Ice Gaps: Gone by 2020
Paul | 2 05 2007If you're a first time visitor, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, which will keep you up to date with all the latest New School Politics posts. Thanks for visiting!
Get ready for the dramatic rise in sea levels that Al Gore warned us about in An Inconvenient Truth because it’s about to happen 30 years earlier than scientists previously thought. The new study used “satellite data and visual confirmation of Arctic ice”, different methods that the computer models employed by the IPCC in their global warming report. Not only will the melting of the Arctic ice caps induce dramatic flooding in nearly all cities at current sea level, but it will escalate the rate at which global warming is currently progressing at.
“Right now … the Arctic helps keep the Earth cool,” Scambos said in a telephone interview. “Without that Arctic ice, or with much less of it, the Earth will warm much faster.”
That is because the ice reflects light and heat; when it is gone, the much darker land or sea will absorb more light and heat, making it more difficult for the planet to cool down, even in winter, he said.
This news comes at a time before what may be a turning point in human history. Not only is the Kyoto protocol scheduled to wrap up in 5 years, but a new President is scheduled to be elected in 2008. The next few years are essential to what happens to our world. Currently, only a handful of European countries have been successful at reducing their carbon footprints.
This has to change! We already know that reversing climate change is going to be a hard and arduous task. We already know that even if all the nations of this world stop emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere today, that global warming will continue to get worse before it gets better. People across the globe need to snap out of it and realize that their planet is in danger. No planet; no life. This threat is the greatest we’ve ever encountered and I’m not sure if we’ll be smart enough to overcome it in time.
It’s unfortunate to think that it may just require the disappearance of Arctic ice and extreme flooding around major cities on the world for civilisation to wake up and begin taking action.
Last 5 posts by Paul
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Only Germany, France, and the U.K. have been able
Simmons | 2 05 2007Only Germany, France, and the U.K. have been able to lower their emissions; that’s disheartening.
Once the deniers finally look at the science, the question will be how can we fix it. Only 30% of emissions are from cars, but bringing that down to even 10% leaves so many more tons of emissions.
But, by the time we finally get to "how can
Paul | 2 05 2007But, by the time we finally get to “how can we fix it”, will it be too late? I fear it will.
Sure, cars are a part. There’s also industry, energy, and little things we can each do to lower our carbon footprint. But, for anything real to happen, all parties have to be invested into making this change real.