Rapid Arctic Melt Called 'Planetary Emergency' 757
Freshly Exhumed writes "Drawing on new data released Wednesday by the National Snow and Ice Data Center that the Arctic ice pack has melted to an all time low within the satellite record (video), NASA climate scientist James Hansen has declared the current reality a 'planetary emergency.' As pointed out by Prof. David Barber from the University of Manitoba, 'The thaw this year broke all the records that we had previous to this and it didn't just break them, it smashed them.' So, not sure why your mainstream press isn't covering this story? 'It's hard for the public to realize,' Hansen said, 'because they stick their head out the window and don't see much going on.' Thankfully, some people are noticing, as Bill McKibben's recent Rolling Stone article, Global Warming's Terrifying New Math has gone viral."
Re:Press coverage (Score:3, Interesting)
Fabulous (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm assuming he's a guy with good credentials, held in high-regard, data and conclusions backed up by peer-review, etc.
Great.
So what do we do? Because we haven't been able to answer that question for decades and now we NEED to know the answer before we continue, if that's the case.
As fabulous as all this detective work is, what are we supposed to do about it and what effect does that work have? If it means we have to forgo electricity (say), then maybe we're better off just letting the climate rise and the icecaps melt (for instance). Maybe not. Who knows?
Because for DECADES people have been shouting doom with no reasonable, practical explanation for it, solution of it, or analysis of the impact of said solutions.
Let's work from the assumption that I believe you and you're 100% correct. What do we do now?
Re:Please Be Quiet (Score:2, Interesting)
There will be a demonstration of the effects of global warming on food supplies next year. Be sure to watch.
Re:And I am willing to bet (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Press coverage (Score:5, Interesting)
Or you could stop eating beef and dairy products or buy from suppliers that use the genetically engineered low-fart cows. Or you could plant some trees or put renewable energy devices on your house or get a shorter commute or replace flying with telecommuting or make your next car electric or see if there's an option to buy renewable power in your area or phase in lower-power devices in your home or maintain/reuse things instead of replacing them...but yeah it's hopeless and there's nothing an individual could do.
Re:Press coverage (Score:5, Interesting)
the kind of thing that has the press running out with cameras to get the dramatic shot
Until a few years ago, tornadoes were a rare event in New York City, something that happened once in a while and made big news.
Now, tornadoes are becoming seasonable for New York. Yes, really, it is frequent enough to be considered seasonal, although I suspect the media won't report it that way for another 5 years. To give you an idea, there were two tornadoes in nearby suburbs this year, multiple strong tornadoes in 2010, a tornado in Brooklyn in 2007, and prior to that, one in 2006 in a nearby suburb, and in NYC in 2003, 1995, 1990, 1985, and 1974, and a few very rare ones before that. This is a becoming a clear change in New York City's weather patterns: tornadoes strike in the late summer and early autumn.
The news has not gotten into a panic over it, probably because it is still being reported as "rare," but it is not really "rare" anymore; it happens, and people in New York City and the nearby areas are going to have to learn how to deal with tornadoes. The tornadoes are also becoming stronger; eventually they will be so strong that the dramatic shots of the storm and the aftermath will be unavoidable.
Re:Press coverage (Score:5, Interesting)
You missed the point. Floating Ice by virtue of it floating is displacing the same amount of liquid water it contains when melted. Experiment.
Take a Styrofoam cup. Fill it with ice. Pour enough water to float the ice and reach the rim of the glass. Some ice will be floating above the rim. Wait for it to melt and no water will spill.
Re:Is GW good or bad? (Score:4, Interesting)
Here's a pros-and-cons list (more overwhelmingly negative than I expected):
http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-positives-negatives-intermediate.htm [skepticalscience.com]
Even assuming there were net gains to be had in the planet's carrying capacity or areas with "nice" climates, the big nasty problem that ruins it is ocean acidification.
Re:Press coverage (Score:4, Interesting)
That's old stuff: http://www.livescience.com/11022-herb-quells-cows-methane-laden-belches.html [livescience.com]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/globalwarming/7873998/Curry-for-sheep-could-curb-global-warming.html [telegraph.co.uk]
http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/new-cow-diet-reduces-methane-emissionsand-no-its-not-mms.html [treehugger.com]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/jul/10/ruralaffairs.climatechange [guardian.co.uk]
Even garlic appears to help.
Re:Press coverage (Score:5, Interesting)
Or you could stop eating beef and dairy products or buy from suppliers that use the genetically engineered low-fart cows. Or you could plant some trees or put renewable energy devices on your house or get a shorter commute or replace flying with telecommuting or make your next car electric or see if there's an option to buy renewable power in your area or phase in lower-power devices in your home or maintain/reuse things instead of replacing them...but yeah it's hopeless and there's nothing an individual could do.
While every ounce helps the main issue is that there's billions of people that want the same standard of living as the top 1-2 billion and the corresponding CO2 emissions. If you don't have a car and can barely afford one you take the cheapest, not the most environmentally friendly. The small fraction of people of the world that don't have any more urgent matters to think of than their carbon footprint is dwarfed by the vast masses that want a modern home and a modern life instead of living in a shed.
Re:Press coverage (Score:3, Interesting)
Except that Antarctic sea-ice [nsidc.org] is about as much above average as Arctic sea-ice is below average, they tend to run counter-cycle to each other; net change is probably nill.
Re:Press coverage (Score:5, Interesting)
I originally thought you were right, but a quick google search produces this article:
http://phys.org/news5619.html [phys.org]
TL;DR: Freshwater ice floats higher in salt water because salt water is more dense.
"When freshwater ice melts in the ocean, it contributes a greater volume of melt water than it originally displaced."