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South American Glaciers Melting Quickly
blike writes "The BBC is reporting that south american glaciers are melting so fast they've contributed 0.04mm per year to the global sea level since 1975. In the past 8 years, the glaciers have been melting especially rapidly; contributing nearly .1mm to the sea level every year. Another BBC Article further discusses the issue and examins how the changes affect the people living in these areas."
Well, being that it will only go up 6.5 mm in my lifetime, and I live at an elevation of 692 feet (Minneapolis), I won't have beach-front property any time soon.
More than enough BS
Should I be the first to point out that .1 mm is not a lot? Think about it. Stand on a beach, now raise the water .1mm. Are you still ok? If you were to watch the sea lives rise at this rate for a 100 years, you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.
Global Warming is certainly an issue to worry about, it isn't an issue to freak out about. People seem to forget that no matter what happens, we are still humans, and humans are masters of changing their environment to fit their needs, and this great power only grows stronger as we advance. We certainly should take care, as not all humans are equal when it comes to the ability to change their environment. That said, the human race is never going to be wiped out because of gradual global climate change. Even under the absolutely worst case scenario it just means we have to live in enclosed habitats. So, relax and be proud that you are member of such a remarkable species.
Humans are mother natures dream come true and her ultimate creation. One day the sun is going to go super nova and everything on this planet is going to die. If earth is the only seed of life in the universe, then all the life in the universe will die. Humans, mother natures ultimate creation, is the one species that has the capacity to, if not entirely prevent this, then at the very least to spread the seed of life throughout the galaxy. Even when we are at our most destructive heights, in the end the planet is much better off for having us. We might be a minor global catastrophe as far as the environment is concerned, but we are just one of millions of such catastrophes that the environment has seen, and we are pocket change to much large cataclysms like comet impacts and high volcanic activity. In exchange for being a minor environmental disaster we staunchly defend life in general and hold the promise to spread it across the stars.
The minor catastrophe of human environmental destruction seems like a more then fair trade in exchange for us trying our damndest to spread life throughout the galaxy and protect this planet from real cataclysms that truly threaten life, like comet strikes and the sun going nova. I think if give then the choice of putting up with the minor harm we do in exchange for the protection to life we offer, or being left to the inevitable fate for all life on this planet without or assistance, mother nature personified would gladly embrace human existence and declare it the best thing to happen to this hunk or rock floating in the lifeless void.
So this means the rest of Stardust should come to light post haste?
OK, I'll bite.
1) Wha...?
2) The Kyoto Treaty does nothing. Treaties do nothing. Treaties are merely agreements by countries to do something or (as in this case) not do something. Under the Kyoto Treaty China may slightly increase its total CO2 output in a controlled manner whilst countries which are much worse polluters reduce theirs. To suggest that this move towards a sharing of the control of emissions is somehow worse than no treaty, i.e. complete unrestraint is either blatant trolling or stupidity so vast I can barely believe the AC has the intelligence to turn their computer on.
3) There is plenty of evidence - for example the correlation of warming with CO2 concentration over the past few centuries. The theory has not been proved true beyond all reasonable doubt but there is a lack of other models to explain the data and you will find few climatologists who do not believe humans have a significant effect on climate change.
But per capita the US produces about 5.5 metric tons of CO2 carbon, by far the world's largest. The figure for China on the other hand is considerably less than 1. Surely, unless the treaty was so restrictive as to bring the US's CO2 emissions down to Chinese levels, some increase must be allowed for China?
If it really was about cutting greenhouse gases, it would not allow China to increase theirs.
It's called a "concession." They're used in negotiations to come to what's called an "agreement." You see, there was once a time when people believed that it was a good idea to negotiate problems and try to resolve differences peacefully. I guess we'll just have to nuke them now. That'll stop their greenhouse gasses.
- Hail to our fearless misleader! Fool speed ahead!
FROM: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/december97/kyoto _12-12.html
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But only 38 developed nations are mandated to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions; developing nations only have to set voluntary limits. That could doom U.S. ratification of the Kyoto protocol. The U.S. Senate, which will have to ratify the treaty, voted 95-0 to demand the participation of developing nations in any agreement while those countries have strongly resisted such efforts.
FROM: http://www.globalwarming.org/politics/notreaty.ht
The Kyoto treaty ran into serious trouble starting in 1997, even before it was struck, when the Senate signaled in a unanimous vote that it would not ratify any treaty that harms the U.S. economy and excludes developing nations.
The treaty took a step closer to the scrap heap in December when a last-ditch attempt by the Clinton administration to work out details in negotiations at The Hague collapsed as a result of seemingly irreconcilable differences with the European Union.
In geologic terms, glacier melting really doesn't make a huge impact on sea level rise or fall, there won't be a water world cuz of the glaciers melting, they are however, important to the water cycle, far more important than miami being the next Atlantis. So although it's not really proven the "Global Warming" theory is absolutely correct, and the change is slight, we best tread carefully, we honestly dun know what we kind of effect we can have, almost 90% of life on earth went extinct millions of years ago because a little bacteria decided to suck in all the CO2 and pump out 02 (poisonous to most life at that time), so whether or not we should run for the hills cuz of this, is really a moot point, we just need to be cautious, and learn from our planet's past.
You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect. Miyamoto Musashi