought widespread crop failure, famine, disease and mass migration of populations that could soon be repeated. Randall told The Observer that the potential ramifications of rapid climate change would create global chaos. ‘This is depressing stuff,’ he said. ‘It is a national security threat that is unique because there is no enemy to point your guns at and we have no control over the threat.’
11. Randall added that it was already possibly too late to prevent a disaster happening. ‘We don’t know exactly where we are in the process. It could start tomorrow and we would not know for another five years,’ he said. ‘The consequences for some nations of the climate change are unbelievable. It seems obvious that cutting the use of fossil fuels would be worthwhile.’ So dramatic are the report’s scenarios, Watson said, that they may prove vital in the US elections. Democratic front runner John Kerry is known to accept climate change as a real problem. Scientists disillusioned with Bush’s stance are threatening to make sure Kerry uses the Pentagon report in his campaign.
12. The fact that Marshall is behind its scathing findings will aid Kerry’s cause. Marshall, 82, is a Pentagon legend who heads a secretive think-tank dedicated to weighing risks to national security called the Office of Net Assessment. Dubbed ‘Yoda’ by Pentagon insiders who respect his vast experience, he is credited with being behind the Department of Defence’s push on ballistic-missile defense.
13. Symons left the EPA in protest at political interference and holds that the suppression of the report was a further instance of the White House trying to bury evidence of climate change. ‘It is yet another example of why this government should stop burying its head in the sand on this issue. Symons said the Bush administration’s close links to high-powered energy and oil companies was vital in understanding why climate change was received skeptically in the Oval Office. ‘This administration is ignoring the evidence in order to placate a handful of large energy and oil companies,’ he added.
14. THE GUARDIAN SPEAKS OUT: We’ve never had a better chance to make a greener world than the Covid19.  The pandemic has delivered unusual environmental benefits: cleaner air, lower carbon emissions, a respite for wildlife. Now the big question is whether we can capitalize on this moment. The Guardian aims to lead the debate from the front. In the weeks and months ahead, our journalism will investigate the prospects for a new green settlement. We will showcase the big thinkers and protagonists and amplify the arguments for authorities everywhere to consider as they lead us out of coronavirus.
15. THE GUARDIAN STATES ITS CLIMATE ACTIVISM AGENDA: Our credentials suit us well to the task: we are independent, we have no owners, no paymasters or oligarchs pulling the strings. We have committed to carbon neutrality, divested from the oil and gas sectors and renounced fossil fuel advertising. But at this crucial moment, news organisations like ours are facing a daunting financial challenge. As businesses everywhere feel the pinch, the advertising revenue that has long helped to sustain our work has plummeted. We need you to help fill the gap. Our journalism is open to all because we believe everyone deserves access to factual information, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. If you can afford to, we hope you will consider supporting our journalism today. The Guardian believes that the climate crisis we face is systemic. We will inform our readers about threats to the environment based on scientific facts, not driven by commercial or political interests. We will keep reporting on the efforts of individuals and communities around the world who are fearlessly taking a stand for future generations and the preservation of human life on earth. We want their stories to inspire hope. We need your support to keep delivering this kind of open, committed independent journalism. Every reader contribution, however big or small, is so valuable.
16. LINK TO SOURCE DOCUMENT [LINK] .