> The lyrics reflect the concern felt by Strummer about world events with the reference to "a nuclear error" – the incident at Three Mile Island, which occurred earlier in 1979. Joe Strummer has said: "We felt that we were struggling about to slip down a slope or something, grasping with our fingernails. And there was no one there to help us." > The line "London is drowning / And I live by the river" comes from concerns that if the River Thames flooded, most of central London would drown, something that led to the construction of the Thames Barrier.[1][5] Strummer's concern for police brutality is evident through the lines "We ain't got no swing / Except for the ring of that truncheon thing" as the Metropolitan Police at the time had a truncheon as standard issued equipment. Social criticism also features through references to the effects of casual drug taking: "We ain't got no high / Except for that one with the yellowy eyes". > The lyrics also reflect desperation of the band's situation in 1979 struggling with high debt, without management and arguing with their record label over whether the London Calling album should be a single or double album. The lines referring to "Now don't look to us / Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust" reflects the concerns of the band over its situation after the punk rock boom in England had ended in 1977.

Michael Stipe isn't exactly fond of explaining the meaning behind the lyrics of many of his songs but I somehow doubt the song was made to ease the concern of a real future climate catastrophe.

The scientific method can not work when extremes are used to attract attention, this eventually has the opposite effect of numbing the populace to yet another dire prediction of the coming collapse.

It is disheartening to see how (some?) people at this forum are wont to discredit anyone who does not follow the current narrative. This is neither rational nor objective, it is emotional and subjective.