The World Is Melting

[Cerebral_Assassin]

While the effect of human activity on the global climate is hotly debated, physical signs of environmental change are all around us.

Some scientists say an increase in the rate of melting of the world's glaciers is evidence of global warming.

Argentina's Upsala Glacier was once the biggest in South America, but it is now disappearing at a rate of 200 metres per year.

Other scientists say its reduction is due to complicated shifts in glacial dynamics and local geology.

See More Here

[method77]

Things are better than most people think. Sure, humans have played a major role although the past decade things have turned better. Ice melting and global warming is a normal procedure.

If pollution continued like it was in the seventies then we'd be in deep trouble but humans have showed that they are slowing improving.

[DudeAsInCool]

Things are better than most people think.

I think the jury is still out...

[method77]

I know it sounds a bit silly but that's the truth. I've read a billion articles and opinions on the subject.

[rainbowdemon]

Watch the movie "Waterworld". Learn from it.

:read this:

[Shawn]

Mediocre acting can still make you rich?

[rainbowdemon]

Mediocre acting can still make you rich?

Good point, but wrong lesson. We may have to live that way.

[rainbowdemon]

Or did I miss Shawn's subtle sense of humor again?

:D

[KiwiCoromandel]

yep...the general rule of thumb in nz now (unless you`re cher or shania twain) is to NOT buy property on the coast..look for the high ground......many coastal towns in nz are being eroded by higher tides and higher rainfall than is usually

normal.......

residents and property owners who built on or near the beachfront are having to fork out many thousands of dollars for the construction of retaining walls to stop the effects of erosion brought about by rising water levels.....in most cases this has been reclaimed land that has been zoned as residential by local councils...... <_>

[Redneck4sure]

Mediocre acting can still make you rich?

:good job:

[Ken]

Watch the movie "Waterworld". Learn from it.

What I learned from watching "Waterworld" is that those who made it know absolutely nothing about anything.

I sure hope you didn't "learn" from it rainbow.

Even if the caps melted (and if they do, it'll take thousands of years, and with absolute consistency of the cause), it wouldn't flood every or even most of the land.

I can't believe you looked to Hollywood for your Science.

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Now, on the subject of global warming.......

I can't argue or dispute glacier/cap melting, however, many estimates from 15 to 20 years ago claimed that my area (New York State) would have the CLIMATE of Florida.

It is currently 12 degrees F, and this year, and the last have been well below average. As a matter of fact, for many winters now, I have yet to see an unusually mild case for the duration.

This prediction was wrong.

Why call it global warming at this point? It doesn't seem consistent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, an even bigger piece of a shit movie is "The Day After Tomorrow". It centered on the desalination of the oceans (by glacier/cap melting), thus stopping the currents that effect weather patterns.

It didn't even have the "all caps melt" scenario for it to happen (and even then, I don’t think so); it just had the current state of melting as the cause for the collective of all the oceans to reach a critical desalination point.

That's like pissing into an ocean of your choice and thinking it makes a damn bit of difference.

Edited March 9, 2005 by Ken

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

I knew I'd find Ken in a thread like this.

[DudeAsInCool]

What I learned from watching "Waterworld" is that those who made it know absolutely nothing about anything.

I think Mad Max is a better example of how people will act in desperate situations

[slum_goddess]

from about 1985 to 2001, NYC had the hottest most disgusting summers. from the end of july 01 to mid-september, it was like over 90 every day and like 99% humidity, awful. and i hadn't seen 4 distinct seasons since like the mid-70s. so for what it's worth, things have changed, at least on the east coast.

those photos are frightening.

[method77]

Now, on the subject of global warming.......

I can't argue or dispute glacier/cap melting, however, many estimates from 15 to 20 years ago claimed that my area (New York State) would have the CLIMATE of Florida.

It is currently 12 degrees F, and this year, and the last have been well below average. As a matter of fact, for many winters now, I have yet to see an unusually mild case for the duration.

This prediction was wrong.

Why call it global warming at this point? It doesn't seem consistent.

that's exactly what I meant when I mentioned the 70s. They were making predictions judging by the pollution back then but we improved a lot since then

[DudeAsInCool]

Retreat of Antarctic ice gathers pace

Glaciers in the Antarctic are retreating at an increasing rate, in what scientists said on Thursday was a clear sign of climate change.

Read more here:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/692e2334-b28d-11d...000e2511c8.html

[DudeAsInCool]

Retreating Glaciers Worrying Greenlanders

ILULISSAT, Greenland (AP) -- The gargantuan chunks of ice breaking off the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier and thundering into an Arctic fjord make a spectacular sight. But to Greenlanders it is also deeply worrisome.

The frequency and size of the icefalls are a powerful reminder that the frozen sheet covering the world's largest island is thinning - a glaring sign of global warming, scientists say.

In 2002-2003, a six-mile-long stretch of the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier broke off and drifted silently out of the fjord near Ilulissat, Greenland's third largest town, 155 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GRE...AM&SECTION=HOME

[DudeAsInCool]

Global warming 'past the point of no return'

A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.

They believe global warming is melting Arctic ice so rapidly that the region is beginning to absorb more heat from the sun, causing the ice to melt still further and so reinforcing a vicious cycle of melting and heating.

The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a "tipping point" beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically.

Satellites monitoring the Arctic have found that the extent of the sea ice this August has reached its lowest monthly point on record, dipping an unprecedented 18.2 per cent below the long-term average.

Experts believe that such a loss of Arctic sea ice in summer has not occurred in hundreds and possibly thousands of years. It is the fourth year in a row that the sea ice in August has fallen below the monthly downward trend - a clear sign that melting has accelerated.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/scienc...ticle312997.ece

[Redneck4sure]

Now it's a 4 hour drive but I may be able to walk to the beach in a few hundred yrs. I can hardly wait.

[DudeAsInCool]

Severe Hurricanes Increasing, Study Finds

A new study concludes that rising sea temperatures have been accompanied by a significant global increase in the most destructive hurricanes, adding fuel to an international debate over whether global warming contributed to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

The study, published today in the journal Science, is the second in six weeks to draw this conclusion, but other climatologists dispute the findings and argue that a recent spate of severe storms reflects nothing more than normal weather variability.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1502234_pf.html

[CTC Command]

If we were to go by prehistoric climatic indicators, we actually are due for an ice age any day now. What we don't know is

a ) what causes ice ages in the first place and

b ) what is the result of this gigantic science experiment we are conducting on our atmosphere, i.e. dumping MILLIONS OF TONS of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gasses into our atmosphere EVERY YEAR.

So a good question now is this: is all the greenhouse gassing of our planet going to

a ) prevent the next ice age from occurring and instead melt all the ice caps?

b ) or make the next ice age occur sooner rather than later?

Some think the latter, just because things actually need to be warmer in polar regions in order to have an ice age. Currently, the polar regions are really experiencing desert conditions--less than 10" of precipitation per year north and south of 60 latitude. It would need to get warmer and wetter first in order to have enough snow to start the process of sheet glacier formation, the main ingredient of any decent, self-respecting ice age.

Who knows? one things for sure, simply denying that our activities are not and will not have an effect one way or the other is tantamount to criminal negligence.

And myself? I hate the cold. Melt the damn caps and bring on the perpetual summer! Plus, my house in c-town is on a 150 foot hill...sea levels rise, i'll own an island, baby!

Edited September 16, 2005 by CTC Command

[slum_goddess]

Experts believe that such a loss of Arctic sea ice in summer has not occurred in hundreds and possibly thousands of years. It is the fourth year in a row that the sea ice in August has fallen below the monthly downward trend - a clear sign that melting has accelerated.

who cares? we'll all be dead, so bring it onnnnnnnn!

[DudeAsInCool]

I care.

***

Global warming could create all-female turtle populations: scientists

...Global warming could have devastating effects on migratory species, including the possible disappearance of male sea turtles, a study will warn on Thursday.

Whales and polar bears, as well as birds that migrate across the expanding Sahara desert, are among the other species most potentially affected.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash8.htm

[MrBag]

all the shit happening to our planet does have some validity, just ask chicken little

[slum_goddess]

I care.

no shit--i do too. (did it take you that long to see what i said? lol)