Disaster looms with rising sea levels: islands

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The Funafuti Atoll, part of the South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, pictured in 2004. Rising sea levels that could wipe whole nations off the map and displace scores of millions of people are being overlooked in global climate change talks, island countries including Tuvalu said Tuesday.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)

MANADO, Indonesia (AFP) - Rising sea levels that could wipe whole nations off the map and displace scores of millions of people are being overlooked in global climate change talks, island countries said Tuesday.

Major emitters are pushing for greenhouse gas emissions cuts that are too low to prevent devastating sea rises, representatives said at the World Ocean Conference in Indonesia's Manado city.

"Dealing with environmental refugees will have a much more serious impact on the global economy and global security in fact than what wars have ever done to this planet," said Rolph Payet, a presidential adviser from the African island nation of the Seychelles.

Other nations under threat from even small rises in sea levels include the Pacific island states of Kiribati and Tuvalu, while heavily populated low-lying areas such as Bangladesh's coastline would also go under.

The five-day conference has attracted hundreds of officials and experts from 70 countries and is being billed as a prelude to December talks on a successor to the expiring Kyoto Protocol.

Payet said there had been "zero" serious discussions in top international forums on how to deal with massive flows of "climate refugees" from low-lying and drought-prone areas.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in 2007 that up to 150 million people could be displaced by the effects of climate change by 2050, which include sea level rises of as much as 59 centimetres (23 inches).

The Alliance of Small Island States is pushing for 85 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But Payet said the December talks in the Danish capital Copenhagen look set to produce an emissions cut target that would be too low to avert disaster.

The European Union has promised to reduce its emissions by 80 percent by mid-century and US President Barack Obama has proposed his country make an 83 percent cut.

But the details of any global agreement that would include major developing nation emitters such as China remain unknown.

http://green.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090512/w...eindonesia.html

[alienlovechild 75]

The Alliance of Small Island States is pushing for 85 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

I thought they were already with New Atlantis. All that water melted in the Artic Ocean and it will take thirty years for oceans' level to rise- right.

Even if correct they're doomed with little economic power and they'll have to move like some did during the nuke tests.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

It's too late, we're doomed. I'm going to continue my extravagent, wasteful, environment damaging ways. Why should I worry about future generations, it's all about me, here and now.

[alienlovechild 75]

It's too late, we're doomed. I'm going to continue my extravagent, wasteful, environment damaging ways. Why should I worry about future generations, it's all about me, here and now.

That's the real view by the public after more than 17 years of global warming. It's ranked 20th oout of 20 issues on some recent poll. Expect another 17 years of more increasingly hyper warnings.

[scandal 951]

It's too late, we're doomed. I'm going to continue my extravagent, wasteful, environment damaging ways. Why should I worry about future generations, it's all about me, here and now.

That's the real view by the public after more than 17 years of global warming. It's ranked 20th oout of 20 issues on some recent poll. Expect another 17 years of more increasingly hyper warnings.

So which happens first? Do Social Security and Medicare go tits-up? Or does the Jersey shore wind up underwater?

Race to the finish line!

[spookyturtle 9,466]

It's too late, we're doomed. I'm going to continue my extravagent, wasteful, environment damaging ways. Why should I worry about future generations, it's all about me, here and now.

That's the real view by the public after more than 17 years of global warming. It's ranked 20th oout of 20 issues on some recent poll. Expect another 17 years of more increasingly hyper warnings.

Perhaps when Kansas has oceanfront property people will be more concerned?

[GaryC 7]

We have been hearing all the dire predictions for almost 20 years now. Please tell me, how much has the oceans risen so far?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

We have been hearing all the dire predictions for almost 20 years now. Please tell me, how much has the oceans risen so far?

But what happens when the point of no return is reached?

[scandal 951]

We have been hearing all the dire predictions for almost 20 years now. Please tell me, how much has the oceans risen so far?

Approximately 1.7mm annually during the 20th century, at an accelerating rate.

http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/author_archive/...2006_024826.pdf

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33, L01602, doi:10.1029/2005GL024826, 2006

Multi-century sea-level records and climate models

indicate an acceleration of sea-level rise, but no 20th

century acceleration has previously been detected. A

reconstruction of global sea level using tide-gauge data

from 1950 to 2000 indicates a larger rate of rise after 1993

and other periods of rapid sea-level rise but no significant

acceleration over this period. Here, we extend the

reconstruction of global mean sea level back to 1870 and

find a sea-level rise from January 1870 to December 2004

of 195 mm, a 20th century rate of sea-level rise of 1.7 ±

0.3 mm yr1 and a significant acceleration of sea-level rise

of 0.013 ± 0.006 mm yr2. This acceleration is an important

confirmation of climate change simulations which show an

acceleration not previously observed. If this acceleration

remained constant then the 1990 to 2100 rise would range

from 280 to 340 mm, consistent with projections in the

IPCC TAR. Citation: Church, J. A., and N. J. White (2006), A

20th century acceleration in global sea-level rise, Geophys. Res.

Lett., 33, L01602, doi:10.1029/2005GL024826.

Edited May 13, 2009 by uscandual

[alienlovechild 75]

If this acceleration remained constant then the 1990 to 2100 rise would range

from 280 to 340 mm, consistent with projections in the

IPCC TAR.

Up to 15 inches by the 22nd century? Which countries have a maximum elevation that low?

[GaryC 7]

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!!

[scandal 951]

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!!

No, no, you've got it backwards. The sea is rising!! The sea is rising!!

You asked a reasonable question. I provided a factual answer. You mock the answer. I mock you back by changing the subject

(actually I was just looking for an excuse to post this somewhere... )

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE54A5WL20090511

Toilet snake attack: urban legend comes true?

Mon May 11, 2009 4:56pm EDT

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taiwanese man became a sitting target for a snake, which bit his ####### as sat on the toilet at his rural home, local media reported on Monday.

"As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up," the China Times said. "When he looked down, he saw the big snake."

The 51-year-old man, from Nantou County, was under medical care with minor injuries, a director at Puli Christian Hospital said.

"As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go," the director, who declined to be named, said. "A snake's mouth isn't always clean."

Local television images showed the black and yellow reptile, reportedly a species of rat snake, being uncoiled and plucked slowly from the toilet bowl.

Snakes regularly enter rural homes in Taiwan and other sub-tropical regions of Asia.

[scandal 951]

If this acceleration remained constant then the 1990 to 2100 rise would range

from 280 to 340 mm, consistent with projections in the

IPCC TAR.

Up to 15 inches by the 22nd century? Which countries have a maximum elevation that low?

You should be thinking here about low lying coastal areas such as Bangladesh, the Netherlands (actually much of Holland is below sea level and the dykes keep it dry .. friggin' dykes are everywhere ) as well as coral atoll islands such as the Maldives. Much of that land would be inundated with even this amount of sea rise. Hence the title of this thread....

[GaryC 7]

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!!

No, no, you've got it backwards. The sea is rising!! The sea is rising!!

You asked a reasonable question. I provided a factual answer. You mock the answer. I mock you back by changing the subject

No, I do apreciate your answer. 15 inches in the next 100 years. My God we are all doomed!!!! How can man ever adapt to such drastic changes!!!!

[alienlovechild 75]

You should be thinking here about low lying coastal areas such as Bangladesh, the Netherlands (actually much of Holland is below sea level and the dykes keep it dry .. friggin' dykes are everywhere ) as well as coral atoll islands such as the Maldives. Much of that land would be inundated with even this amount of sea rise. Hence the title of this thread....

Good examples. Maldives has a small population and Bangladesh is a natural disaster zone with flooding rivers and storm surges long before global warming. The Netherlands used dykes for centuries and was flooded at the end of WWII. The difference is the Netherlands has the money and it's a relatively small nation. Best guess is valuable areas will get levees and the less valuable areas left to the sea.