What does it take to make the world realise that for some global warming has serious effects right now.

Torres Strait islands at risk from global warming
By Peter Michael
August 02, 2007 06:41am


Roads swallowed, houses flooded on some islands
Communities fear next generation will have to leave
Water level could rise by as much as 88cm

GLOBAL warming is not just a theory in Torres Strait – it is lapping at people's doorsteps.

The phenomenon is a visible reality as rising sea levels threaten to erase centuries-old island communities.

Roads have been swallowed whole, buildings washed out, graveyards swamped and houses flooded in six of the most vulnerable low-lying island communities.

Asian smog causing glaciers to melt, say experts
In-depth section: Climate change

Authorities have ordered evacuation and relocation plans for more than 2000 people who face losing their land and livelihood from the invading sea.

"These islands are sinking," Torres Shire Mayor Pedro Stephen said yesterday.

"People are looking at options of building on stilts or even floating pontoons because of the rising sea levels.

"And this is the heartbreaking thing, this generation or the next may have to leave behind all they have ever known, all because of global warming."

Scientists predict warmer sea temperatures (thermal expansion) and the meting of the ice caps will contribute to a sea-level rise of between 9cm and 88cm in the next 50 years.

Some parts of the most vulnerable islands – Masig (Yorke), Poruma (Coconut), Warraber, Yam, Saibai and Boigu – are today less than 1m above sea level.

Mother-of-two Helen Mosby, 21, of Yorke Island, yesterday showed Brisbane's The Courier-Mail newspaper the dramatic impact of global warming on her island home.

"You can see where the ocean has eaten up the road," said Ms Mosby walking with son Josiah, 5.

"It is a big change, and it seems to be getting worse in the past two years or so."

James Cook University's Dr Kevin Parnell, a coastal geomorphologist studying the sinking islands, said they would probably not disappear within a generation, but the threat was "not trivial".

"There is the possibility of more frequent extreme events, like storm surge and high tides, causing the water to come up higher on to the land," he said.

The Yorke Island church – more than 50m inland from the high-tide mark –was last year inundated while more than 60m of land on Coconut Island has been consumed since 2000.

I thought it was interesting that Russia has laid claim to the Arctic as the glaciers are melting away and the Arctic is full of natural resources such as oil and minerals.

In America, I sense that the tide is turning toward rational thinking which includes assessing what is called Global Warming according to what is happening! There is less living in a fantasy world these days.

Hiya, Clete. Good to see you again.

Now... we've been through this before. I have given you the actual temperatures in specific areas of the world for the past 40-60 years and asked you to find a pattern to those temperatures. To this day, you have still been unable to do so. Neither has anyone else. So again, what proff is there that there is any sort of global warming taking place at all.

Second, even if there is global warming, what makes you think that we (humans) have anything to do with it? Or for that matter, that we can do anything about it?

I'm sorry that people in Torres Strait islands are suffering from flooding. But $h!t happens. It happens in Queens, NY, in Dallas, Texas, in Houston, Texas, in New Orleans, LA, in Miami, Fl, etc. It happens in Australia too. And in England, China, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. Floods are going to happen. Storms happen. Weather happens. They took place long before industrialization, and had absolutely nothing to do with human activity.

And you will notice that all the worst "effects of global warming" keep happening in places that are the least industrialized. The Arctic, Africa, and various third world countries that have no industrialization to speak of are the worst hit. Why is that?

Simply put, the article you put forth offers no proof of global warming or any connection between global warming and human activity. All it proves is that people in Torres Strait are being flooded out of their homes due to bad weather conditions. I'm sorry for them, but it doesn't prove global warming or humanity's connection to it.

Address it to the Government repeatly!
Time your letters to coincide with important environmental votes in Congress. Find out when upcoming votes are scheduled in Congress on these matters, then send in your letters a week or two prior to this. This will give the members to whom you write a chance to think about what you have said in your letters and take it into consideration for their votes.
Write a blog about the dangers of global warming and what people can do to help. Publicize this blog as heavily as you can. If you can get lots of people talking about your blog, the chances of the government taking notice of it and listening greatly increase.
That's all I can think of... :)

Read Michael Crichton's State of Fear.

Hey Clete,

"These islands are sinking," Torres Shire Mayor Pedro Stephen said yesterday.

Guess what, he's right. It has nothing to do with global warming, the islands are literally sinking according to the Junk Science (http://www.junkscience.com/) guy.


... and it is true that islands in the region are sinking -- literally -- due to tectonic and volcanic activity but this has exactly nothing to do with gorebull warming.

I tend to think that much more credible than "rising sea levels" due to "man-made" global warming. You might be interested in looking at the fluctuations in sea levels in this Paleoecology and Paleoenvironments of Papua (http://palaeoworks.anu.edu.au/pubs/Hope_Ch2_7_2007.pdf) (pdf) paper by some apparently Australian dude named Geoffrey S. Hope.

Maybe these islanders should hope for a tsunami... or move to the island of Ranongga, which was "in an instant" forced "up three metres" (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1892185.htm) earlier this year.

Steve

What does it take to make the world realise that for some global warming has serious effects right now.

Torres Strait islands at risk from global warming
By Peter Michael
August 02, 2007 06:41am


Roads swallowed, houses flooded on some islands
Communities fear next generation will have to leave
Water level could rise by as much as 88cm

GLOBAL warming is not just a theory in Torres Strait – it is lapping at people's doorsteps.

The phenomenon is a visible reality as rising sea levels threaten to erase centuries-old island communities.

Roads have been swallowed whole, buildings washed out, graveyards swamped and houses flooded in six of the most vulnerable low-lying island communities.

Asian smog causing glaciers to melt, say experts
In-depth section: Climate change

Authorities have ordered evacuation and relocation plans for more than 2000 people who face losing their land and livelihood from the invading sea.

"These islands are sinking," Torres Shire Mayor Pedro Stephen said yesterday.

"People are looking at options of building on stilts or even floating pontoons because of the rising sea levels.

"And this is the heartbreaking thing, this generation or the next may have to leave behind all they have ever known, all because of global warming."

Scientists predict warmer sea temperatures (thermal expansion) and the meting of the ice caps will contribute to a sea-level rise of between 9cm and 88cm in the next 50 years.

Some parts of the most vulnerable islands – Masig (Yorke), Poruma (Coconut), Warraber, Yam, Saibai and Boigu – are today less than 1m above sea level.

Mother-of-two Helen Mosby, 21, of Yorke Island, yesterday showed Brisbane's The Courier-Mail newspaper the dramatic impact of global warming on her island home.

"You can see where the ocean has eaten up the road," said Ms Mosby walking with son Josiah, 5.

"It is a big change, and it seems to be getting worse in the past two years or so."

James Cook University's Dr Kevin Parnell, a coastal geomorphologist studying the sinking islands, said they would probably not disappear within a generation, but the threat was "not trivial".

"There is the possibility of more frequent extreme events, like storm surge and high tides, causing the water to come up higher on to the land," he said.

The Yorke Island church – more than 50m inland from the high-tide mark –was last year inundated while more than 60m of land on Coconut Island has been consumed since 2000.
Creation/formation continues on, and cosmically, I see no reason to suppose that there ever was a beginning, or that there ever shall ever be an end, of this cyclical process.

The universe isn't running down; it is being built up and replenished by continual creation: So you see I wouldn't worry about you changing its course, worry about, if you must worry, how to adapt.

What does it take to make the world realise that for some global warming has serious effects right now.Hello clete:

I think the world does realize it. However, wondering about those things is a luxury most people don't have. That's something you do when you read your newspaper while sipping your latte.

Most of the people are too busy trying to feed themselves.

If there's a disaster coming (and I don't doubt there is), we'll just wait for it to happen. If we could have done something to stop it, we'll look back and go, oh well.

excon

Just out of curiosity, if an increase in temperature is such a problem, why do so many people go on vacation to Hawaii, Tahiti, Jamaica, Cancun, Miami Beach, The Bahamas, and other warm places? Seems to me that people seem to thrive in warm temperatures.

Second question... what is the OPTIMAL temperature of the planet Earth?

Don't know the answer to that? Neither do I. Nor does anyone else. So how do we know that a few degrees higher isn't it?

In fact, if you look at things from a purely scientific perspective, any biology teacher will tell you that the environment that is most friendly to the development of life is a swamp. Great for plant life and animal life. Insects love it, lizards love it, small animals and birds love it, fish love it. Microbes are happiest in a swamp.

So in fact, the "optimal" environment for developing life on Earth is about 20 degrees higher than we currently have, along with wet and humid conditions.

Something to think about.

Elliot

Second question... what is the OPTIMAL temperature of the planet Earth?

I'm thinkin' 74 and sunny, kind of like in San Diego. :cool:

Here is an interesting debate by scientists pro and con.
Read the transcript.


NPR : 'Global Warming Is Not a Crisis' (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9082151)







Grace and Peace