Fools not to Look at the Rising Waters

    Speak of global warming and the rising sea level, if you will. Remind us that a UN projection suggests waters will rise but one foot by the end of this century.

   But, when you've managed to wrap your head around that, pause to wonder that if instead of it being outlandish, that estimate might be way too conservative. Consider two large glaciers in the Antarctica, Pine Island and Thwaites. If that glacial area were to collapse and melt -- as it is in danger of doing -- the world's sea level would rise by 4 feet.
   That is in the Antarctica. But, consider that it is in the Arctic where temperatures are rising faster -- four times faster -- than any place on earth.
   Then, turn to the other end of the globe. Consider that the Antarctic is roughly the size of the U.S. and Mexico combined. With all the ice piled up in the Antarctic -- it contains 90 percent of the world's ice -- if it were to melt, sea levels would rise . . .
   Two hundred feet.
   Okay, all the Antarctic ice is not likely to melt, so let's just stick with the 4-foot rise.
   But, add the two together -- the Arctic and the Antarctic ice melts -- up comes the sea, rushing the rising waves on the coastal cities of the world.
   One study of ice cores pulled out of the glaciers suggests that ages ago, when the earth's temperatures were just a couple degrees higher than they are today, the sea level was 20 feet higher.
   One wonders at 20 feet, if it could happen.
   I am guessing things will turn out okay. Either the water rise won't be as much as some suggest, or humankind will adapt, being displaced but moving to higher ground.
   Even so, we would be fools not to tread lightly, fools not to avoid it if we can, fools not to take global warming seriously.

(Index -- Climate change info)