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'Sinking' Pacific Nation Tuvalu Is Actually Getting Bigger (phys.org)

mi shares a report from Phys.Org: The Pacific nation of Tuvalu -- long seen as a prime candidate to disappear as climate change forces up sea levels -- is actually growing in size, new research shows. A University of Auckland study examined changes in the geography of Tuvalu's nine atolls and 101 reef islands between 1971 and 2014, using aerial photographs and satellite imagery. It found eight of the atolls and almost three-quarters of the islands grew during the study period, lifting Tuvalu's total land area by 2.9 percent, even though sea levels in the country rose at twice the global average. Co-author Paul Kench said the research, published Friday in the journal Nature Communications, challenged the assumption that low-lying island nations would be swamped as the sea rose. It found factors such as wave patterns and sediment dumped by storms could offset the erosion caused by rising water levels.

152 comments

  1. Obviously.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... it is because the Earth is flat. Get with it, people.

    1. Re:Obviously.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... it is because the Earth is flat. Get with it, people.

      It doesn't matter. It is all a simulation anyway.

    2. Re: Obviously.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed. Any excess water would flow over the edge. The turtle below needs water too!

    3. Re:Obviously.... by aliquis · · Score: 1

      ... it is because the Earth is flat. Get with it, people.

      What I don't get is how they change the bulb.

    4. Re: Obviously.... by minstrelmike · · Score: 1

      Thank God there's a lot of water pouring over the edge because there's a shitload of turtles standing down there on each other's backs. And they all need water.

  2. Is it the sea weight? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe more water presses the bottom of the oceans (and make it grow like a zit)?

    It's kinda foolish but I understand 0 (zero) about geology, so someone who really works in that field plese come and bring some light...

    1. Re:Is it the sea weight? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe more water presses the bottom of the oceans (and make it grow like a zit)?

      It's kinda foolish but I understand 0 (zero) about geology, so someone who really works in that field plese come and bring some light...

      We don't really know. We don't know anything. Never trust a geologist! Trust th

    2. Re:Is it the sea weight? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Replying to myself, after reading the article (*blushes*)...

      from TFA> [The study...] found factors such as wave patterns and sediment dumped by storms could offset the erosion caused by rising water levels.

      Somehow that reminds me of those old movies like "Sandstorm At The High Seas".

    3. Re:Is it the sea weight? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe more water presses the bottom of the oceans (and make it grow like a zit)?

      It's kinda foolish but I understand 0 (zero) about geology, so someone who really works in that field plese come and bring some light...

      Nope. It has nothing at all to do with science.

      The measurements were made by women that think every man's penis is 12 inches long or more....

      IT'S SO BIG....

  3. Re: Climate Change debunked by science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Idiot

  4. Re: Climate Change debunked by science by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 0

    Idiot

    Have you given up all the hope now that you've changed shit so badly the rest of us have to fix it?

  5. An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by Ayano · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This assumes that enough vulnerable locations will have such wave and storm patterns to be able to replenish what is lost by what is essentially a global flat raise of sea levels.

    --
    I don't read AC
    1. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by nonBORG · · Score: 0, Troll

      Yes the horrific sea level rise in Tuvalu is documented here http://www.psmsl.org/data/obta... Note according to the summary the sea level is rising here at twice the global average. By drawing a trend line the people of Tuvalu may need to be worried about the increasing sea levels in about year infinity. There was an article about GW and the rising sea levels where I saw a comment that those who thought such claims may be jumping the gun were told that they had lost 1/2 their school to the rising sea levels. (Sorry I forgot where it is so cannot link it.) This is what is known as ignorance gone to seed. I will say that average sea level is probably not too concerning but rather peak sea level as if you get flooded once a year it could be bad.

      --
      You can't handle the truth! - Because I don't post left all my comments get modded down, bye bye Karma.
    2. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sea levels that have been rising at the same slow consistent rate since the end of the last ice age....

    3. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by pots · · Score: 4, Informative

      Did you look at your link? A linear regression on the annual mean sea level gives an increase of 3.35mm/year. That's huge. Consider that the average elevation in Tuvalu, the whole country, is 2 meters.

      You're right about the peaks being worse than the mean, but the mean is bad enough.

    4. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      "This" does not assume anything but a particular study. It's you who are presuming assumption.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    5. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by idji · · Score: 1

      and how much volume of the Island remains above sea level? that may have gone down.

    6. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2

      These atoll dwelling critters are a bunch of whining bowheads. They just need to put their villages up on stilts. Plenty of folks in South East Asia do that:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Tourists love to stay in those waterworld resorts, so a foreign investor would probably bankroll it.

      Additionally, they could just accept a super-container ship full of junk cars, and dump them on the atoll. Add a healthy tanker full of coral fertilizer and steroids from Monsanto, and the cars will be beautiful reef a year later. Old computers and terminals could also be used as well.

      Yeah, well that's tough luck that their country is becoming inhabitable, but that happens to places all over the world, for as long as we know history. The Middle East is not the rosy garden of the Bible any more. Or for modern examples, look at Camden, New Jersey or Detroit. If the place where you are living becomes uninhabitable, humans pack their bags and go somewhere else.

      A waterworld would be an excellent place for ornery Slashdotters to live: you would never need to yell at kids to get off your lawn.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    7. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by riverat1 · · Score: 5, Informative

      No they haven't. In the last couple of thousand years there's been a slight drop in sea levels. Until about 1900 that is when sea level rise has been consistent and accelerating. Here's an interesting article on SLR over the past several thousand years.

      Sea level isn't level-Ocean siphoning, levered continents and the Holocene sea level highstand

    8. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pick an ice-floe drifting south. Jump on. Light a fire ... die warmist bitch ...

    9. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      So what you're suggesting is that the outside boundaries increased, but the area inside - never below sea level, and now further from the seashore - has sunk?

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    10. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Except that the islands of Tuvalu are what is know as "floating islands", where the amount of solid matter rises and falls with the sea level. Basically, they exist at the balance point between erosion and deposition, and any change in sea level that shifts the balance point causes the island height to shift as well.

      Tuvalu will be fine at 3-4mm per year. If it goes to 10x that, there'll be problems... but that's less likely than the next ice age rendering the entire problem meaningless in 10K years.

    11. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 0

      Did you look at your link? A linear regression on the annual mean sea level gives an increase of 3.35mm/year. That's huge. Consider that the average elevation in Tuvalu, the whole country, is 2 meters.

      So, a problem in 500 years or so, then? Yah, I'll remind my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren to remind their great-grea-great-great-great-great grandchildren to look into fixing things before they get out of hand....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    12. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 2

      There could be inland areas below sea level.

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
    13. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by aliquis · · Score: 2

      Here in Sweden it's rather land which has lifted. Because the weight of all that ice matter.

    14. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by kenh · · Score: 0

      So Tuvalu only has what, 590 more years before it's under water?

      --
      Ken
    15. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by HiThere · · Score: 1

      OTOH, at times in the past Atolls have grown when the sea rose (or the land subsided) because of increased coral growth. I have no idea, however, how rapidly that happened.

      So someone ought to look for that. Probably, of course, far enough from the equator that the coral won't be experiencing bleaching events.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    16. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not huge. In the last 12,500 years the oceans Have risen 387 Feet! 3.55 mm is pointless!

    17. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by nonBORG · · Score: 1

      It goes up and down, your trend makes no sense given the standard deviation.

      --
      You can't handle the truth! - Because I don't post left all my comments get modded down, bye bye Karma.
    18. Re:An interesting prospect, but also an edge case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't those become lakes in an environment like that? Honest question here.

      --Highdude702(mods and such)

  6. oh good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So long as our television related domain names are safe.

    1. Re:oh good by Hal_Porter · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I thought it was funny when Gaddafi fell and a load of millennials found out what the .ly in vb.ly stood for.

      https://www.theguardian.com/te...

      That follows the abrupt enforced shutdown of vb.ly, a "link shortening" site run by Ben Metcalfe and Violet Blue, after it was declared that the content of the site was "against Sharia law".

      An image of Violet with bare arms, drinking from a bottle of lager, was emblazoned across the front page of the site when the government-owned Libya Telecom & Technology got in touch earlier this month. "Pornography and adult material aren't allowed under Libyan law, therefore we removed the domain," the letter said, adding: "The issue of offensive imagery is quite subjective, as what I may deem as offensive you might not, but I think you'll agree that a picture of a scantily clad lady with some bottle in her hand isn't exactly what most would consider decent or family friendly at the least."

      But other moves made by the ministry could threaten the business of another web startup, bit.ly, which has had millions of dollars of investors' money poured into it - including funding of $10m (£6.3m) received earlier this week - following the announcement in June by the Tripoli regulator for domain registry that domain registrations with fewer than four characters were restricted for use by registrars "having presence" in Libya - that is, based in the country - where they would be under local Sharia jurisdictions.

      I.e. it turns out that 'respecting' cultures on the other side of the world that you know nothing about by denying that they are in any way different from yours is not a good idea. Who'd have thought it?

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    2. Re: oh good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably not the people who think their way is truly the only righteous one, that they have some ineffable quality that sets them apart from the rest, a distinct difference from others which reflects their own superiority.

      Excuse me, is that a redwood in your eye, or are you just happy to see me?

    3. Re: oh good by Hal_Porter · · Score: 0
      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  7. Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > It found factors such as wave patterns and sediment dumped by storms could offset the erosion caused by rising water levels.

    Do you remember Sunday School? Sediment is useless land, as even Jesus warned against building on sediment in Matthew 7:24-27:

    "... a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

    Thus, the island nation of Tuvalu is losing everything habitable to sea levels which rose at twice the global average, while winning nothing by the dumped sediment.

  8. Re:5 year old speak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Uh, this isn't a boat or an iceberg we're talking about. An island that is getting bigger, by definition, isn't sinking, because 'island' only refers to the part above water.

    But it seems some people would rather attack the messenger, rather than look for a scientific way that both things might be true, or otherwise not conflict. (I mean come on, it's right there in the summary, a suggestion that the bigger storms -- you know, the ones that global warming people say are the bad outcome of global warming -- are depositing soil.)

  9. Are you sure? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Have you already tried altering the original data? Maybe by photoshopping the picture of the island so that it's smaller after all. That seems to be the generally accepted go-to plan when data doesn't support the worst-case scenario. (I'm referring, of course, to the satellite temperature measurements being altered because they don't show warming. That was after ground temperature measurements were altered.... Whoops, forgot to save the original data, guess you'll just have to trust us!)

  10. cherry picking data by chromaexcursion · · Score: 0

    Build up in sediment beaches is not sustainable land.
    Literally here today, gone tomorrow (well sometime soon in the future).
    Totally bogus conclusion.
    This is a new twist on climate denial.
    If the authors are so confident they should be buying land in Tuvalu, everyone there is trying to sell to get out.
    the story is BULL$#1T

    1. Re: cherry picking data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All of their island is literally a sediment. For it is a dead coral reef.

    2. Re: cherry picking data by nukenerd · · Score: 2

      All of their island is literally a sediment. For it is a dead coral reef.

      Coral reef is not sediment. FWIW my house is built on sediment. It is 600 feet aboove present day sea level in hills of red sandstone, sandstone being sand compressed and re-crystalised until it has become rock. Sandstone, limestone, chalk and slate are all sedimentary rocks.

    3. Re: cherry picking data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just check your science.

      Those atolls are all sediments, made of dead coral reefs and bird excrement layers on top. That's what called sedimental minerals. The guano is actually the islands economic value, it is being mined by western companies for making fertilizer and laundry detergent of it.

      If you want an example of non- sediment minerals it is granite or basalt , produced by volcanoes . Tuwalu is a reef island, not volcano island as far as I can recall.

      More to the point, the nation was naturally migrating one before the guano collectors came. If there is some unkind Nature act like a bad sea harvest or flood or food crops shortage they would migrate to other islands. That's how Pacific nations were spread and survived. Why would we change the order of things ?

    4. Re: cherry picking data by HiThere · · Score: 1

      If it's an atoll, then it's broken up coral skeletons. But that's not the whole story, coral only grows in shallow water, so underneath there must have been a volcano. It may once have extended above the then current sea level, with coral growing on it's sides. As it eroded away the sediments were caught by the coral to form a shallow plateau just under the surface of the water, and coral grew on top of that until it got too shallow. Over time the sea level rose and fell. Rising sea levels would put everything under water, where the coral could grow on top of it, falling sea levels would expose the tops of the area, and restrict coral growth to the sides. Since coral won't grow in deep water, there is a strong limit to the radius around the old volcano that the island can grow, but the coral growth keeps the volcano from eroding further.

      If waves and currents are moving sediments onto the island, they must be coming from somewhere. And it's unlikely that they are coming from deep water. So they're probably coming from the sides of the volcano where the coral have been growing. Just what this means is speculation, but it could mean that at the deepest level, the ocean has gotten to deep for the corals to grow, so they died and became loose sediments. In which case the base of the atoll is shrinking, but the top is becoming flatter.

      OTOH, it's been my impression that this kind of thing usually happens over a much longer time period. This could be because the books were written by geologist who tend to assume the processes happen slowly, but it could also be because they usually *do* happen slowly. That said, gradualism tends to be overstated. A natural arch doesn't collapse slowly, it stands up apparently unmoved for centuries, and collapses within a month, and usually within a day. There are lots of metastable equilibria, that appear to be stable until they suddenly change state. If you're observing it during the stable period, which is almost all the time, you'll see something that looks almost unchanging. If you're there when it happens, you may not be able to run fast enough to get out of the way.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  11. Re:5 year old speak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Nature isn't linear, despite us constantly trying to model it linearly. Tuvalu isn't rising and it isn't sinking. Sedimentation raises and extends its shores some, but overall It's still the same height, and the water surrounding it is still rising. The highest point of the entire country is 5 meters above sea level. A larger but (relatively) shallower island will be much more prone to flooding.

  12. Scientists vs slashdot troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Scientists say it's growing. Slashdot troll trolls.

    Or we could cherry pick and only listen to scientists when they say what matches our religious beliefs.

    1. Re:Scientists vs slashdot troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Or we could cherry pick and only listen to scientists when they say what matches our religious beliefs.

      Yes, the Church of the Great Denier is very popular, it's full of preaching scientists.

    2. Re:Scientists vs slashdot troll by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Actually, I would bet that what they said is that "it has been growing", which is a very different statement.

      OTOH, I do wonder is there is a lot of new area suitable for the growth of coral, which would create a barrier reef around the atoll. Of course, this assumes that Tuvalu is far enough from the equator that the water doesn't get too warm for the corals. And I also wonder how fast that would happen.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  13. Size doesn't matter by neonfrog · · Score: 5, Informative

    If the ring is growing in thickness because coral is being dredged from outside the ring and then deposited on the inside of the ring by more frequent king tides that wash right over the ring, then perhaps those living right on the ring don't care about the size so much. They may care more about their thin soil being lost, salinated, and replaced by coral beach. Yes, having more surface area allows for more mitigation measures to be tried, but it is still a hard battle being fought because of sea level rise.

    --

    I'm thinking about it, therefore I might be.

  14. Re: 5 year old speak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's still a bs. One island is sinking, another is forming. No one cares. Emigrate to the trump land if your island is sinking, There is no mandate for humanity to stop Nature from working at speeds of three millimetre per year.

  15. Re:5 year old speak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and it's a nation made up of 9 islands, is this true of ll 9, or just 1?

  16. Re: Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The island Nation of Tuwalu did not originate on the island in the first place. They settled there. So.
    Just board their fast proa and move to another island, with better social security that's what them should do.

    Instead we will be imposing costly policies on the developing world and painful policies to ourselves in a futile attempt to stop the Natures work.

  17. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The Netherlands is mostly below the sea level, and it is an OK place to live.

  18. Coral reefs are alive by Hentes · · Score: 4, Informative

    These islands don't happen to be just above the water by pure chance, but because coral reefs grow until they hit the surface and then stop. When the sea level rises, the reefs will grow to match it.

    1. Re:Coral reefs are alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Unless coral bleaching kills the reef before that can happen

    2. Re:Coral reefs are alive by swillden · · Score: 5, Informative

      These islands don't happen to be just above the water by pure chance, but because coral reefs grow until they hit the surface and then stop. When the sea level rises, the reefs will grow to match it.

      Eventually. But coral reefs grow very slowly, so it could be that rising sea levels will outpace reef growth and the island will sink for a few thousand years, then reappear. Also, it may take time for corals to adapt to rising temperatures and declining pH levels, further delaying reef growth.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    3. Re:Coral reefs are alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes, but it depends on the rates. Reefs also drown in such settings if they can't keep up with the pace of sea level rise or subsidence. There are many examples of seamounts (peaks below sea level) with coral reef deposits on top of them that are hundreds of metres below where the reefs can actually grow anymore. These are examples of situations where the seamount used to be an ocean island but sank beneath the waves faster than the corals could grow upwards.

      An additional factor is coral bleaching events and ocean acidification, both of which might discourage coral reef growth rates.

    4. Re:Coral reefs are alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can't keep up when the tide goes BUMP ? Die Neolith savage die.

    5. Re:Coral reefs are alive by jhecht · · Score: 3, Informative

      What's going on is complex. Sand is being moved around a lot, as usually happens. Look at the smaller islands in Figure 3 of the (open-access) paper and you can see the above-surface part of small islands actually moves around. The sand-only islands are shrinking on average, but those with gravel are growing, probably because they catch sand being washed around. The living reefs are growing. Overall, it's encouraging for the near term, but the authors say it is not clear if the islands can continue to maintain their sizes with the faster sea level rise of 7.4 mm/year expected in some future scenarios.

    6. Re:Coral reefs are alive by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      Exactly. The whole 'global sea level rise means island nations will drown' narrative is fake news.

      It's more complicated than that

      https://news.nationalgeographi...

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  19. Re:Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than th by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well first, that was supposed to be a metaphor for faith, and second, the world's tallest skyscraper is now built on sand, so any practical message in the metaphor is just another thing in the Bible that's hilariously outdated, like its complete lack of criticism for the institution of slavery.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  20. NOOO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You meab California won't be sucked into the ocean after all?

  21. Re:Can you believe these lying Republican punkasse by tomhath · · Score: 1
    From the summary:

    It found factors such as wave patterns and sediment dumped by storms could offset the erosion caused by rising water levels.

    Please explain how you got "totally negated oceanwide" from the study's conclusion.

  22. It's a local phenomenon! by johannesg · · Score: 0

    Sure, in some places the sea level is dropping, but in others it is rising much more. You have to look at the global picture! ;-)

    1. Re:It's a local phenomenon! by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Where is the sea level dropping? I know it's rising more slowly along the US East Coast, but I didn't know it was dropping anywhere.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    2. Re:It's a local phenomenon! by FormOfActionBanana · · Score: 1

      Las Vegas

      --
      Take off every 'sig' !!
  23. Tuvalu by Kevin108 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Rye aye, and we can sing just like our fathers. Come on, Eileen.

    --

    It's a perfect time for being wasted.
    A perfect time to watch the stars.
    - Burden Brothers, "Beautiful Night"
  24. Re:5 year old speak by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    So the area that is 5 meters above sea level will still be at the same height, correct? We've just added more, lower altitude land around that area. How does that increase the susceptibility of flooding of that 5 meter section?

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  25. Re:Can you believe these lying Republican punkasse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't worry, he's a leftist. He'll find some "scientific facts" to pull out of his ass.

  26. Re:5 year old speak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It won't be 5 meters above sea level when the sea level rises. Sedimentation doesn't raise the country. It just adds land at the coast that is barely above sea level.

  27. Re: Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But that involves nations letting them immigrate. How about the US welcomes all the people who lose their homeland due to the global warming we caused?

  28. Bleeding hearts for the stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Consider that the average elevation in Tuvalu, the whole country, is 2 meters.

    "I make my home in an active volcano. Please save me from the fire!"

    JFC. Evacuate these idiots already, or STFU about them. Yes, the same thing goes for the cluetards who make their homes on the beach or variously at near sea level. Eventually, nature's going to give them a beatdown. It won't require global warming to get it done, either. It's a stupid place to live. Move.

    1. Re:Bleeding hearts for the stupid by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 0

      Great. I'm glad you're so eager to start relocating people away from the coasts.

      How many refugees are you willing to board in your home?

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
    2. Re:Bleeding hearts for the stupid by haruchai · · Score: 1

      Great. I'm glad you're so eager to start relocating people away from the coasts.

      How many refugees are you willing to board in your home?

      Of course he didn't mean to relocate them to where he lives; that would be silly.
      Surely there must be a shithole country that will take them

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    3. Re:Bleeding hearts for the stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Evacuate these idiots already, or STFU about them. Yes, the same thing goes for the cluetards who make their homes on the beach or variously at near sea level. Eventually, nature's going to give them a beatdown. It won't require global warming to get it done, either. It's a stupid place to live. Move.

      Great idea.

      Why don't you suggest that to the fine people in the Netherlands? I guess since they are so fond of irony, they won't miss a chance to "award" you in gratitude.

    4. Re: Bleeding hearts for the stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As if the people that afford ocean side property need your charity

    5. Re: Bleeding hearts for the stupid by LinuxLuver · · Score: 1

      The people on Tuvalu will eventually be evacuated to New Zealand. But they'd prefer climate change be addressed so they don't have to. Unfortunately, humans are short-sighted, selfish and more than a little stupid, so they are already screwed. It's just a matter of time. The same applies to Miami, London, Shanghai and over a hundred other low-lying cities. They are already dead-men walking with respect to sea level rise. It may take a century for some of them to be inundated so frequently you can't live there any more, but it's just a matter of time now. You don't have to be submerged completely. A king tide that floods the city every few months is more than enough to render it uninhabitable.

      --
      Only boring people are ever bored.
  29. Must we debunk this one again!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This video discusses the research about atolls (Tuvalu is referenced around the 7:00 mark):

    Climate Change -- Hurricanes, atolls and coral

    HINT: This was a video published in late November 2010.

  30. Nice domain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So we give you the .tv domain, and in return you're the poster child of global warming....except we forgot it's all an algore scam.
    Thanks man bear pig.

  31. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Skeptical science dot com? You might as well have posted from dailykos or Fox News for all those biased jerks are worth reading.

    My comment stands. Oceans have continued to rise at same slow pace since last ice age (despite false claims from faked up pseudo science web sites).

  32. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2

    Yup. It turns out that if you can think and plan ahead it's possible to live below sea level with much more primitive technology than we have today - basically earth walls.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    The construction method of dikes has changed over the centuries. Popular in the Middle Ages were wierdijken, earth dikes with a protective layer of seaweed. An earth embankment was cut vertically on the sea-facing side. Seaweed was then stacked against this edge, held into place with poles. Compression and rotting processes resulted in a solid residue that proved very effective against wave action and they needed very little maintenance. In places where seaweed was unavailable other materials such as reeds or wicker mats were used.

    Another system used much and for a long time was that of a vertical screen of timbers backed by an earth bank. Technically these vertical constructions were less successful as vibration from crashing waves and washing out of the dike foundations weakened the dike.

    Much damage was done to these wood constructions with the arrival of the shipworm (Teredo navalis), a bivalve thought to have been brought to the Netherlands by VOC trading ships, that ate its way through Dutch sea defenses around 1730. The change was made from wood to using stone for reinforcement. This was a great financial setback as there is no natural occurring rock in the Netherlands and it all had to be imported from abroad.

    Current dikes are made with a core of sand, covered by a thick layer of clay to provide waterproofing and resistance against erosion. Dikes without a foreland have a layer of crushed rock below the waterline to slow wave action. Up to the high waterline the dike is often covered with carefully laid basalt stones or a layer of tarmac. The remainder is covered by grass and maintained by grazing sheep. Sheep keep the grass dense and compact the soil, in contrast to cattle.

    But hey, not everyone can pass the marshmallow test like Northern Europeans I suppose. So they blame Northern Europeans for climate change and demand cash.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  33. The headline omits what's important by Dasher42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Stability and agriculture are the primary concerns, not just landmass. If the ocean is washing up new sandbars from storms while the island is sinking, and there's saline intrusion into the soil, the land area can increase while the island loses its arable soil, which is going to sap the islander's means to feed and support themselves.

    So, representing this as any counter to Tuvalu's crisis is obtuse.

    1. Re:The headline omits what's important by WhiplashII · · Score: 1, Interesting

      First, moving the bar. The previous research predicted sinking islands, this new research refutes that. The important point is that "Climate Change" hysteria is overblown, and that nature has automatic processes to lessen the effects of the change.

      Second, how much "agriculture" was going on previously? Are you saying that previously, there was no salt at all, and their major export was grain?

      I grew up on a tropical island. It has always rained salt during the storms. Many plants can't grow because of that, many plants don't care.

      --
      while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
    2. Re:The headline omits what's important by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Well, I think coconut trees can grow right on the beach, so that's something. And I hear that in places mangrove trees even grow out into the ocean.
      OTOH, it probably takes a whole bunch of coconut trees to support one person (and that would require trading off the island) and I don't know what the economic utility of mangroves is. But they do require fresh water to reduce the salinity, and an underlying layer of mud.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  34. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unless you can cite some real reason to discount the source, like repeated obvious flaws in the science or methodology, why should i listen to a crank like you? wheres your citation or evidence for your unsubstantiated claim?

  35. Re:Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than th by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

    Do you remember Sunday School?

    No, luckily my parents did not take me to be brainwashed into an ancient cult as a child.

    --
    Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
  36. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by werepants · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But hey, not everyone can pass the marshmallow test like Northern Europeans I suppose. So they blame Northern Europeans for climate change and demand cash.

    The U.S. is failing the marshmallow test as we speak - huge tax cuts and massive spending increases at a time when the economy is already strong, and the GOP controls ALL branches of government. Apparently there are no longer any adults in charge who realize that if you don't pay down your debt during the good times, things will get really ugly in the bad times.

  37. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

    Yeah? And did they get that way by doing nothing?

    --
    Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
  38. Re:5 year old speak by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    How does that increase the susceptibility of flooding of that 5 meter section?

    It's likely to create lagoons on land that had previously been coastal.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  39. I was told the Sealevels were rising and would by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    swallow NY city within 20 years. Good thing this island isn't NY city :D

    1. Re:I was told the Sealevels were rising and would by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      According to Algore we're all dead by now if you look at his inconvenient "truth". None of his stuff he predicted has happened.
      Still ice in the artic.
      Kilimanjaro still has snow.
      The weather hasn't been worse. In fact it's been about the same or better.
      15 year hiatus in "warming."
      Satellite-derived temperature data showed, until the recent El Niño, no statistically significant warming trend for more than 21 years.
      And so on.

      His money scheme has worked. He has been paid about a billion dollars over something that isn't even true and his professor told him so in the 1970s. Al is a D student in science after all.

      Yet people still listen to that man and give him money.

  40. Re: Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Well these are British Commonwealth Subjects so it is NZ or Australia. They do welcome boatloads of Arabs and East Indians so a few Polynesian Proas will not make any marked difference.

  41. Re: Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You must be a the believer in the modern cult of the Ancient Egyptian Gods and the Goddess of Reason whose prophet is Isaac Newton?

  42. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by haruchai · · Score: 0

    "Unless you can cite some real reason to discount the source"
    Easy-peasy - it's all lies from the pit of Hell and God is still in charge

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  43. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

    Yup, that budget is a travesty.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  44. Re:Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than th by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    ... the world's tallest skyscraper is now built on sand ...

    If by "on sand", you mean on top of nearly a thousand pilings that go up to 282 feet down into the sand, then yes. :-) I think that stretches the metaphor a bit much, though.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  45. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  46. Re: Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    The global warming the US caused by Nixon opening up to China?

  47. Hey, now.... by Slugster · · Score: 2, Insightful

    People don't remember what a scam "climate change" really is... -and don't like being reminded...

    A brief recap:
    There have been wild predictions of "runaway greenhouse effects" and of "new ice ages", back-and-forth, for 35+ years now.
    The people making these claims have been consistently wrong, within just one or two years of making their great predictions.

    So then they got the bright idea to change to warning of "climate change", so then they don't need to predict what will happen at all... They want you to believe that ANY bad weather, of any kind, proves that they were right all along....
    ...
    And also, THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED!... AND ANY SCIENTIST WHO DARES TO QUESTION IT, IS UNFIT TO BE A SCIENTIST!...

    And you believe that?

    These people raised the debate by making failed predictions for decades, and now they are summarily declaring an end to the debate entirely--as well as excusing all their failed past predictions, and refusing to look foolish by making any more future (incorrect) predictions.

    I'm not a bullshit scientist, but that kinda sounds like bullshit to me.

  48. Turnabout is fair play by Solandri · · Score: 1

    If GW alarmists want to use Tortuga as a poster boy case because "sea levels in the country rose at twice the global average," then GW deniers can use Tortuga as a poster boy case for islands growing faster than they're sinking.

    If you try to sway public opinion by using extreme and corner cases to alarm them, then it's hypocritical to cry foul when extreme and corner cases are used to refute you. Stick to using median and mean data and you won't have this problem.

    1. Re:Turnabout is fair play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Stick to using median and mean data and you won't have this problem." Amateur, that doesn't help sell papers or sway the public that something needs to be done NOW!!! Just look how Judith Curry was treated for simply speaking up about scientific certainty & uncertainty.

  49. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Itâ(TM)s not just about mean inundation. Peak storm surges increase as well from SLR which could easily render the island inhabitable far sooner if infrastructure is destroyed.

  50. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by Lanthanide · · Score: 1

    Yeah, cause as long as your house is 4mm above *average* sea level, everything is fine. Duh.

  51. Cement it all over to make it even bigger! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hard for Donny fans to understand, but size is not everything. There needs to be an ecosystem to support life. Will bigger reverse the damage to their reefs? Will bigger reverse the damage to their local system by acidification? Bigger will probably attract more plastic garbage. #MAGA

  52. Re:Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than th by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, what the bible doesn't mean is hilarious, because it's would be that if it meant that, but you say it doesn't?

    And yes, in context, and as a generalization, it would be practically true as well.

    You'll be better off as a slave. Irrational people tend not to live long on their own in most contexts.

  53. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0, Troll

    Why bother to pay down the debt when the Dems are just going to run it up again the next time they get in office? Worse, they'll use the money to buy votes or to prosecute yet more foreign wars. How many did Obama start, 7 in 8 years? He killed more children than all other Nobel Peace Prize winners put together.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  54. Re:Can you believe these lying Republican punkasse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was referring to the comments here you retarded traitor faggots.

  55. Re: Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Considering the 50 million climate refugees the UN predicted 10 years ago has not come to pass sure let's go with that

  56. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by riverat1 · · Score: 1

    Skeptical science dot com? You might as well have posted from dailykos or Fox News for all those biased jerks are worth reading.

    At least SkepticalScience references peer reviews scientific literature. If you dig into the scientific literature on sea level rise over the past 4 or 5000 years you find that sea level remained pretty steady and if anything dropped a bit during the Little Ice Age. Since 1900 sea level rise has gone from around 1 mm/year to 2 mm/year in the middle of the 20th Century and over 3 mm/year since around 1993. That looks like acceleration to me.

  57. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What makes you believe that it's democrats that run up the debt? It's factually wrong. Republicans run up debts, consistently. The reason you bother to pay it down is because you claim to be conservative. The stereotype is that democrats spend and republicans cut taxes. Both things run up debts. The stereotype is that democrats increase taxes and republicans cut spending. Both things reduce debts.

    Even if true, it's the most bizarre argument anyway. Why do any conservative thing if a democrat is just going to do a non-conservative thing? Because that's what you voted for.

  58. Correction for You by ytene · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm not a US citizen, so US party politics is not something that matters a great deal to me. I wasn't sure if there were documented facts concerning debt levels and US Presidents, so I went digging and came up with this:-

    https://www.thebalance.com/us-...

    It's a single source, so of course could be complete hogwash, but it's a start. According to the records there, every single US president all the way back to Herbert Hoover [directly before Franklin D. Roosevelt] added to the US Debt.

    Unfortunately, even these figures don't tell the whole story, because we have to consider both debt and deficit, in which the former is the amount the US owes, and the latter is the rate with which the former is changing.

    I make this distinction because, in recent memory, Bill Clinton has been the only US president who has actually decelerated the increase in US national debt. When he left office [IIRC] he did so leaving his successor, George W. Bush, with a tiny budgetary surplus. It's also instructive to look at the scale of the change in the debt position between Presidents. For example, George H.W. Bush left office with a national debt 54% greater than the one he inherited. Bill Clinton had trimmed that to a 32% increase. George W. Bush doubled-down on his Father's spending policies and managed a 101% increase in national debt. In the case of the two Bush Presidents, the increases were likely driven mainly by military spending to support the wars that they started.

    Now, I'd absolutely have to agree with you if we look at Obama's record. He added $7.917 trillion to the US national debt, a 68% increase, which puts him somewhere between Bush Father and Bush Son and way beyond Clinton's record. However, it has to be remembered that Obama won office in late 2008 and became President in Januaru 2009. In other words, less than 6 months after the 2008 financial crash had really hit home.

    What Obama did during his 8 years in office was, in economic terms, kick the can down the road. These are unarguable facts - the record speaks for itself. The reason *why* this is the case is obviously going to be highly partisan and subject to fierce debate. But the fact remains that the chief reason that Obama's record on the economy stands where it does is simply because he inherited one of the worst financial crises in living memory from his predecessor. The damage was done during the 8 years that George W. Bush spent in office [with increased military spending and tax cuts]. Obama just papered over the cracks and kicked the can down the road.

    But the record is pretty clear - with the exception of Coolidge and Warren Harding [who served immediately before him] every US President from the First World War to the present day has added to the US debt.

    1. Re:Correction for You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Talking about nation debt without reference to GDP or economic growth says little or nothing about the relative wealth and power of nations. Moreover, the exact size of the debt is somewhat uncertain because a large portion of it exists in the form of future liabilities whose final present value cost is uncertain. This is especially true with Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security obligations which comprise a lion's share of the debt. This is not to say that debt cannot be a problem, especially when it becomes large quickly relative to GDP and interest payments become difficult, as has happened in Venezuela for example. However, the United States is very far from being unable to service the national debt. In the short to medium term, the debt argument is more or less a partisan political football and not a real issue. The party out of power generally doesn't like the budget produced by the party in power and uses complaints about the national debt to create headwinds and make spending more difficult. You can see this by observing what happens when power changes hands. When the Democrats were in charge the Republicans howled about the debt and spending. Now that the Republicans are in charge you don't hear a peep about the national debt or spending, but Democrats are shutting down the government because they aren't getting the spending they want while complaining about "wasteful" spending and how much Trump is adding to the national debt. Intelligent and educated Americans ignore this short term posturing over the debt because we know that it's nothing more than a political dog and pony show. Unfortunately, there aren't enough intelligent and educated Americans who understand economics to prevent the parties from playing chicken with debt and spending to score political points with their respective bases. Really the whole thing is predictable, tiresome and boring.

    2. Re:Correction for You by ytene · · Score: 1

      Really, *really* disappointed your reply got down-voted to a zero score. I think this is an entirely fair and insightful response.

      In fact, the only thing you state which I'm not in complete agreement with [because I just don't have the facts to understand the accuracy of the statement] is when you say that the US is "very far from being unable to service the national debt".

      I'm not doubting the truth of what you write, but I'm less certain about the way that conditions might have to change before that statement becomes false. Here's why... I think that a nation as large and economically powerful as the US can continue to plough forwards on momentum even when the underlying economy starts to soften. By cutting taxes without reducing spending it is possible to give a short-term, "in your pocket" sense of prosperity all the while building up a debt burden. The longer that burden exists for, the bigger it grows, the harder it will be to deal with.

      Although it's "before my time", I'm aware of what happened to the United Kingdom in the 1970s, when the UK economy hit problems. The country got to a point where they simply couldn't afford any tax cuts, but the economy wasn't generating enough income. The response was to inflate their way out of trouble by literally printing money and generating inflation - which they thought they could control - to "jump-start" the economy. It didn't work out quite as expected and took decades to recover.

      Not being an economist I can't say whether or not the current US economy has a similar profile, but I think it should be fair to say that cutting taxes and maintaining spending, whilst pushing up the US national debt, is an unsustainable model.

    3. Re:Correction for You by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      I make this distinction because, in recent memory, Bill Clinton has been the only US president who has actually decelerated the increase in US national debt. When he left office [IIRC] he did so leaving his successor, George W. Bush, with a tiny budgetary surplus.

      The US government when Clinton was POTUS didn't run a surplus because the government collected more taxes than it spent - it hasn't done that for a long time. Rather it borrowed money from the social security trust fund and spent it. Well it's a bit more complex than that, but that was the net result :

      http://www.craigsteiner.us/art...

      Notice that while the public debt went down in each of those four years, the intragovernmental holdings went up each year by a far greater amount--and, in turn, the total national debt (which is public debt + intragovernmental holdings) went up. Therein lies the discrepancy.

      When it is claimed that Clinton paid down the national debt, that is patently false--as can be seen, the national debt went up every single year. What Clinton did do was pay down the public debt--notice that the claimed surplus is relatively close to the decrease in the public debt for those years. But he paid down the public debt by borrowing far more money in the form of intragovernmental holdings (mostly Social Security).

      Update 3/31/2009: The following quote from an article at CBS confirms my explanation of the Myth of the Clinton Surplus, and the entire article essentially substantiates what I wrote.

      "Over the past 25 years, the government has gotten used to the fact that Social Security is providing free money to make the rest of the deficit look smaller," said Andrew Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

      Interestingly, this most likely was not even a conscious decision by Clinton. The Social Security Administration is legally required to take all its surpluses and buy U.S. Government securities, and the U.S. Government readily sells those securities--which automatically and immediately becomes intragovernmental holdings. The economy was doing well due to the dot-com bubble and people were earning a lot of money and paying a lot into Social Security. Since Social Security had more money coming in than it had to pay in benefits to retired persons, all that extra money was immediately used to buy U.S. Government securities. The government was still running deficits, but since there was so much money coming from excess Social Security contributions there was no need to borrow more money directly from the public. As such, the public debt went down while intragovernmental holdings continued to skyrocket.

      The net effect was that the national debt most definitely did not get paid down because we did not have a surplus. The government just covered its deficit by borrowing money from Social Security rather than the public.

      The last time the US government ran a true surplus was in the 60's.

      https://www.answers.com/Q/When...

      Clinton did not have a surplus of $230B in the year 2000 because he had to borrow $246.5 From numerous other off budget funds. Clinton NEVER ran a surplus during his 8 years in office, he just borrowed yearly from different budgets, (primarily the SS budget) to offset the general fund losses. In 2000 the following funds were borrowed which resulted in a $16.5 deficit.

      $152.3B from Social Security
      $30.9B from Civil Service Retirement Fund
      $18.5B from Federal Supplementary Medical insurance Trust Fund
      $15.0B from Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund
      $9.0B from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund
      $8.2B from Military Retirement Fund
      $3.8B from Transportation Trust Funds
      $1.8B from Employee Life Insurance & Retirement fund
      $7.0B from others

      Total borrowed from off bu

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    4. Re:Correction for You by ytene · · Score: 1

      Hal,

      Lots of interesting additional material here, but I'd just like to make one key observation. You have responded to a statement that I did not make.

      At no point did I claim that Clinton ran a surplus. I'm not qualified as a forensic auditor, so any attempt on my part to try and interpret or argue the addition material you share here is, I think, a wasted exercise. I was actually looking at this from a slightly different perspective - and ironically one I see being mirrored in the UK at the moment.

      What I took from the numbers in my linked post, specifically for George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and then George W. Bush was that, in each of these successive Presidencies, the US National Debt increased. However, looking at the amounts by which it increased, I concluded [perhaps incorrectly] that Clinton had either cut Federal spending and/or increased Federal tax receipts to the point where the rate of increase of National Debt was being curbed.

      To my way of thinking, this could have given President George W. Bush a truly golden opportunity. For example, instead of instigating the tax cuts and increasing federal spending [for things like military expenditure], had he chosen to continue or even improve upon the changes introduced by Clinton, then in theory the US *could* have achieved annual budget surplus well before the end of his term. He didn't; the rest is history.

      I hope these don't come across as partisan or party political observations - I absolutely don't mean for them to be. Instead, I am looking at this, if you will, from the perspective of someone responsible for a household budget. I know that I can't continue to outspend household income - because my bank won't stand it. However, the rules seem to change when it is a government doing the borrowing and not a private individual or a company. It's different because the "collateral" that a government puts up against the "borrowing" [i.e. the debt] is, effectively, the ability of her citizens to keep on paying taxes. Since that's "a given", our societal and financial systems seem to allow this to happen. None of which makes it sensible.

      I remember seeing a comment reported on the UK news during the most heated moments of the 2008 financial crisis, [when the UK deficit ballooned from £160 Billion to £322 Billion], and a member of a government from South America was interviewed by the press. [Might of been Colombia, might have been Chile - can't remember]. The reporter asked "Are you concerned for your country about this debt crisis?" The answer was, "No. We understand that there are good years and lean years. During the strong years we make provisions and pay down debt. During the lean years those previous actions protect us." [ I'm simplifying, but only slightly].

      We're not doing that. We haven't learned the lessons of 2008. I hope we wake up before we see history repeat...

  59. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No need to kill anybody.

    Perhaps you should look up this technological marvel called... moving.

  60. Re: Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because it is all SAND!!!

  61. Re:Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than th by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 1

    And that's why Jesus was a carpenter and not an engineer.

  62. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by nasch · · Score: 1

    Worse, they'll use the money to buy votes or to prosecute yet more foreign wars. How many did Obama start, 7 in 8 years?

    Really, what seven or eight wars did Obama start?

  63. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

    Let's count Obama's wars: begin!

    Scandal-free president, everyone. Nobel Peace Prize president, everyone.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  64. how can sea level rise twice the global average? by gravewax · · Score: 1

    how does sea level rise at twice the global average? I am no ocean or water flow expert so happy for someone to explain it to me, but surely the ocean depth, especially in non isolated areas like Tuvalu would have a consistent sea level with the rest of the pacific?

  65. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by rtb61 · · Score: 2

    Here's a reason. Take a pile of sand, put water around it, as the water level rise, so the sand pile subsides and look the sand is lower and more spread around. So take a sand island, with trees and stuff up to say 3m above high tide. Raise the water level and more and more of the land is washed into the sea at high tide. A low tide you might have a larger island but at high tide it is under water, not really all that useful. Raise the water level high enough and you might have quite a large sandbar that is below sea level at high tide and supports only limited marine life, where once a smaller tree lined Island used to exist.

    Of course you can do what China did and add material to raise the low lying formation and create a useful Island. In it's way much like moving a rig to the location and anchoring it or even a ship, you got there first you developed it or anchored there and no one can really drive you off with infringing international territory and vessel sovereignty or man made island sovereignty in international territory (so the island is yours but the territory around it, is not, except what is need to secure the stability of the man made island). Right up until the next major tsunami and then everyone goes for a swim.

    There you go, Tuvalu could invite Chinese investors to create land, the land would be Tuvalu but the Chinese investors would own the land they create. The US would probably invade and kill everyone so maybe not, the US government is not in the control of the American voter, not in the least.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  66. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by nonBORG · · Score: 1

    first the going up concept is a bit weak, as I said above check the standard deviation first it is just a set of random numbers going up or down is non conclusive. Second whenever the sea rises it deposits more stuff which lifts the island, the land mass is growing so don't worry about Tuvalu. Instead worry about the conclusion being that chicken little running around calling out that the sea levels are rising. Is this crap based on the weakest of evidence (as seen here) of course a random set of values can be going up and down and if you over analyse them you can produce all sorts of erroneous stuff. Even the concept that GW will cause the sea level to rise has so many flaws. Of course there is evidence like this tide information from Tuvalu. The problem is taking the evidence and then outputting worst case conclusions.

    --
    You can't handle the truth! - Because I don't post left all my comments get modded down, bye bye Karma.
  67. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by sg_oneill · · Score: 2

    Skeptical science dot com? You might as well have posted from dailykos or Fox News for all those biased jerks are worth reading.

    My comment stands. Oceans have continued to rise at same slow pace since last ice age (despite false claims from faked up pseudo science web sites).

    Its a pop science, not pseudo-science site. Its accurate, but simplified, and its widely respected in the scientific community as a reliable and accurate public science site.

    However. You want actual papers huh?

    http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~ste...
    http://www.meteo.psu.edu/holoc...
    http://www.meteo.psu.edu/holoc...
    http://science.sciencemag.org/...
    http://www.pnas.org/content/pn...

    I'm sure theses others, but those where just some of the references off the *very* page you dishonestly try to handwave as 'pseudoscience".

    You can't just throw mud like that at widely respected sources of information without at least justifying who so much of the scientific community is wrong, but random AC on the internet is right

    --
    Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
  68. Your results may vary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just like everything else with global climate change, on a micro-level, there are losers and winners. Some islands will grow, some will disappear. Some cold areas will become arable farmland, some arable farmland will turn into barren desserts.

    I'll guarantee that some climate change denier will idiotically point to this study as proof that climate change is a hoax.

    On a macro-level, we all lose. Even the deniers.

  69. Re:more political tripe. by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

    Let me guess, you didn't RTFA.

  70. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by LinuxLuver · · Score: 1

    You typed a lot of stuff for no reason. Sea levels ARE rising. We know this because it's being measured constantly and had been for a long time.

    --
    Only boring people are ever bored.
  71. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by nonBORG · · Score: 1

    Yet here you can see that the evidence is so weak, yet it is 2x the average rate. Sorry but knowing the sea levels are rising is like having evidence of Murder. Evidence can point to the wrong conclusion. However you do need to move out of the Media mind control to be able to think that kind of thing for yourself. I know I will get modded down for having an opinion that is not popular. What a troll not jumping to the common conclusion

    --
    You can't handle the truth! - Because I don't post left all my comments get modded down, bye bye Karma.
  72. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's start by saying what defines war.

    Is it a declared war? Where the US Congress has formally declared war? That's easy. No wars under Obama.

    Or just "military action"... the preferred euphemism for killing people and breaking their stuff but without a formal declaration of war?

    If the scary brown people were doing it to us instead of us to them, would we be calling and considering it an act of war?
    Invade country? Yep. Burly uniformed men with guns shooting people? Yep. Drone strikes? Yep. Dropping bombs? Yep.

    Show of hands.... anyone think drone strikes and dropping bombs and shooting people is NOT an act of war?

    Under Obama, military action (Including ground forces and/or dropping bombs/drone strikes) include at minimum the following seven countries:
    Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan.

    The US military was at war for all eight years of Obama's two-term presidency; Obama is the first two-term president with this distinction.

  73. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by nasch · · Score: 1

    Let's count Obama's wars: begin!

    So are you going to begin, or what?

  74. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  75. Re:more political tripe. by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

    Whoa? Someone on /. RTFA? Really? Shocked I am!

    I think we're actually saying the same thing. It's not man made GW, it's a normal process.

  76. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by werepants · · Score: 2

    Democrats don't hold a candle to Republicans when it comes to increasing national debt. It's already been said, but it's worth noting that the last Republican to lower the deficit on average was Nixon, yet Clinton and Obama both managed it. Reagan started what's now a time-honored tradition of Republican presidents dicking over the next generation by driving up the deficit through some combination of unfunded tax cuts and increased spending.

    Dispute this with "alternative facts" all you want, but there's nothing tricky about the math - just look at the chart. And the thing is, it is DELIBERATE on the part of the "conservatives"... they decided to institute a "starve the beast" philosophy in the Reagan era, where they intentionally drive up debt to try to force government spending down. Similar to charging up your credit cards to try to force yourself to be more frugal.

    Just spend 2 minutes actually reading and you'll see. The GOP has become the debt party and the instant gratification party, and this latest move of massive spending ceilings and unfunded tax cuts is just more of the same. The biggest shame is that Schumer's no better in this case, he's crowing right along with them about selling out our grandkids.

  77. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    you're one of those people that find it convincing when someone on youtube pours water on an orange and screams "SEE, IT FELL OFF!??" aren't you?

  78. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  79. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

    Democrats don't hold a candle to Republicans when it comes to increasing national debt. It's already been said, but it's worth noting that the last Republican to lower the deficit on average was Nixon, yet Clinton and Obama both managed it.

    Each one of those increased the debt

    https://www.thebalance.com/us-...

    Barack Obama: Added $7.917 trillion, a 68 percent increase from the $11.657 trillion debt at the end of George W. Bushâ(TM)s last budget, FY 2009.

    Bill Clinton: Added $1.396 trillion, a 32 percent increase from the $4.4 trillion debt at the end of George H.W. Bush's last budget, FY 1993.

    Richard Nixon: Added $121 billion, a 34 percent increase from the $354 billion debt at the end of LBJ's last budget, FY 1969.

    And if you don't trust that, you can check the figures here

    https://www.treasurydirect.gov...
    and
    https://www.treasurydirect.gov...

    E.g. Nixon you subtract 1974's debt from 1969's. I.e. $475B - $353B = $121B

    For Clinton you subtract 2001's debt from 1993's, i.e. $5.807T - $4.411T = 1.396T

    --
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  80. Re: Sediment use? Already Jesus was smarter than t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's no god, and Dirac is his prophet!

  81. Sea levels cannot rise or sink in one spot only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "even though sea levels in the country rose at twice the global average."

    Sea levels are the same on the entire planet. That is what liquids in communicating vessels do. Barring short term disruptions like tidal force, wind and current, averaged over a one month period, all sea levels worldwide must be equal.

    If sea levels in one particular spot "rise" faster than everywhere else, it means that this spot is *sinking* for whatever reason.

  82. Science Barbie says by eric_harris_76 · · Score: 1

    So, if carbon emissions are reduced or somehow mitigated, global warming will be reversed, and the land area of those island groups will get smaller?

    Science Barbie says: "Science is hard."

    --
    There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
  83. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by werepants · · Score: 1

    It's already been said, but it's worth noting that the last Republican to lower the deficit on average was Nixon, yet Clinton and Obama both managed it.

    Each one of those increased the debt

    https://www.thebalance.com/us-...

    If you actually read what I wrote, you'll notice that I made a claim regarding deficits, not debt. Debt tells you very little about a given president's influence - because frequently a president inherits a massive deficit, so it's more or less a given that the debt will increase under their tenure. What you should really look at is whether the deficit is increasing, which tells us whether the president is moving the trend towards a balanced budget, or turning towards higher levels of debt. Republican presidents for the last few decades have increased the deficit, increasing the rate at which the debt grows, while Democratic presidents have decreased the deficit, or even moved us into a surplus, in Clinton's case.

    If you care about the national debt, voting for a Republican president is, historically speaking, a terrible move. We can see that playing out in Washington right now. Anybody who thinks the GOP is fiscally conservative hasn't been paying attention for a very long time.

  84. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

    The debt is just the sum of all the deficits. And Clinton never run a surplus

    https://slashdot.org/comments....

    Clinton did not have a surplus of $230B in the year 2000 because he had to borrow $246.5 From numerous other off budget funds. Clinton NEVER ran a surplus during his 8 years in office, he just borrowed yearly from different budgets, (primarily the SS budget) to offset the general fund losses. In 2000 the following funds were borrowed which resulted in a $16.5 deficit.

    $152.3B from Social Security
    $30.9B from Civil Service Retirement Fund
    $18.5B from Federal Supplementary Medical insurance Trust Fund
    $15.0B from Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund
    $9.0B from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund
    $8.2B from Military Retirement Fund
    $3.8B from Transportation Trust Funds
    $1.8B from Employee Life Insurance & Retirement fund
    $7.0B from others

    Total borrowed from off budget funds $246.5B, meaning that his $230B surplus is actually a $16.5B deficit.
    ($246.5B borrowed - $230B claimed surplus = $16.5B actual deficit).

    The last time the federal government ran a true suplus was 1969, the total surplus was $3.2B and before that was $1960, $.3 B

    If you look here you can see the debt increased each year he was in office. Which means he ran a deficit

    E.g. from
    https://www.treasurydirect.gov...
    and
    https://www.treasurydirect.gov...

    you get

    09/30/2001 5,807,463,412,200.06
    09/30/2000 5,674,178,209,886.86
    09/30/1999 5,656,270,901,615.43
    09/30/1998 5,526,193,008,897.62
    09/30/1997 5,413,146,011,397.34
    09/30/1996 5,224,810,939,135.73
    09/29/1995 4,973,982,900,709.39
    09/30/1994 4,692,749,910,013.32
    09/30/1993 4,411,488,883,139.38
    09/30/1992 4,064,620,655,521.66
    09/30/1991 3,665,303,351,697.03

    Each year the debt increased because each year a deficit was run. Including 2000, Clinton's claimed 'surplus year'.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  85. Re: An interesting prospect, but also an edge cas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Skeptical Warmers Science you mean?
    John the KOOK Cook, author of the 97% of scientists study.....believe in CAGW... etc?
    Freaking whack job.

  86. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    Is it a declared war? Where the US Congress has formally declared war? That's easy. No wars under Obama.

    That's an extremely outdated definition of war anyway. None of our wars have been against a specific foreign government with a leadership structure capable of declaring war or ending a war in surrender.

    Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan.

    These are not different conflicts, all of these have been against the same opponent -- a people who do not recognize country borders, so they operate across many countries where the actual government is too weak to fight them.

  87. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by werepants · · Score: 1

    The debt is just the sum of all the deficits. And Clinton never run a surplus

            09/30/2001 5,807,463,412,200.06
            09/30/2000 5,674,178,209,886.86
            09/30/1999 5,656,270,901,615.43
            09/30/1998 5,526,193,008,897.62
            09/30/1997 5,413,146,011,397.34
            09/30/1996 5,224,810,939,135.73
            09/29/1995 4,973,982,900,709.39
            09/30/1994 4,692,749,910,013.32
            09/30/1993 4,411,488,883,139.38
            09/30/1992 4,064,620,655,521.66
            09/30/1991 3,665,303,351,697.03

    Each year the debt increased because each year a deficit was run. Including 2000, Clinton's claimed 'surplus year'.

    You're attacking a point that is at best tangential to my contention: that the GOP is the party of debt. Your own figures illustrate my point perfectly - look at the derivative of the debt figures you provide (just subtract one from the next, to find the deficit), and you'll see that the growth of the debt is shrinking, on average, throughout Clinton's administration. By your numbers, at the beginning, the deficit inherited from GHWB was adding ~$400B/yr to the national debt. At the end of Clinton's administration, the deficit was reduced to 1/4th of that. Look at the figures for Reagan, GWB, or now Trump, and you'll see the opposite trend - higher and higher deficits every year. Obama inherited a truly massive deficit, and once again lowered it dramatically over the course of his two terms.

    If you care about the national debt, you should never, ever vote a Republican into the Oval Office. Their stated goal ("starve the beast" philosophy) is to increase the debt to try to force the government to shrink. Like increasing your credit card debt to force yourself to be more frugal.

  88. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

    If you care about the national debt, you should never, ever vote a Republican into the Oval Office. Their stated goal ("starve the beast" philosophy) is to increase the debt to try to force the government to shrink. Like increasing your credit card debt to force yourself to be more frugal.

    You can see the debt increase by president here

    https://www.thebalance.com/us-...

    Obama D 68%
    Bush R 101%
    Clinton D 32%
    HW_Bush R 54%
    Reagan R 186%
    Carter D 43%
    Ford R 47%
    Nixon R 34%
    LBJ D 13%
    JFK D 8%
    Eisenhower R 9%
    Truman D 3%
    FDR D 1048%
    Hoover R 32%
    Coolidge R -26%
    Harding R -7%
    Wilson D 727%

    So that's 8 Democrats who added 1942% to the debt, or an average of 242.75% each. And 9 Republicans who added 430% to the debt or 47.78% each.

    The only real outlier is Reagan who spent a tonne of cash. Still that caused the USSR to collapse and the economy to rebound. And he did much less fiscal damage than FDR or Wilson, both of whom also had an existential crisis to deal with. If you're going to exclude them on the grounds the won WWII and WWI, why not exclude Reagan too on the grounds he was governing at the end of the Cold War.

    In which case you get this result. Six Democrat presidents increased the debt by a total of 167%, or 27.83% each. Eight Republican presidents increased the debt by a total of 244 or 30.5% each.

    I.e. the notion that Democrats run cause the debt to increase more slowly isn't really true. In fact, and surprisingly, there's not much difference. Especially since FDR who enormously increased the size of the peacetime government. Something which is very hard to undo, because Democrat's pet welfare recipients will riot if you do and the media will cheer them on.

    --
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  89. War, what's it good for? by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    An interesting article. Most I've seen don't go back that far.

    I think the take away is that modern politicians have looked back and figured out that if you want to spend a lot of money, having a war is a good way to justify it.

    Although I don't think it was George W Bush's legacy of military spending or tax cuts that screwed Obama. Sure it was a lot, but no more than (relatively speaking) a lot of other instances. What screwed Obama was either deregulation or a lack of policy to create needed regulation in the financial markets around derivative trading and mortgage lending. It was the mortgage crisis, bank failures, and consequently the bailouts that were the issue. By the time Obama got the reigns he pretty much didn't have much choice in the matter.

    Indeed, looking back at the "non-war" spending years, Reagan is one of the worst offenders. Though one might argue about "cold-war" being the same excuse for increase spending as the rest.

  90. Re: Can you believe these lying Republican punkass by werepants · · Score: 1

    If you care about the national debt, you should never, ever vote a Republican into the Oval Office. Their stated goal ("starve the beast" philosophy) is to increase the debt to try to force the government to shrink. Like increasing your credit card debt to force yourself to be more frugal.

    The only real outlier is Reagan who spent a tonne of cash.

    The Republicans DID actually have a claim to the "fiscal conservative" label prior to Reagan. Trickle-down economics, unfunded tax cuts, and the intentional deficits of "starve the beast" changed all that. So again, you aren't actually addressing my argument, which is about Reagan-era Republicans, and the Republicans of today in particular. In the OP, I made the claim that no Republican since Nixon has lowered deficits on average, so attempted rebuttals based on Democrats and Republicans from more than 50 years ago aren't pertinent. The critical question is who you ought to vote for, here and now, if you care about the national debt, and the GOP of today demonstrates a far greater propensity for fiscal irresponsibility. Look at your own figures for the last several decades:

    Obama D 68%
    Bush R 101%
    Clinton D 32%
    HW_Bush R 54%
    Reagan R 186%
    Carter D 43%

    Your own numbers show that each Democrat is adding far less to the debt than the Republican that preceded him, while every Republican that takes over from a Democrat sends the debt soaring again. Which supports my contention - that post-Reagan Republicans run up deficits, and the Democrats drive them back down like responsible adults. Step away from the familiar narrative and look at the numbers honestly.

  91. i can't understand why you don't know. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Go look it up. Try learning. Learn what average means and how average doesn't mean everywhere is the same.