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brokensymmetry Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-28-04 06:53 PM
Original message
Global Warming Overview
I received this from an internet mailing list I subscribe to. I've run a cursory check on some of the facts in the article (i.e., the Ross ice shelf, the Fortune magazine article, the Pentagon study, and Sir David King's report) and they appear to be valid. I've not seen anything put together quite as well as this.

Comments and discussion?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Dry /Ice: Global Warming Revealed

by Drunvalo Melchizedek


What you are about to read is going to change your world forever, of this I
can promise you. I actually apologize that I have to be the one that brings
this unsettling news, but you must know if you wish to survive for what is
coming will either be DRY and heat or ICE and freezing.
Global warming has been in the news for over 40 years, and by this time we
have become complacent. Our scientists have come to the agreement that
global warming will eventually cause major changes and problems in the
world, but in their way of thinking it will be 50 to 100 years before we
will actually have to deal with the effects.

The general idea is that global warming will be slow and the world will find
time to discover the solutions to the problems.

New powerful evidence strongly suggests that this scenario is simply wrong,
and we had better prepare for another more abrupt possibility.

DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

One of the first hints that something may be different than what we are
being told (especially here in the US) was published in Discover magazine in
September 2002 with the cover announcing "Global Warming Surprise, A New Ice
Age", "Oceanographers have discovered a huge river of freshwater in the
Atlantic formed by melting polar ice. They warn it could soon bury the Gulf
Stream, plunging North American and Europe into frigid winters."
That was almost two years ago, and no one listened. Life goes on oblivious
to the incredible danger approaching.

ENGLAND & SIR DAVID KING

Then in January 2004 enter Sir David King. Sir King is the Prime Minister of
England's chief scientist. Sir King went to Mr. Blair and told him of the
impending worldwide disaster and that they needed to tell the world of what
was about to happen.

Tony Blair told Sir David King to be quiet and not speak. But Sir King felt
that this was simply too important for him to say nothing, so in January of
this year he deliberately went around Mr. Blair and went straight to the
American journal Science where he published his information and concern.

Sir King said in this article, "In my view, climate change is the most
severe problem we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of
terrorism."

England placed a gag order on Sir David King, and now he is not even allowed
to discuss this subject publicly without threat of detention.

AMERICA & THE PENTAGON

A month later in February 2004, the Pentagon became involved, which has
stirred the world to action.

The Pentagon has been studying Global Warming for many years because of its
possible national security problems associated with the kind of changes that
could present themselves to the world through Global Warming.

A special study was conducted through one of the Pentagon's departments, the
Office of Net Assessment, which is directed by Andrew W. Marshall, 83, who
has the responsibility of identifying long-term threats to the United
States.

Mr. Marshall went to a US based think-tank called Global Business Network to
compile the possibilities of Global Warming on US national security. A study
was completed in October of 2003 and released to the Pentagon, which was
looking at this problem from the point of view of what is the worst that
could happen. It was named "An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its
Implications for United States National Security." The summary went far
beyond what most Pentagon experts had expected.

Realizing the incredible possibilities of this study, Mr. Marshall made a
decision to publicly report this and other information to the American
people. And probably because of President Bush's stance on Global Warming,
which is beyond negative, he also decided to go around the president, and he
published his information and concern in Fortune magazine on February 9th
2004.

In his article in Fortune, Mr. Marshall explains how the melting North and
South poles and glaciers from around the world are composed of fresh water
and within this fact is the basis of the impending global weather disaster.

The Gulf Stream or scientifically referred to as North Atlantic thermohaline
conveyor is a stream of warm water that comes from south of the equator and
flows over the surface of the ocean toward the north where this warm water
keeps Northern America and Northern and Western Europe from freezing. It
also holds most of the world's weather patterns in the way we are used to.

Then as this Gulf Stream cools down, it drops to the bottom of the ocean and
returns as a river in the ocean to the south where it warms up again and
rises to the surface and then returns to the north one more time in a
continuous convection current. It is a huge three dimensional figure eight.

The motor that keep this warm water flowing is found in the north where the
Gulf Stream drops to the bottom of the ocean. It is the salt density of the
ocean that causes this river to drop and pulls the warm water up from the
south.

Now that the poles are melting and fresh water is flowing into the Atlantic
Ocean and the salt density is decreasing, the Gulf Stream does not drop
quiet as far, which results in a slowing down of this Stream. The Gulf
Stream has been dramatically slowing down now for at least ten years.

As the Gulf Stream slows down, the warmth is not brought to the North
Atlantic region, and the weather patterns begin to change for they are
dependent on this warmth to keep a balance.

THE MELTING POLES

The Bush Administration

During the Bush administration when discussions have been held on the
melting of the North & South Poles, this government and US corporate
entities alike have stated that the world's scientists are all wrong on
their conclusions that say there is great danger, and have led the American
public to believe there is no real problem at all.

However, George W. Bush was the focus of attack by Sir David King when he
wrote his article in Science, for the world's greatest scientific minds, at
least one thousand seven hundred of them with the Union of Concerned
Scientists say that Mr. Bush is ill informed at the least.

Since the US government is 25% of the CO2 pollution in the world that is
creating Global Warming, a discussion of Mr. Bush's Global Warming policies
is paramount. Perhaps one of the best articles that summaries Mr. Bush's
position will be found in the ROLLING STONES magazine article of May 19,
2004 by Tim Dickinson. What follows in italics is a portion of this article.

Given the imminent threat from global warming, even the Bush
administration might be expected to launch a War on Heat. After all, as a
candidate in 2000, George W. Bush vowed to "establish mandatory reduction
targets" for carbon-dioxide emissions, saying he would make the issue a top
priority.
Once Bush became president, however, reducing carbon emissions was the
first promise he broke -- and his record has been all downhill from there.
Only two months after taking office, the administration withdrew from the
Kyoto Protocol, the global treaty that the United States signed in 1997 to
set strict limits on greenhouse emissions. Instead, Bush instituted a
voluntary emissions plan that has been an abject failure: So far, only
fourteen companies have pledged to curb their CO2 output.

The president also folded the interagency group that monitors climate
change into the Commerce Department -- led by Secretary Don Evans, a former
oil and gas executive. And he called for additional climate research that
would delay any meaningful regulation for at least another decade. "We do
not know how much our climate could or will change in the future," Bush
declared in a speech in the Rose Garden. Such statements spurred an open
letter signed by twenty Nobel laureates, who blasted the administration for
having "consistently sought to undermine" public understanding of man's role
in global warming. (Bush's science adviser refused to be interviewed for
this article.)

Then the censorship began. In September 2002, the Environmental Protection
Agency released an air-quality report that - for the first time since 1996 -
included no mention of global warming. Seven months later, the White House
made wholesale revisions to the climate-change chapter of the EPA's "Report
on the Environment," playing down human influence, deleting references to
the health impacts of global warming and inserting climate data funded in
part by the American Petroleum Institute. The EPA withdrew the altered
chapter, acknowledging in an internal memo that it "no longer accurately
represents scientific consensus on climate change."

Even some Republicans have been astounded at Bush's meddling in EPA
affairs. "What seems constantly evident with George W. Bush is that EPA is
expected to take its marching orders from the White House on regulatory
matters," says Russell Train, who headed the agency under Richard Nixon and
Gerald Ford. "During my time, I never had that happen. Never." Train, a
recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom from the elder Bush, calls the
administration's approach to global warming "totally wrong" and
"irresponsible."

Bush can rely on key Republicans in Congress to block any efforts to curb
pollution and stave off disaster. Sen. James Inhofe, chairman of the
Environment and Public Works Committee, dismisses global warming as a
"hoax." In a speech last July, Inhofe compared the IPCC to the Soviets and
extolled the virtues of what he called a "CO2-enhanced" world. "It is my
fervent hope," he concluded, "that Congress will reject the prophets of doom
who peddle propaganda masquerading as science in the name of saving the
planet from catastrophic disaster."

>From another point of view in the same article we hear: "They (the Bush
Administration) do not have a credible plan, either domestically or
internationally, for addressing the problem (Global Warming), says Michael
Oppenheimer, a climatologist at Princeton University. They (the Bush
Administration) argue that they don't want to address global warming, he
says, 'because the science is shaky'. And that approach is indefensible,
because the science isn't shaky."

The North Pole Melting

Let's look at the facts. Two summers ago the North Pole completely melted
for the first time in history that we know of. Both private and military
ships floated directly over the actual North Pole as it was completely
water. This area has never been seen to be less then ten feet of solid ice.

Greenpeace a few years ago announced that the North Pole's winter to summer
snow pack had receded by around three hundred miles, but no one listened.

And today, as I am writing this article, we are witnessing the Alaska fire
that has consumed over one million acres of forest. This fire is burning in
an area that is always wet with rain or snow until now. And this fire, as
you will understand in this article is directly related to the melting of
the poles and the Gulf Stream.

But finally the Pentagon, thanks to Andrew Marshall, has told the truth in
the Fortune magazine on February 9th. The Pentagon shows a satellite photo
of the North Pole in 1970 and then in 2003, which reveals that, according to
the Pentagon, 40% of the North Pole has melted in just 33 years. And it is
melting faster and faster now. The Pentagon has now proven that all these
government statements that the poles are not melting were simply a lie. And
it is a lie more damaging than anything that Bush's Iraq war could possibly
throw at the United States.

The South Pole Melting

In the South Pole a couple of years ago Larsen A ledge broke off, which
surprised many scientists. At that time we were told by the scientific
personnel that were studying this event that it was no big deal since this
ice ledge had only been connected to the South Pole for about the last ten
thousand years.

And these same scientists also added that Larsen B ledge that was behind
Larsen A ledge would never melt as it has been there for many ice ages. Yet
last year, Larsen's B ledge broke off and went to sea. These same scientists
said that it would take six months to melt because of its immense size, but
again they were wrong. It melted in a mere 35 days, and more significant, it
rose the entire world's oceans by almost an inch.

Now with Larsen's B ledge gone, an incredibly enormous ice shelf called
Ross's Shelf is exposed and the only thing holding Ross's Shelf from sliding
into the ocean was Larsen's B ledge. According to my sources, Ross's Shelf
is now cracking.

If Ross's Shelf were to slide into the ocean, it has been estimated that it
would raise the entire world's oceans by sixteen to twenty feet. And that,
my friends, would change the world, as almost every coastal city in the
world and many islands along with the county of Holland would be underwater.
Perhaps it will take an event like this to wake up the world to become
serious about Global Warming.

THE ANCIENT PAST

1300 AD

The Pentagon in their study of what is now happening in the North Atlantic
ocean, has looked into the past to see when this slowing down or stoppage of
the Gulf Stream has happened before and what actually took place at those
time in the world's weather patterns.

In actual fact, this North Atlantic ocean slowing or stoppage has happen
hundreds of times before in the past going back hundred of millions years,
but in our recent past of the last 10,000 years, it has only happened twice.

The most recent time was in the year 1300 AD, and at that time it simply
slowed down. It never actually stopped. And why it slowed down, scientists
are at the moment theorizing. They don't really know why.

It resulted in abrupt global climatic weather changes that never returned to
normal for 550 years. This period of time in our history has been named the
"Little Ice Age" because of the havoc it caused to our weather and the
dramatic cooling that resulted.

What the Pentagon has realized is that at that time of the "Little Ice Age",
the East Coast of America became extremely cold, while the middle and
Western areas of the United States became so dry that the Midwest became a
dust bowl and the mountain forests burned to the ground, just as they are
doing right now today, for you see, this slowing down of the Gulf Stream has
been going on today for about ten years. It also affected Europe
dramatically as their weather changed completely during the "Little Ice
Age".

A study of the Anasazi Indians of the 14th century is enlightening. In Chaco
Canyon in New Mexico the Anasazi completely disappeared, and where they went
no one is sure. But one of the reasons that has emerged from the study of
the New Mexico environment for their leaving the area is that soon after the
turn of the 14th century, Chaco Canyon went into a drought where they didn't
receive a drop of rain for 47 years! 47 years of drought will definitely
cause anyone to move. No water, no life.

The archeologists who presented this study didn't know why the drought
happened, but it is clear why it happened with the information of the Gulf
Stream slowing down just before this period. And this is exactly what the
Pentagon believes is about to happen here in America, Canada and Europe as
we speak.

We may think that this current drought in the US West is going to stop soon,
but the earth's history with the Gulf Stream suggests strongly that it will
continue for about another 40 years before it begin to regain balance.

8200 Years Ago

However, the Pentagon report believes that the Gulf Stream, from everything
they know, is not just going to slow down, but rather it is going to stop.
And the last time this happened was 8200 years ago.

And according to the Pentagon, from their research, this is a much more
dramatic scenario. When the Gulf Stream stopped 8200 years ago, it soon left
Northern Europe under a half mile of ice, and New York and England quickly
endured weather similar to Siberia.

Further it resulted in a true "Ice Age" that lasted about 100 years, and so
you can see why the Pentagon is so worried. According to Andrew Marshall,
like Sir David King, he says that this Gulf Stream problem is a greater
threat to US national security (and other countries') than all of the
world's combined terrorism. Really, when you think about it, terrorism is
nothing compared to the stopping of the Gulf Stream. It's not even close.

Realize that without stable weather conditions, the growing of food becomes
almost impossible, and according to the Pentagon, this could become such a
huge problem for the world in the near future, that wars will begin to form
all over the world, not for oil or energy, but for food and water.

And with whole countries having to evacuate, if this were to happen, such as
Finland, Sweden and Denmark, which will be under ice, and many other
countries for other reasons, this enormous immigration is what will cause
the most threat to national security, again according to the Pentagon
report.

This is why Andrew Marshall and Sir David King wanted the world to know
about what was coming so that the world could begin to prepare for the
inevitable.

THE US SENATE

Then in March 2004 the US Senate became aware of what the Pentagon was
saying and they appropriated 60 million dollars to the study of ABRUPT
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGES. This offers hope that soon the US Senate will begin
to tell the world of these coming climate changes.

THE UNITED NATIONS

In June 2004, ending on June 29th, a meeting was held at the United Nations
to consider what to do about Global Warming and the Gulf Stream. 154
countries participated with the result that the only thing they could figure
out what to do was to eliminate the use of oil and gasoline as soon as
possible.

There are those who believe that if we continue to lower the CO2 levels,
that possibly we can slow down the problems, and, of course, we must do
everything we can. This is important for there are ocean currents other that
the North Atlantic that are in every ocean, and if they all were to stop or
slow down, Earth would all most certainly enter a true ice age. And history
has shown that if that were to happen, our civilization would not return to
a warm period again for 90,000 years.

But really, to change or increase the current of the entire Atlantic ocean
to bring it back to "normal" is beyond the possibilities of the human race
and all of it's technologies. It is too late, by the estimate of most of the
world's scientists, to alter the course of what is about to happen. All we
can do now is prepare for the shock. And preparation is essential, which is
the main message of both Sir David King and Andrew Marshall.

NASA PREPARES

On July 13th, 2004, NASA launched a satellite, the first of three, that's
whole purpose is to study Global Warming. Besides the study of the ozone,
another huge problem associated with Global Warming, these satellites will
monitor the temperature and salt density of the oceans. Perhaps we will at
least be able to monitor the rapid changes and predict what will happen
next.

SOME UNUSUAL WEATHER CHANGES THAT HAVE HAPPENED SINCE THE GULF STREAM SLOWED
DOWN

In March 2004 the world saw a major hurricane hit the coast of Brazil. This
is the first time in all recorded history that a hurricane has struck land
in South America.

In May 2004, the United States witnessed 562 tornadoes in a single month,
breaking all records. A few of these tornadoes were recorded in Seattle,
Washington. Never has a tornado been seen in Seattle.

Eastern Canada in the winter of 2003/2004 just had one of the coldest
winters on record.

For several years forest fires have been burning around the world. The list
would be extensive. The north part of Australia is on fire. Alaska, as we
have already mentioned, is burning. Unprecedented!
The entire Western United States is under fire, jumping from region to
region, with the US government announcing that this is the worse drought in
500 years. Really, the fires are worldwide.

France and Europe had a heat wave in 2003 that caused 15,000 people to die
in France and 30,000 through-out Europe simply from the intense heat caused
by Global Warming and the Gulf Stream.

Argentina this month July 2004, had the greatest storm they have ever seen
in their history.

Mexico's weather is so strange and wet in some regions that mold/fungus is
forming on their crops. (And in other regions they are having a drought) As
weather patterns begin to change more and more radically, food growth will
become one of our biggest problems.

The coral reefs of the world are dying because of Global Warming, and this
is threatening most of the islands in the oceans, including those in the
Pacific. Anyone living on most islands will probably have to leave sooner or
later because of their fresh water being corrupted with salt ocean water.
Definitely they will have to leave if the oceans rise much higher.

Further, it was reported on NPR this morning, July 16, 2004, that fifty
percent of the CO2 that has been released in the atmosphere from our
technological society has ended up in our oceans and this in turn is
dropping the PH to the acidic. This in turn is actually dissolving the coral
reefs and killing them along with vast numbers of other life forms in the
oceans.

These are problems simply off the top of my head. If one were to get serious
and really research all the strange weather problems of the last ten years
(the years the Gulf Stream slowed down) one would begin to be truly aware of
the coming abrupt global climate weather changes that we must all adapt to
if humanity is to continue on Earth.

THE 40-FOOT WALL

In the Pentagon report it suggests that the United States build a 40-foot
wall around the entire country to keep out people who are immigrating and
trying to escape world weather problems. The Pentagon believes that food and
water will be the biggest problem, and since the US has the money to buy
food, they believe we will be best able to resist this particular problem
longer than most countries. People will want to come here just to get food.

This sounds like something out of a weird movie, but in fact the US
government has already begun the construction of this wall between the US
and Mexico.

SIDE NOTE: Speaking of movies, The Day After Tomorrow, which was recently
released is based on this information of the Gulf Stream stopping. However,
Hollywood exaggerated the results of the storms so much that most people
simply thought it was fantasy. It is not fantasy, it is really happening,
but will it happen as this movie predicts? And in this movie you saw massive
amount of Americans fleeing to Mexico to escape the extreme cold weather.

I just spoke with a US military person about two weeks ago who is involved
in the construction of this 40-foot wall. In the discussion, with him about
the Gulf Stream, which he was unaware of, he said, "Oh, now I understand.
You see, the wall is straight up and down on the Mexican side, but it has
steps and ladders on the US side to get over the wall and into Mexico. I
never could understand why the government was doing this."

THE CHANGING OF THE SHAPE OF THE GULF STREAM

In the Pentagon report they said that they believed that the stoppage of the
Gulf Stream would probably happen in three to five years from October 2003.
This was their best guess, and admittedly it was only a guess and a theory.

But what they didn't know, because it was beginning at the actual time of
their release of their report, was that the Gulf Stream was beginning to
change shape. The change of shape of the Gulf Stream is the beginning of the
breakdown and stoppage of this warm water current and the end of our
civilization as we know it.

I have this information from two sources, both of which do not wish to be
named right now, but both of them are world famous scientists.

If this is true, then all the effects and timing of the Pentagon report have
to be shifted closer to the present by three to five years.

I don't know if this is true, but in the vein of holding nothing back, this
info is placed in this article. The actual proof will follow if it will be
given to me.

FROM MY HEART TO YOURS

As I became aware of this information, I didn't know what to do or if I
should write this article. But because I believe in and love humanity, I
finally realized, like Sir David King and Andrew Marshall, that I must speak
out, for knowledge is power.

And when the time comes for us all to make life decisions, my prayer is that
we all go inside where God resides and listen to our inner Heart. If we
trust in ourselves and the presence of Divine Guidance, we will all know
exactly what to do and where to be.

May God bless us all in what is about to come.

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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-28-04 07:34 PM
Response to Original message
1. War on Heat
I like that.

Sobering article. I think we are on the brink of the point of no return.
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Donkeyboy75 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-28-04 09:56 PM
Response to Original message
2. I don't know if you can read it, but here's a link to the PDF of the
Science article King wrote. He takes the U.S. to task, which I'm sure is one reason Blair silenced him.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/303/5655/176.pdf
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smirkymonkey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-28-04 10:07 PM
Response to Original message
3. What can be done?
Is it too late? Will we have any warning at all or will this happen suddenly?
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brokensymmetry Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-28-04 10:35 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. It just may be too late.
Take a look at the weather...sorta wild, right now today, isn't it? And I don't see any reduction in fossil fuel usage. China is going after car ownership for the masses, and that has some implications too.

What gets interesting is that Peak Oil may hit soon...when coupled with the needs caused by climate change, the two effects may cause even greater stress on the inhabitants.
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smirkymonkey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-29-04 01:43 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. Thanks for answering...I have
been having a lot of conversations lately w/ people about the bizarre weather patterns here in the Northeast. What is most striking is the volatility of the weather and how unseasonally cool and wet it's been lately.

I wonder how long it will take before we reach crisis mode? (we are already in crisis, but nobody will take it seriously until all hell brakes loose.) Just more fallout from the shortsightedness of the Republican party.
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brokensymmetry Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-29-04 09:16 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. How long?
Not long, I think. Our crops are rather sensitive to the weather - if it gets a little wilder, we'll see the price of food soar. Not merely in the U.S., but globally.

And when nations start going hungry, very dangerous times come.

The sad thing is, it didn't have to be this way. Jimmy Carter tried to get us to transition to renewable energy, and we ignored him.
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PeaceForever Donating Member (229 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Aug-05-04 06:13 PM
Response to Reply #3
13. Sadly, massive CO2 has already been released.
We'd better enjoy this current era while it lasts. :(
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MrSandman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-04 08:28 PM
Response to Reply #3
15. With fossil fuels quickly running out...
There is less available carbon to release. This is not an assurance. This means that in the last century we have released a quantity of Carbon that it took MILLIONS of years to be taken out of the atmosphere.

Instead of prevention, it is how to deal with the changes to come?
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Nihil Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-29-04 06:26 AM
Response to Original message
5. King is still fighting on ...
Thanks for posting this article.

FWIW, Sir David King, although under increasing pressure to toe the
party line, is not under threat of detention and is still fighting on.

The following dates from 14-July:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3893389.stm

<snip>

(Sir David King) said ice was melting faster and, if the trend
continued, floods could wipe out London, New York and New Orleans.

"You might think it not wise, since we are currently melting ice so
fast, to have built our big cities on the edge of the sea where it is
now obvious they cannot remain," he said. "On current trends, cities
like London, New York and New Orleans will be among the first to go."

Sir David said the sea would rise six or seven metres if the Greenland
ice cap melted and a further 110 metres if Antarctica melted.

<snip>

He has his faults but at least he's got the guts to speak up despite
government interference.

Nihil
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brokensymmetry Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-30-04 08:55 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. Thanks for the info!
Amazing how little we hear of such things, isn't it?
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indigobusiness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-31-04 06:59 PM
Response to Reply #8
11. I've watched this closely since 89
and I'm astonished at the apathy towards it.
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muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-31-04 07:40 AM
Response to Original message
9. Ross Ice shelf and sea level rise
Edited on Sat Jul-31-04 07:42 AM by muriel_volestrangler
the estimate of '16 to 20 feet' is wildly out. The US Geological Survey reckons it would raise global sea levels by 1cm; the Ronne and Filchner shelves would raise it by 11cm.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs133-99/gl_vol.html

To get a rise of 16 to 20 feet, you'd have to melt the whole of the Greenland ice cap.

And another thing: the Larsen ice shelf is on the other side of Antarctica from the Ross ice shelf. They're about 2000km apart.
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indigobusiness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-31-04 04:43 PM
Response to Original message
10. Terrific thread. Thanks...I'm reposting this from elsewhere.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WEATHER/07/15/euro.wacky.we...

July 13 was an ominous day for flooding: a ferocious thunderstorm similar in violence to the Edmonton storm swept across Shanghai, killing seven and sinking a cargo ship. In Southeast Asia, the worst monsoon flooding in memory has killed thousands and left over five million people homeless across India, Bangladesh and Nepal. A typhoon has killed at least 50 people in the Philippines and Taiwan, and left a quarter of a million homeless.

Also on the 13th, there was a 17-inch downpour in northwestern Japan, killing at least five people. Again, the rains were sudden and intense, and the sudden flooding overcame people in low-lying areas, in areas that had never experienced these kinds of floods before. On the same day, more that a foot of rain fell in a few hours in New Jersey. The flooding was so fast that, as in Edmonton, people had to flee their cars to escape rising water. The flood zone extended into Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Meanwhile, Europeans from Oslo to Budapest are having snowball fights in July. Europeans feared a repeat of last year's killer heat wave, and southern Europe has indeed experienced some intense heat. But most Europeans have had temperatures that are about half what they were last year. Read the CNN Report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3896425.stm
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indigobusiness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-04 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
12. Local Beaches Awash With Dead Fish
Local Beaches Awash With Dead Fish
AP, Aug 4

OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) - A surge of cold water generated from an offshore current killed nearly a million adult Atlantic croaker, leaving maintenance crews at local resorts with their hands full of carcasses to clean up.

In Ocean City, maintenance crews scoured the beaches Tuesday picking up and disposing of hundreds of dead Atlantic croaker - a silvery greenish and grayish fish with brassy spots - who succumbed to thermal shock.

...

The Maryland Department of Environment on Tuesday attributed the cause of the deaths to a sudden temperature drop in the water. No other species of fish or marine animals are believed to have been affected by exposure to the cold water temperatures, and tests for harmful algae blooms and bacteria have come up negative, according to spokesman Richard McIntire.

McIntire said several hundred thousand to slightly more than a million croaker have died.

"They were probably swimming in water temperature around the 60 degrees," he said. "Then it got down to the 40s. Just like humans, some of us suffer heatstroke or suffer frostbite at different temperatures. Same thing with fish. They couldn't handle the rapid temperature drop."
http://www.wmal.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=240180&PT=NEWS


Scientists alarmed at increase in melt rate of ice
The Scotsman, Aug 4

GREENLAND’S cover of ice is melting ten times quicker than previously thought, an increase that could lead to floods across the world, scientists have found.

Newly published research shows an alarming rise in the rate of collapse of the massive Greenland ice-sheet as a result of global warming. Scientists now believe the ice-sheet is shrinking at the rate of ten metres a year, not the one metre previously thought

...

One medium-term side-effect of the destruction of the Greenland ice-sheet could be the loss of the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe warm and temperate. The fresh water from the ice mixes with the salt water in the sea, altering the salinity and changing the direction and behaviour of major currents.
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=891712004
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thecrow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-04 09:22 AM
Response to Original message
14. It is 69 degrees here in Virginia today August 6th
I have seen the weather vary as much as 30 degrees in a week.
When I moved here 10 years ago it was stifling hot, then about three years ago we started to have these cool Augusts.
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govegan Donating Member (661 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-04 09:20 PM
Response to Original message
16. Let's look at the facts vis a vis North Pole melting.
As stated in the article: "Let's look at the facts. Two summers ago the North Pole completely melted for the first time in history that we know of. Both private and military
ships floated directly over the actual North Pole as it was completely
water. This area has never been seen to be less then ten feet of solid ice."

This is not a true statement.



According to NOAA:

Recently there have been newspaper articles describing the existence of open water at the North Pole. This situation is infrequent but has been known to occur as the ice is shifted around by winds. In itself, this observation is not meaningful. Of more importance is the evidence that the Arctic ice cover has been thinning over large areas during the last twenty years. If this trend continues, there may be significant changes in the northern hemisphere heat balance and possibly in ocean circulation.

Link: http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/faq.html#10

An interesting piece of research on this can be found at http://www.john-daly.com/polar/arctic.htm.

NOAA has a camera with daily shots of the North Pole. Live from the North Pole!
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/gallery_np.html

As Bobby Kennedy recently stated in an interview with Grist Magazine:

Grist: Does the problem lie more with the Bush administration or the corporations that are demanding the payback?

Kennedy: It's the political system that allows corporations to have so much influence in the political process. We've got to get the money out of politics. It's overwhelming the democratic process. Campaign finance reform is hands-down the most important environmental bill.

Grist: How so?

Kennedy: We are living in a science-fiction nightmare where children are gasping for breath on bad-air days because somebody gave money to a politician. And my children and the kids of millions of other Americans can no longer go fishing and eat their catch because somebody gave money to a politician. And where the oldest wilderness area on the face of the Earth -- the Adirondack Mountains -- has acidified lakes with sterilized fish because somebody gave money to politicians. And the Appalachian Mountains -- the birthplace of American democracy, the landscapes where Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone roamed, the source of our values, our virtues, our character as a people -- are being cut to the ground so somebody can make money.

Link: http://www.gristmagazine.com/maindish/kennedy071304.asp

After the publication of The Silent Spring Rachel Carson wrote to a friend: "The beauty of the living world I was trying to save has always been uppermost in my mind; that, and anger at the senseless, brutish things that were being done. I have felt bound by a solemn obligation to do what I could---if I didn't at least try I could never be happy again in nature."

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