The Sky Is Falling. The Sky Is Falling

Actually the sky is not falling, that's just an illusion. What's happening you see is that the oceans are rising so it looks like the sky is falling. I'm serious. Really. Here's the headline to prove it.

Rising seas raising alarms

Major study: Global warming will threaten coasts by 2100 if pollutants aren't reduced

If the kids don't sell the house when were dead and gone, they could be sitting on a prime piece of waterfront real estate in the new tropical region of Connecticut. Spend it wisely kids.

Seriously they did a study. If we don't so something now, by some undetermined point in the middle of the century it will be too late. They also looked at historic records to see what we could be facing.

The studies, one led by Overpeck, the other by Bette Otto-Bliesner at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, examined climate data dating back about 130,000 years, a time between two ice ages.

Shifts in the Earth's tilt and orbit led to warmer conditions in the Arctic. Temperatures rose 5 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit, melting wide swaths of Greenland's ice sheet. The melted ice raised ocean levels as much as 11 feet, the scientists believe.

But natural climate records, including evidence from ancient coral reefs, sediments and fossils, indicate sea levels actually climbed by as much as 20 feet in that period, more than what the Greenland ice sheet could account for. Overpeck theorized that disintegrating ice sheets at the Antarctic were responsible for the difference.

What they think happened is that the rising sea levels from melting all the ice on Greenland broke up all the in the Antarctic which further raised seal levels.

Pretty scary stuff. They think we should do something to sop it. I don't think we can. I think putting all of our efforts into trying to reduce the human contribution to global warming would be the ultimate example of fiddling while Rome burns. If this is going to happen its going to happen and there isn't anything we can do but be ready to deal with it.

Why do I think that? Re-read the scenario quoted above and you'll know.

Got it?

Try this quote from the same article:

Temperatures have been steadily rising over the past decade. Nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1995. The UA study predicted the Earth's temperatures will rise by at least 4 degrees by 2100, which would be comparable to conditions 130,000 years ago, when the ice sheets melted.

This has happened before. And while I don't have a source for accurate statistics I am very certain that there were a lot fewer SUV's on the roads 130,000 years ago.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 04:08 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment