Climate guru James Hansen warns of much worse than expected sea level rise
Source: Guardian.UK
The current rate of global warming could raise sea levels by several meters over the coming century, rendering most of the worlds coastal cities uninhabitable and helping unleash devastating storms, according to a paper published by James Hansen, the former Nasa scientist who is considered the father of modern climate change awareness.
The research, published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, references past climatic conditions, recent observations and future models to warn the melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will contribute to a far worse sea level increase than previously thought.
Without a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the global sea level is likely to increase several meters over a timescale of 50 to 150 years, the paper states, warning that the Earths oceans were six to nine meters higher during the Eemian period an interglacial phase about 120,000 years ago that was less than 1C warmer than it is today.
Global warming of 2C above pre-industrial times the world is already halfway to this mark would be dangerous and risk submerging cities, the paper said. A separate study, released in February, warned that New York, London, Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai will be among the cities at risk from flooding by 2100.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/22/sea-level-rise-james-hansen-climate-change-scientist
WheelWalker
(8,955 posts)Moostache
(9,895 posts)Weren't the reports for February showing +2 global and as high as +16 in areas of the Arctic?
The truth is that all long-term projections have been suppressed to the lowest, most conservative estimate to avoid being sued and attacked by big Oil interests more than the climate science community already is.
The world as we know it is changing massively before our very eyes, but the fiddling goes on unabated...
History will not be kind to us when (or IF) this story is told in generations ahead. We are failing the future in a systemic manner right now.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)I figure once the West Antarctic Ice Sheet starts to go, it will be 10-30 meters, call it 15.
And we do like to live on the flats.
Hiraeth
(4,805 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)if Hillary is the nominee.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
dbackjon
(6,578 posts)While Clinton is not the perfect environmental candidate, she is miles better than anything the GOP trots out.
Bill Clinton had a decent environmental record, no reason to believe that Hillary won't as well.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)At least by voting for Stein, they believe they're voting their conscience and can say in the future that they tried.
dbackjon
(6,578 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)She needs to persuade them
The ball's firmly in her court. These millennials see climate change as their #1 issue. Trump and Hillary are both equally as useless for their future in their opinion.
If you're 25 right now, they wonder how they explain a Hillary vote 10 years from now. In their mind, they can rationalize a Stein (or Sanders) vote here at the 11th hour. Hillarys a sure path to certain environmental disaster in their mind.
"The GOP will gain more power " means little when you're water is.poisoned by fracking.
farleftlib
(2,125 posts)Climate change is going to be more deadly than most people realize. And not too far off timewise.
DemocracyDirect
(708 posts)They are trying to grab all the wealth while they can.
Davos Switzerland anyone?
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)But, pity the millennials, their children and their children's children.
Can civilization survive such an upheaval?
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)SCOTUS picks will be irrelevant by then and HRC will go down as the most maligned president in history for her utterly pathetic response to the coming catastrophe and her purposeful decision to not take bold action immediately.
Even Obama will face severe repercussions to his legacy for his weak efforts.
It's the most pressing problem the planet faces right now, bar none.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)rush to armageddon, dragging the recalcitrant US public and obstructionist Congress in his wake.
Riiiiiiiight. I see it all in my mind's eye.
SANDERS IS OUR ONLY HOPE FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE SPECIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)but hey, since you're saying you won't be around in 10 years when the shit really starts hitting the fan, you've made it clear you don't give a fuck about the rest of us.
It really is a cult of personality with Hillary supporters I guess. It's gotta be her and fuck the planet. Your post is just the most obvious I've seen about it so thanks for that.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Maybe even more. Who can say?
So, I expect I'll be around to suffer along with everybody else, if your 10-year forecast is correct.
So it goes...
Not apathetic, just a realist. This looming extinction event is bigger than one 74-year-old guy, no matter how noble his intentions.
Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)extinction event within the next 10 years, I, along with millions of others, can only look on and pray for the survival of some form of civilization. (While doing what I can individually to reduce my carbon footprint.)
If what riderinthestorm says is accurate, it is FAR beyond the powers of one well-intentioned guy, even with above-average powers of oratory and organization, to alter radically the trajectory of climate change already set in motion.
Sorry to disillusion.
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)StevieM
(10,500 posts)He tried to get cap and trade through a Democratic Congress with a large majority, but it was filibustered.
He signed an executive order regulating carbon emissions.
And he made serious investments, especially though the stimulus, that helped to dramatically advance our renewable energy industry.
I agree that global warming is the most pressing problem the planet faces, bar none. But I don't see what Obama and Clinton are refusing to do that they have the ability to get done.
At the end of the day the problem is that the American people don't understand the problem. And so they have elected people who don't vote the right way in congress. That has put an enormous limit on our abilities to solve the problem. And, of course, it was even worse under George Bush.
What do you think a president like Bernie Sanders--or Elizabeth Warren for that matter--would get done that Obama didn't or Clinton won't?
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)at age 72, it's unlikely I'll get to see these dire predictions come true - BUT..... as fast as things are deteriorating already, I might be in for an unpleasant surprise.
Yeah, history (assuming someone's still here to write about it) will have to reflect badly on the greed of the corporate entities that either produce energy or use it. Then there's those who would go to bat to protect those cretins - those who wallow in corporate cash to maintain the corrosive status quo so that they might KEEP ON bringing fossil fuels out of the ground.
Bohunk68
(1,364 posts)since mom is 90 and still going strong. I agree with you that things are moving a LOT faster than we initially thought. We are seeing the changes already. I have been keeping weather records since '80 and I am seeing dramatic change already. We are warmer than we were and the precip is off for the last 4+ years, in my area of the world. I suspect that if we make it to at least 80, we will surely see even more dramatic change.
All in it together
(275 posts)Also, drought in California. It's happening people.
DhhD
(4,695 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)The Human race will have to endure or die at this point.
mindwalker_i
(4,407 posts)I have to admit that I have an agenda with regards to global warming. What I hope will happen is that the effects will become undeniable so we can end this stupid excuse for a debate about whether it's happening. Hopefully it won't immediately be civilization-crushing, but will force us to develop new technologies and get them implemented around conservatives whining that it isn't just like the old technology. Hopefully it will get us to push manufacturing into space so it doesn't screw up the planet, and additionally will move civilization outward.
Drowning America's penis is the first step
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)That's why I prefer Bernie. He recognizes the importance of social cooperation for survival.
The conservatives talk about competition and survival of the fittest, but what they don't understand is that HUMANS compete against the forces of nature and other creatures and the physical reality like climate and weather by protecting each other and especially the young in social groups.
It's the social group that insures the survival of each of us. We are not beings that can live alone in caves, reject our young once they are weaned, and survive as a species. That is not going to happen. The Donald Trumps of the world need to admit this. We are social animals. We rely on our society in order to survive.
And that is why we need to build a society that sustains each of us, that encourages us to cooperate and compromise -- a society in which we share to the extent needed to insure the survival of each of us. Winning is not an option if once you have won, you cannot survive on your own without a society that is healthy. And that is how it is for human beings. If my neighbor gets a contagious disease, it is important for my health and your health that the neighbor can afford health care. We don't want an untreated contagious disease to infect us. Nor do we want CO2 in the air to cause our oceans to rise and drown us. We have to think about creating a society that helps us all live well and survive.
Getting all the marbles or even more than everybody else is not how you survive as a human being.
Bernie understands this. We are in this together. And the sooner we start working together to insure that our climate is livable, the better off we will all be.
mindwalker_i
(4,407 posts)WE all live together in a big world, and what each of us does can affect everyone else to varying degrees. We also tend to grow when things suck. So if global warming/climate change makes things difficult, it just might cause a lot of rethinking and a lot of growth.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)I think that global warming is going to cause a lot more devastation than people realize.
mindwalker_i
(4,407 posts)It WILL suck. I'm just trying to see the bright side.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)the death that can be avoided.
It makes utterly no sense for Hillary Clinton to promote fracking around the world when she could be promoting alternative energy that is even less damaging to our environment than natural gas. It's beyond belief that she accepts the idea of fracking when our potable water supply is endangered. The stupidity is just amazing to me.
I like to be positive, but it is hard to be positive about the future of the environment. I grew up long ago. When I think about the environment as it was in the late 1940s and 1950s, the damage we have done to the environment is much worse than young people realize.
mindwalker_i
(4,407 posts)The one good thing about pollution in China is it's forcing them to develop alternate forms of energy. It's not good, actually, since a lot of people are dying, but it is an opportunity. Global warming is the same way. It's bad, but hopefully it will force us to "get better." Also, is the planet capable of carrying this many people long term? I don't see it slowing down enough to avoid serious problems at some point, so it's critical to expand off-planet.
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)CrispyQ
(36,464 posts)The largest calving even ever recorded, from Chasing Ice. At about 1:57 a whale jumps out of the water. REally worth watching the entire vid. The actual event took 75 minutes.
certainot
(9,090 posts)BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)Delphinus
(11,830 posts)should have awakened the masses ...
certainot
(9,090 posts)how ridiculous is that?
ALABAMA 8 Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1
ARIZONA 2 Arizona St. 1, Arizona 1
ARKANSAS 3 Arkansas 3
CALIFORNIA 5 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1
COLORADO 4 Air Force 2, Colorado 1, Colorado State 1
CONNECTICUT 1 Connecticut 1
FLORIDA 20 Florida 10, Florida St. 4 Miami 2, South Florida 2, Central Florida 2
GEORGIA 14 Georgia 7, Georgia Tech 5, Georgia Southern 2
IDAHO 7 Boise St. 4, Idaho 3
ILLINOIS 7 Illinois 7
INDIANA 11 Notre Dame 6, Purdue 4, Indiana 1
IOWA 5 Iowa 4, Iowa St. 1
KANSAS 4 Kansas St. 2, Kansas 1, Wichita St. 1
KENTUCKY 3 Louisville 2, Kentucky 1
LOUSIANA 3 LSU 2, La.-Monroe 1
MARYLAND 2 Maryland 2
MASSACHUSETTS 1 Boston College 1
MICHIGAN 19 Michigan St. 11, Michigan 7, Western Michigan 1
MINNESOTA 4 Minnesota 4
MISSISSIPPI 6 Mississippi St. 3, Mississippi 2, Southern Miss 1
MISSOURI 6 Missouri 6
NEBRASKA 6 Nebraska 6
NEVADA 1 Nevada 1
NEW JERSEY 2 Rutgers 1, Seton Hall 1
NEW MEXICO 3 New Mexico 2, New Mexico St. 1
NEW YORK 7 Syracuse 6, Army 1
NORTH CAROLINA 16 North Carolina 8, North Carolina State 3, Duke 3, East Carolina 2
OHIO 10 Ohio St. 6, Toledo 1, Dayton 1, Bowling Green 1, Xavier 1
OKLAHOMA 5 Oklahoma St. 3, Oklahoma 1, Oral Roberts 1
OREGON 12 Oregon St. 7, Oregon 5
PENNSYLVANIA 14 Penn St. 11, Pittsburgh 2, Temple 1
SOUTH CAROLINA 4 South Carolina 2, Clemson 2
TENNESSEE 7 Tennessee 4, Memphis 3
TEXAS 16 Texas A&M 9, Texas Tech 4, Texas 1, Texas Christian 1, Baylor 1
UTAH 1 Utah St. 1
VIRGINIA 6 Virginia Tech 5, Virginia 1
WASHINGTON 6 Washington 5, Washington St. 1
WEST VIRGINIA 2 West Virginia 1, Marshall 1
WISCONSIN 4 Wisconsin 4
appalachiablue
(41,131 posts)departments and schools at many US colleges, universities and high schools.
That LIST should be an OP. Too many internet users dismiss the reach and damage of RW media. And that is foolish.
certainot
(9,090 posts)appalachiablue
(41,131 posts)They_Live
(3,233 posts)are right next to large bodies of water.
Uncle Joe
(58,361 posts)Thanks for the thread, bemildred.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Rebkeh
(2,450 posts)FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)Use the proceeds to buy a boat.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)I'm at 1300 feet, so not too worried about the ocean, but lot's of refugees I expect to see.
SoLeftIAmRight
(4,883 posts)but we must finish the wars first