For the "Oh, give me a break" file -- in order to head off "climate catastrophe," we have no choice but to have an effective "world government":
A policy article authored by several dozen scientists appeared online March 15 in Science to acknowledge this point: “Human societies must now change course and steer away from critical tipping points in the Earth system that might lead to rapid and irreversible change. This requires fundamental reorientation and restructuring of national and international institutions toward more effective Earth system governance and planetary stewardship.”
Believe it or not, that article was in a blog post at the freakin' Scientific American. They might want to rethink that name -- both parts of it.
Though I'm with those who say, "World government? The United Nations. I rest my case," I can see us evolving into that. Power tends to accumulate and centralize -- that's the lesson of history. There's even a model of how it might work -- our own pre-Constitution Articles of Confederation, the loosest of coalitions that left most power at the state and local levels.
Not saying I favor this, just that I can see it coming.
