What perceived dangers of "Global Warming " exist now that rising sea levels are not a threat to low lying isl?

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.

You missed this...

"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.

I live by the ocean and things are always washing up on shore. It would make sense that the debris would add to the land at least to some degree.

A study of 27 out of thousands. I find your comment quite hilarious given the original on which this is based states quite clearly that sea levels are indeed rising

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627633.700...

"During that time, local sea levels have risen by 120 millimetres, or 2 millimetres per year on average."

Or did you just block that part out!

This was pointed out to the previous denier who posted the same story a day or two ago, he also had selective vision for the number of islands in the study and the quoted figure for sea level rise, do deniers all share the same optometrist.

Unfortunately global warming does not just mean more sunny warmer days, the effects cause more extremes of temperature, "climate change" which will result in more rain, storms, freezing, droughts depending on where you live. There is not enough room to list even a few of the dangers we face but the links below explain some of them only too well.

Each countries eco system has developed over millions of years and the current rapid changes are causing a lot of damage to many countries native plants and animals, the most visible of these is probably the polar bear. However if you will excuse the pun this is the tip of the iceberg.

The critical role of forests as massive "sinks" for absorbing greenhouse gases is "at risk of being lost entirely" to climate change-induced environmental stresses that threaten to damage and even decimate forests worldwide. "A Global Assessment" authored by 35 of the world's top forestry scientists,

Their study reported While deforestation is responsible for about 20 percent of greenhouse gases, overall, forests currently absorb more carbon than they emit. The trees and soils of the world's forests are capturing and storing more than a quarter of the world's carbon emissions. The problem, scientists say, is that this critical carbon-regulating service could be lost entirely if the earth heats up 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees Fahrenheit) or more relative to pre-industrial levels, which is expected to occur if emissions are not substantially reduced. The study notes that the higher temperatures—along with the prolonged droughts, more intense pest invasions, and other environmental stresses that could accompany climate change—would lead to considerable forest destruction and degradation. This could create a dangerous feedback loop in which damage to forests from climate change significantly increases global carbon emissions which then exacerbate the greenhouse effect. See the first link on The Science Daily site.

Even in pristine rainforests unaffected by human activities such as logging or burning, researchers have noticed dramatic differences in the growth patterns of trees over the past 20 years. That could distort the forest's fragile balance, affecting rare plant and animal species. "The changes in Amazonian forests really jump out at you," said William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. "It's a little scary to realize seemingly pristine forests can change so quickly and dramatically." See 2nd link

Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists. 3rd link.

There is general consensus that climatic changes will have the greatest impact on the northern hemisphere boreal forests; their unique adaptation makes them more sensitive to temperature fluctuations than temperate or even tropical forests. Even a slight increase in mean annual temperature is enough to affect many species' growth and regeneration.

Climate change will affect boreal ecosystems in a number of ways: air temperature will increase, rainfall and humidity will change and soils will become drier in some areas. As climate warms, conditions suitable for the growth of many boreal species a re likely to shift dramatically, and the trees' ecological niches may move northward ten times faster than the trees themselves can migrate. Overall, the boreal forest is likely to decrease in area, biomass, and carbon stock, with a significant disruptio n at its southern boundary. Taken all together, these impacts could add up to an alarming 65 percent loss of boreal forests. 4th link.

One scientific study shows the Northern Forest of New England and upstate New York to be especially vulnerable to climate change. In the most heavily impacted areas, the rates at which plant and animal species may be required to shift their ranges in response to global warming in the next 100 years may be as much as ten times faster than at the end of the last ice age. 5th link.

Most researchers agree that even small changes in temperature are enough to send hundreds if not thousands of already struggling species into extinction unless we can stem the tide of global warming. And time may be of the essence: A 2003 study published in the journal Nature concluded that 80 percent of some 1,500 wildlife species sampled are already showing signs of stress from climate change.

How Global Warming Affects Wildlife The key impact of global warming on wildlife is habitat displacement, whereby ecosystems that animals have spent millions of years adapting to shif

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