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Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, November 25 2012 @ 03:06 AM EST |
Sorry, I don't see much difference in magnitude of problem.
During the last glaciation humanity flourished in Africa and
South Asia, at least as much as their knowledge and technology
permitted. The present inhabitants of the US Atlantic seabord
are arguably the planet's wealthiest, most intelligent and
technologically advanced. I fear very few of them learned
much useful for global warming from the little lick of Sandy.
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Authored by: Wol on Sunday, November 25 2012 @ 04:47 AM EST |
The problem, which you so conveniently miss, is the SPEED of the change.
The thing I harp on about (and people have told me it can't happen :-) is a
sudden ice-slip in Antartica. The naysayers might be right, but a *small* rise
in sealevel leads to a *large* decrease in friction. If we suddenly get that,
and a load of Antartic ice sliding into the sea, how would we cope?
New York's flood defences were overwhelmed by Sandy. London's flood defences
(the Woolwich) were built to last 100 years - their useful life has been
downrated to 50. How long will Holland's flood defences survive?
A sudden rise of sealevel by maybe even just one foot could bring disaster to
the heavily populated coastal regions of many countries. How is the US going to
cope with millions of refugees flooding inward from the coast? Europe? India?
Refugees may be caused by war, but too many could also easily cause a war.
Humanity might survive, but at what cost to the humans involved?
Cheers,
Wol[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Winter on Monday, November 26 2012 @ 02:59 AM EST |
A rise in temperature would shift all agricultural zones polewards. There is
less light and less land area poleward.
In short, a rise in temperature would reduce the amount of land useful for
agriculture.
Some billion people live in coastal areas threatened by even a small rise in sea
level. They need decades to relocate safely.
Large releases of fresh water will stop the North Atlantic Deep Water formation,
the heat conveyor belt of the Atlantic. That would reduce the growing season in
Europe considerably.
Any kind of fast global climate change is bad for billions of people. And fast
is "within a century".
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Some say the sun rises in the east, some say it rises in the west; the truth
lies probably somewhere in between.[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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