The Danger of a Runaway Antarctica
From an editorial in the New York Times: If carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels continue unabated, the vast WestAntarctic ice sheet could begin to disintegrate, causing the sea to rise by five to six feet by the end of the century, destroying coastal cities and low-lying island nations and creating environmental devastation within the lifetimes of children born today.
The startling new finding was published Wednesday in the journal Nature by two experts in ice-sheet behavior: Robert DeConto of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and David Pollard of Pennsylvania State University. It paints a grimmer picture than the one presented only three years ago by a United Nations panel that forecast a maximum sea level rise of three feet by 2100.
I know; this is nothing you don’t already know but I think it’s significant that critical sea level rise now expressly stated by the NY Times’ Editorial Board, a body even more august than that of the Globe and Mail, and about as wise. It seems as though somebody ‘got their attention’.
–zj-–
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