[peachy]

The Sierra Club of BC recently released a report that if we continue the way that we are going, Victoria, British Columbia could be underwater in the near future.

"The 6-metre prediction is based on a series of articles on climate change in the March 2006 issue of the journal Science. The 25-metre scenario is based on information from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and involves the melting of all of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, terrestrial glaciers and part of the East Antarctic ice sheet, as well as the thermal expansion of sea water."

I know that there is already a thread about whether or not climate change is actually happening. Again, this is all speculation...however, it seems like there are signs such as this that we can no longer ignore.

[moustaki]

Originally Posted by peachy

The Sierra Club of BC recently released a report that if we continue the way that we are going, Victoria, British Columbia could be underwater in the near future.

"The 6-metre prediction is based on a series of articles on climate change in the March 2006 issue of the journal Science. The 25-metre scenario is based on information from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and involves the melting of all of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, terrestrial glaciers and part of the East Antarctic ice sheet, as well as the thermal expansion of sea water."

I know that there is already a thread about whether or not climate change is actually happening. Again, this is all speculation...however, it seems like there are signs such as this that we can no longer ignore.

I hope I'm am doing this 'quote' thingy correcty ;o)

It could very well happen. I have watched the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" and Al Gore was talking about that if the ice keeps melting at the rate it is now, parts of China, as well as the parts of the Netherlands, Florida and Manhattan could be under water within the next 50 years. (I hope I remember that correctly. I need to watch the DVD again but one of our boys is borrowing it right now.)

So, we really, really need to do something about this Global Warming. If we all come together as individuals and do our part, we CAN make it happen.

Ilka ;o)

[peachy]

Hey...how was the movie? I heard really great things about it. But I never get out to the video store. I don't think it's out on our movie channels yet.

And absolutely we need to do something now. Every little bit helps right?

[Joe Sixpack]

Hi Peachy,
The problem with global warming is not that the ice sheets will melt over the world--that seems to be the least of it! It's that the oceans, in warming, create more precipitation, which we may be experiencing at the present time. When this happens in Summer it's no big deal, however (and this is a big HOWEVER), when more precipitation occurs in a Winter, what happens is that the moisture falls as snow. If you get so much snow in a Winter that it doesn't all melt in the following Summer, you can be precipitated (no pun intended) into an Ice Age, which seems to be a natural cycle every 11,500 years. In other words, if you get a foot of snow a day for a month, you have 10 metres of snow--and the question is will it all melt the next Summer? Good question. Does this seem to say that we could be moved into an Ice Age in a mere one month's time? Seemingly.
The link that scares the heck out of me is Not by Fire but by Ice
When you go to this link and scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "It's Ocean Warming", you get to a page that illustrates this. Only, don't be gone too long, I need you here to wander aboutmyplanet.
Joe Sixpack

[peachy]

Interesting point Joe. Just wondering, is this a widely held theory? This is the first I've heard of it (thanks for the website). Or is it becoming the "battle" of which theory is more widely accepted?

[moustaki]

Hi Peachy,

The movie was great although a bit scary. I think everyone should go see it. From what I heard there's a motion going on around the US to have a 'home party' on the 16th of December to watch the movie with friends, family, neighbors and anyone else. My son is watching it right now.

Ilka ;o)

[moustaki]

Joe,

I read some of the articles at the "theiceagenow" and they are pretty scary as well. As far as the article on the "Big Chill" it almost seems like all this is a natural occurence that would happen anyway every 1Ok years or so, or did I read that wrong:

BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon - Big Chill

Ilka ;o)

[Raptor235]

are any of these videos on youtube or google video?

[Simon47]

I just thought to ask if many are making a distinction between natural global warming and human induced acceleration. If the planet is indeed warming in some natural process of climate change which is suggested in some circles then all we can do is adapt to it and lessen our contribution. Notwithstanding the fact that human activity is leaving a heavy toxic footprint which we need reduce or eliminate , warming or not.

1 in 5 children has some form of respiratory ailment compared to nearly zero when I was a kid. It doesn't end there and we can add high risk older patients to the striken. ew! planetary industrial dis-ease

I think it is important to make clear distinctions within global warming discussionss such as components of warming, contributing factors to climate change(natural and induced) and biospheric toxification(pollution and waste) which is an issue that needs to be addressed whether or not we end up deciding we can do nothing about the warming other than wait for it to cool down and not contribute to it.

Is the ocean our earthship sales, experiencing climate change and contributing to our perceived as lessening condition? We have thrived in a period of unprecedented global quiescence which may be ended or ending naturally.

Should we be building moon bases?

Gotta wonder.

re: The city

I began life in Canada on Weston road in TO when i was 4 and we moved northward over the decades and as we moved I observed the changing climates and shifts of the snowbelt northward. We lived atop Caledon mountain and one could see the haze rise and fill the bowl and we moved northward still to atop the Canadian Shield and the brown cloud rises and now, 6 hours to the north we get smog days more frequently in the last five years than ever before and the GTA is creating changes to weather patterns locally. Ontario is not making the grade. We may have cleaned up the smelting and paper mill towns to some degree but...let's talk sheer volume of toxic output from growing industrialization spurred by human ecoomic demand. Human life is exceeding the capacity of natural systems.

Sim

Is human sustainability an oxymoron?

[moustaki]

Simon,

You have a very valid point. Of course we really cannot do anything about the natural Global Warming other than just adapt to it, but we really should do something about the toxic pollution and the waste we are creating on top of that.

I grew up in Germany and Europe has always been much more in tune to recycling than the US. We also drive smaller cars over there which saves on emissions somewhat. Still the Black Forest is dying.

If we all do our part...as small as we think it might be....we can make a BIG difference.

Happy New Year!

Ilka ;o)