What perceived dangers of "Global Warming " exist now that rising sea levels are not a threat to low lying isl?
Low lying islands in the Pacific have actually grown over the last 60 years. Since we no longer have to worry about relocating the inhabitants of those islands, can we worry less about any other possible effects of Global Warming. Maybe we can now rejoice that we can have lovely warmer days sitting in the beer garden for more of the year.
edit@ linlyons and antarticice...I did read to the end of the article. As always the scientists will have an each way bet...ohh..we were wrong about the flooded Pacific islands ...but ..just in case..there MAY be problems down the track..come on now...you know they are trying to cover their tracks. As the forecasted problems evaporate, our fear of global warming evaporates...if you want to keep on worrying about it...go ahead.
2010-06-05T08:54:16Z
edit@ linlyons and antarticice...I did read to the end of the article. As always the scientists will have an each way bet...ohh..we were wrong about the flooded Pacific islands ...but ..just in case..there MAY be problems down the track..come on now...you know they are trying to cover their tracks. As the forecasted problems evaporate, our fear of global warming evaporates...if you want to keep on worrying about it...go ahead.
Anonymous2010-06-08T16:25:39Z
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There is no evidence of it besides the computer models used by political activists. They have to ignore the historical climate record and the fact that it simply hasn't warmed in the way they claimed it would. The warming that ended about 15 years ago was perfectly consistent with natural warming. Anything said to the contrary is anti-scientific propaganda and nothing but intentional misinformation. The data has been manipulated and distorted but even with that, the amount of actual warming is less than a degree in century. We are cooler than the Earth was a thousand years ago and much cooler than during the Holocene optimum about 5 thousand years ago. The warm times are times of prosperity. Alarmists have no basis for their propaganda and in spite of their claims of cause and effect, there is no significant and certainly not harmful effect. With no actual significant warming, their agenda is meaningless speculation.
I really feel sorry for you kids who don't understand how the propaganda your being taught in the public school system these days are going to lead to the extinction of your freedoms in the future. What you need to be doing is exploring the natural cycles of the earths climate. You'd be surprised to know that in the 70's the same politicians were trying to convince the world that we were heading for another ice age. If they ever convince you, the younger generation, that global warming is your fault then you'll never question the constitutionality of them taxing you for something nature does naturally. The same applies to social reform. Don't let them convince you that it is your obligation to provide the same standard of living to a person who won't work that you've labored feverishly to achieve.
"Webb and Kench warn that while the islands are coping for now, any acceleration in the rate of sea-level rise could overtake the sediment build up. Calculating how fast sea levels will rise over the coming decades is uncertain science, and no one knows how fast the islands can grow."
The oceans are still rising, and based on the above statement from the scientists, the forecasted problems are not evaporating.
Deposits of coral debris and sediment, especially during cyclones, has been increasing the size of some low lying Pacific islands over the last 60 years. Professor Paul Kench, of Auckland University's environment school in New Zealand issued a warning along with this discovery. He said, “An accelerated rate of sea-level rise could be the critical environmental threat to the small island nations, with a very rapid rate of island destruction possible from a water depth beyond a certain threshold. That threshold currently is unknown.” Many island nations are beginning to rapidly loose real estate with devastating economic results. Storms are increasing exponentially along with intensity. The argument between "some" scientists is not whether global warming is happening, but what’s causing it.
Sea level is rising and the rate of change is accelerating. The combination of warming ocean water, expanding and rapidly increasing melt of land and polar ice has increased the rate of sea level rise from about 6.8 inches average during most of the 20th C to a current rate of 12 to 14 inches per century. Based on this increase in rate of change, scientists are estimating that by the end of this century, the oceans will be from 20 inches to more than three feet higher. Increasingly the higher levels seem probable. The environmental impact will be huge.
While it is true that low lying islands in the Pacific have grown in the last 60 years, this does not negate worries about global warming - now known as global climate change.
The islands have grown mostly as a result of debris carried to the islands in storms which has enabled them to surpass the rate of sea level rise (2mm per year) but the article doesn't say the predicted rate of sea level rise over the next few decades. Would the extra square footage formed in the last 60 years would be gone if the sea levels rose by 6 feet over rapidly? Maybe. It's not just those Pacific Islands mentioned in the article that would be affected, so would large areas of Louisiana and Florida.
There are so many other issues involved with global climate change to be concerned about, too many to discuss here, but here are just a couple:
1) Climate change will lead to some areas getting less rainfall (becoming more desert-like), while still others will get more rainfall. It's not more rainfall that will be a problem in and of itself, but the timing of that rainfall that may mean severe flooding like we have seen in Tennessee recently. Plus global climate change will lead to stronger tropical storms and hurricanes.
2) From a biodiversity perspective, there will be a lot more extinctions happening. There will be less amphibians (frogs and salamanders), fewer polar bears, etc. Why should we care about all that you might say? Not all species are crucial to the survival of a healthy forest system for example, but we understand very little about functioning ecosystems and it's hard to know exactly which ones will lead to an ecosystem collapse. Even when we know who the important players are (called keystone species) our record in being able to protect those has been much less than stellar. Also, it's not just what won't survive that we should be concerned with, but what will survive (and even thrive) in the new climate that will be created. Insects and pathogens are way more adaptable than us, so we can look forward to more mosquito born diseases.
I for one will be enjoying having a little more sun in my life where I live, more warmth is okay with me too. I don't have to worry about my house ending up under the ocean either thankfully. But global climate change is still cause for concern - for everyone - and will continue to be in our lifetime and that of the next generations.
In 1988 Hansen did an interview with Rob Reiss. Hansen was asked (as they looked out a NY city window) “If what you’re saying about the greenhouse effect is true, is anything going to look different down there in 20 years?” The answer was “The West Side Highway [which runs along the Hudson River] will be under water." Well it's 20 years later and the last time I looked the West Side Highway is not under water or anywhere close. So far the AGW predictions have been 100% wrong. Rapid sea level rise is no more a threat now than it was is 1988. It only exist in the computer models.
At a rate of 1.8 mm per year I think we can adapt even moving at the speed of government.