A MESSAGE FROM AL GORE - From Antarctica to Bangladesh: The story of rising seas

[kpete]

....................

The ice on land is melting at a faster rate and large ice sheets are moving toward the ocean more rapidly. As a result, sea levels are rising worldwide. Most of the world’s ice is contained in Antarctica – more than 90 percent. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which lies south of the Peninsula, contains enough water to raise sea levels worldwide by more than 20 feet. Part of the ice sheet, the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf, is among the many in Antarctica that are shrinking at an accelerating rate. This has direct consequences for low-lying coastal and island communities all over the world – and for their in.

...........................

Even wealthier countries are not immune to the impacts. In the United States, for example, particularly vulnerable areas are: Miami Beach, the Chesapeake region, coastal Louisiana, and coastal Texas. In some of these areas, the land is sinking even as the oceans rise. This will have implications that extend right up to the steps of our nation’s Capitol. A recent study found that sea level rise of only a tenth of a meter would lead to $2 billion in property damage and affect almost 68,000 people in Washington, D.C. In addition, the enhanced threat of storm surges was illustrated last year when tropical storm Irene led to warnings that the New York City subway system and tunnels into the city could be flooded.

But the most vulnerable regions lie in developing countries, where populations are still rising fast and there is little money to shore up infrastructure. The cities most threatened by sea level rise are places like Calcutta and Mumbai in India; Guangzhou, China; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. And of course, there are more than a few low-lying island nations – like the Maldives – that are already in imminent danger.

Then there is Bangladesh. A one-meter sea level rise – which could happen as soon as 2050 according to some Antarctic specialists – could result in between 22 and 35 million people in Bangladesh relocating from the areas in which they now live and work. Two-thirds of this nation is less than five meters above sea level. For the nation’s 142 million people packed into a small space, climate change poses a nearly unimaginable challenge. The threat of sea level rise is not simply flooding, but saltwater intrusion that hurts the production of rice, the country’s staple crop. Increased damage to rice farmers could soon put 20 million farmers out of work and force them into crowded cities.

the rest:
http://climaterealityproject.org/2012/01/31/from-antarctica-to-bangladesh-the-story-of-rising-seas/

[Odin2005]

2. Pizza, incoming!

What do you want on yer tombstone?

[JNelson6563]

26. Still active.

[fascisthunter]

3. This Ought to Piss off Greedy People

"Don't want no body stirrin' trouble and causin' me to lose muny!"

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Ian62]

5. The myth of rising sea levels

I'm gonna get labelled as a climate change freak at this rate and climate change not really one of my interests.

But here goes.
The evidence shows that sea levels r not really rising. Data from GPS satellites and stuff. They have risen a very tiny amount in the last 20 or 30 years. Nothing to get fixated about. Can't remember the exact amount but summat like 5mm in 30 years.
Loads of myths in the Al Gore vid. He's in the climate change business now.

I'll pick another subject and see if I can agree on that one.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Why do you believe sea levels have risen a "very tiny amount"

in the last 20 or 30 years?

No doubt the overwhelming number of the world's scientists and peer reviewed scientific evidence supporting the theory of man magnified global warming to be real must be part of the myth as well?

P.S. Welcome to D.U.

[Ian62]

7. Multi billion dollar a year business

The earth was warming up - now it seems it is not again.
Been cycles of warming and cooling for millions of years, long before man had even evolved.

The climate change scientists would all lose their jobs, if man made climate change was discrediited.
They all feed off each other.

No one believed Galileo either. And that story was suppressed.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Have you considered the possibility that Gore and the climate scientists are Galileo, they're

the ones stirring the pot and upsetting the status quo of the mega-wealthy and all powerful fossil fuel industry just as Galileo; the scientist stirred the pot during his day.

I take it you believe NASA is behind this myth as well?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x227251

"NASA - Decade Ending In 2009 Warmest Since Record-Keeping Began In 1880s - Bloomberg

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Temperatures in the decade that ended in 2009 were the warmest since record-keeping began in 1880, NASA said, backing up data from the U.K. Met Office and the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization."

Because that seems to contradict your assertion that the Earth isn't warming.

If I want or need surgery done on me I see a surgeon, if I need electrical work done, I see an electrician, likewise if I want a scientific opinion I seek out the best science available by the scientists, particulary in their fields of expertise, in the case of climate that would be climate scientists.

No doubt surgeons and electricians need to keep their jobs as well but if they tell me I need surgery or electrical work, I would give their advice much more credence regarding those decisions than listening to a baker or florist about it.

[Ian62]

9. Assessing the situation

I certainly have. I always consider both sides of an argument. How else r u suppose to make a considered judgement? All the evidence categorically states that the earth has been warming up and cooling down for millions of years. The Earth was much warmer in the Middle Ages than it is now. I think it was a Dane who wrote the best article I ever saw on Global Warming. He asserted that it was about natural cycles in the Sun's magnetic field. Best theory I have seen anyhows. Best fit to known empirical evidence.

Climate Change scientists r like Financial Advisers. They know nothing and do not go back far enough in time.
Now history is one of my subjects.
Go get a Climate Change scientist to assert that the temperature of the Earth cannot be assessed from ice core samples. Tis like tree rings. Little growth poor summers, lots of growth warm summers.

I never take anyone's word for anything when there is money involved. Most peeps have an agenda. I like to go back to empirical evidence. When that is not possible because I am too thick, I will take some conflicting opinions and assess who makes more sense.

In the 1970's climate change scientists asserted we were about to enter the next Ice Age. That was stupid too.

Galileo assessed his theory on empirical evidence and detailed observation. The Catholic Church was just bigoted and didn't want to upset the status quo.

[Uncle Joe]

10. No one disputes the Earth doesn't go through natural warming and cooling cycles, but what is

different is the relatively young Industrial Age spewing tons of green house warming gases ie; carbon in to the atmophere 24/7, mega populated nations China and India have only recently come on board.

The human body goes through natural cooling and heating cycles as well but if you'e getting too hot, it doesn't do you much good to add more clothes, that's what we're doing with the continous burning of ancient long buried carbon and pumping it in to the atmosphere.

As for not taking anyone's word, we're not talking about anyone we're talking about 95% of the scientific community that specializes in climate study and all of the peer reviewed science.

As for the Ice Age ironically some parts of the world ie: may experience such a thing as a result of global warming, all manner of climate will change and become more extreme, when the ice in the Arctic melts, the conveyor belt sending warming air from the gulf to Europe will be disrupted.

The Catholic Church wasn't just bigoted, their power and in turn wealth was based on a set of fixed beliefs, Galileo's evidence threatened those beliefs just as the wealth and power of the fossil fuel industry is threatened by the overwhelming scientific evidence presented by the world's climate scientists.

[Ian62]

11. Not interested in how many

I am not interested in how many peeps have come to a certain conclusion. I am interested in WHY they have come to that conclusion and the rationale for that conclusion. And whether they have any ulterior motives.
Follow the money is often a good thought to pursue. That's what Deep Throat told the Watergate reporters.

Yep one theory has it that the Gulf Stream will get switched off due to decreased salinity in the Atlantic , sending Europe into a sort of ice age.
Unproven and unratified and not enuf evidence. But a possibility.

And Yes, Venus is so hot b/c it is cloaked in an atmosphere of greenhouse gases and sulphuric acid.

But the Earth has been here before and quite a bit hotter than it is now. Tis a long way from the tipping point that made Venus so hot. A v long way indeed. And now seems to be cooling again.

One possibility of Earth cooling (small possibility) is the increase in volcanic activity seen recently. E.G. Iceland. Mount St. Helens certainly cooled the Earth for a while with the amount of ash sent into the atmosphere.

But the long term chart of solar activity is certainly more pertinent.

[Uncle Joe]

13. If the Earth is cooling, why have the oceans risen a "tiny amount" as per your first post?

"But here goes.

The evidence shows that sea levels r not really rising. Data from GPS satellites and stuff. They have risen a very tiny amount in the last 20 or 30 years. Nothing to get fixated about. Can't remember the exact amount but summat like 5mm in 30 years.
Loads of myths in the Al Gore vid. He's in the climate change business now."

[Ian62]

14. Evidence

The Earth warmed from late 90's onwards to sometime in mid 2000 to 2010. Recently it has cooled again. And we r roughly where we were in 1997. Sea levels in middle of Pacific were measured by GPS and showed summat like 2 to 5mm rise in 25 yrs.

Earth warming actually started earlier than this - sometime in 80's? Can't put a date on it. but later than 1970 and earlier than 1990. Not informed enuf to narrow this down.

[Uncle Joe]

17. Well thank goodness there are some people informed enough to narrow it down.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/searchresults.html?http://www.democraticunderground.com/11274351

NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year on Record

01.19.12

The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x319022

2011 Warmest La Nina Year Ever - 13 Warmest Years On Record All Fall Within Past 15 Years

So I guess the "Dane" is telling the truth but NASA and 95% of the world's climate scientists are all doing it for the money, am I getting that part right?

[Ian62]

18. Bending words

U r trying to bend my words. The Earth warmed for a few years after 1997. It has now been cooling for a few years and is now about what it was in 1997.
Used to peeps trying to bend words. GOP and Faux news do it all the time.

[Uncle Joe]

21. So NASA and the World Meteorological Organization are all in on the conspiracy to deny this cooling,

am I getting that part right?

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/1130-hance_lanina_record.html

[Ian62]

23. Data picking

U can pick data to fit almost any story from some part of the world.
El Nino is a phenomenon all of it's own. With it's own cycles. One of the least understood phenomena in the world. I don't pretend to have even the smallest understanding of El Nino.
Still no one knew about the jetstream 50 years or so ago. Now planes try and use it (or avoid it) to save fuel.

Drought in Australia followed by flood.
Europe had a cold year.
Some parts of the world warmer, some colder. What's the overall average? I don't know - haven't seen any data yet.

[neverforget]

24. You don't understand El Nino but you're sure Climate Change is bogus?

What else aren't you sure about? Gravity? Physics? Chemistry? Biology? Aerodynamics?

I suggest you read the following link to inform yourself about science.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2022

One other thing, the jet stream was discovered in 1920 by Wasaburo Oishi. That's 92 years, not 50.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasaburo_Oishi

[Overseas]

12. K&R. We can see the melting of glaciers accelerating.

We can see the photographic evidence and read the scientific reports. But somehow, in the USA, the views of the 1% have been promoted over the views of the 99% of scientists who have seen and understood the evidence.

Millions of dollars for propaganda have been very successful here.

[Ian62]

15. Dramatic

Dramatic and emotional pics of ice shelfs falling into the sea r good propaganda. But glaciers always move down towards the sea. This has been happening constantly for millions of years. It has been happening at different rates during that time. It has never stopped.

Peeps really shud step back and review the evidence for the last 3 to 10 million yrs. And then make up their minds.
Not watch an Al Gore vid who is trying to sell and promote and has invested in climate change products.

Got to say I am with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on this one. Follow the money.

[Uncle Joe]

19. It's too bad Exxon and the fossil fuel industry doesn't have any money for someone to follow,

the poor bastards probably should be getting food stamps.

I'm sure they don't have a dog in this hunt for Woodward or Bernstein to follow.

[Ian62]

20. Push dogonroof

More details have come out today.
No one in their right mind puts a dog on the roof - that's for the cases.
Sons of Romney seem to agree.

[Stuart G]

16. k and r..nt

[cbrer]

22. At what point

Will the salinity level in our seas change enough to affect life there?

Will the cloud patterns change to affect precipitation levels, and, along with temperature, create/relocate arid and arable lands?

Will atmospheric recomposition approach the limits of human tolerance?

Will fresh water levels be insufficient for sustainment of current population levels?

Will the human race decide that waiting for proof is a dicey proposition?

[Bill USA]

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