On 12/27/06, graywolf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Well, I do not feel all that sorry for you. If sea level was to rise a > half-meter half or Flordia would be gone, if it rose a meter there would > just be a few little islands where millions of people now live. And they > would only be a small percentage of the people effected through out the > world. A lot of Holland, I understand, is actually below sea level.
I feel a bit sorry for you, Graywolf. > On the other hand, here is some homework for you. How many gallons of > water would have to be added to the worlds oceans to raise sea level 1/2 > meter? Next question, how many gallons of water are in the worlds ice > caps. Now last question, if the worlds mean temperature went up 10 > degrees, how long would it take to entirely melt the ice caps. Do your own homework, Graywolf. Take some time to read up on how sea levels have progressed during the current glaciation cycle. You can start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise > One of the things that we forget is just how big a place the world is. > We think in terms of our town, our city. I have crisscrossed the US by > car, train, bus, and a lot of it on foot. Even with that experience it > is so big I have a hard time imagining it. The US is a only a small > portion of the land in the world. The oceans are 3 times as big as all > the land combined. Think of that. > > Oh yes, and quit watching disaster movies. Yeah, like Al Gore's initiative, poor soul. I haven't watched any disaster movies and it's a lame argument to tell people you don't know to quit something. :-( Now you come across as denying that there is anything going on with the climate at all. If that's your true opinion, then I've got news for you. The climate is changing, mate. And a bit faster than you may notice up in your solid old mountain range. If your real intent is only to downplay the human impact, that's fine. I don't really care. What I do care about is the consequences of the rate of change we are now observing. It will have conseqences for about a billion people worldwide, many of which will become refugees in other cultures if they can find a way to leave their drowned land. Your examples, the Netherlands and Florida (and the Mississippi delta, surely?) will be uncontroversial compared to issues in Oceania, the Mekong delta and Bangladesh. To keep focus on the controversy over man-made or not is very pleasant because it means you don't have to do anything as long as there is any straw to cling to claiming that all is well. Politically this may turn out to be a mistake of Chamberlainian proportions. Jostein -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
