Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Nomadder]

Any insight out there as to what may happen?
I'm interested in opinions local, and global. If you have some insight on just Korea then cool. If you see a bigger picture; great.

Certainly different countries may change their views. Some may consider learning English as less of a priority the more dire the situation becomes. Some may consider English even more of a priority in efforts to develop and globalize. Some like Russia may become more attractive due to milder temperatures, thereby driving down the going rate for teachers even more than the current standard pittance. Some may find it harder to attract teachers. Some may only be half the country they were, literally... Just wondering if any of you keeping up with this had any thoughts. The more specific the better.
This isn't a debate thread (at least it's not intended as such...) on whether or not there is global warming. If the bulk of scientific data isn't enough to convince you then I'm not about to try.
If you don't acknowledge global warming as a reality then just think of this as a hypothetical situation then.

Thanks.

[Justin Hale]

Those teaching at the North Pole are screwed.

[Ya-ta Boy]

What on earth is the relationship between global warming and teaching English? Your post was not clear--at least I did not understand it.

[Nomadder]

Sorry if I was unclear.
I'm wondering about the varied effects of global warming such as rising water levels, flooding of lowlands, migration of tropical diseases, increases in drought in some areas, increase in rainfall in others. All of this is likely to cause displacement of large sections of different populations as well as problems with crops in some areas.
Different regions project differently, and I was just wondering if anybody had enough knowledge to make any predictions as to what may happen in a given country and what reaction might mean for esl teachers. Say a country, due to flooding, has 500k displaced citizens, is no longer capable of sustaining what may have previously been a staple crop, and is now in a bind economically.
How would different countries respond to these crises as far as our industry goes is what I'm interested in. I imagine some countries will "circle the wagons" and just focus on the essentials. Other countries may not be hit as hard, or may see English as even more important in their development/recovery.
I know it's a rather general inquiry, but I imagine there are some on here whose first-hand knowledge from living in different countries combined with, perhaps specific info on how a region is likely to be affected, can give us some sort of loose prediction.
Hope that clears things up.
Maybe I'm asking too much, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

[Zaria32]

Actually, right now we're in a period of global cooling...

[OneWayTraffic]

[Zaria32]

I agree that the warming OR cooling will have no impact on the ESL industry...and by the way, virtually all published science DOES say that we're in a brief period of global cooling.

[captain kirk]

Here in Korea nobody talks about global warning, not that I can hear. But I wonder about the newbs coming over from the West being a generation that was schooled from infancy about how we're all going to die of global warming. I was in Uni in the mid-eighties and I remember arguing with my Dad about it. At that time there was no definitive global warming evidence and his response was 'natural fluctuations in temp have occured throughout history'. My idealistic, Uni student argument was that the sky was falling down. And 'eat the rich'.

OP, I think you have answered your own question. There will be disruption due to all the negative effects of advanced/chronic global warning that you have listed.

Hagwons will be under cooling domes? Along with entire cities in space? I know polar bears will be *beep* up, that's for sure, but they haven't shown up for class.