Two years ago on this date Dredd Blog had the following post about ice-melt affecting the oceans:This is the last of the "all ___ is local" series, at least for awhile.
The subject of the oceans really can illustrate the reality that we are all in this Earth experience together, really can show the fallacy of the "all ___ is local" mantra, because what one nation does environmentally will have an effect on the other nations within the global community.
Scientific papers are constantly being released which in effect say that "it is worse than we thought last time".
One crisp example concerns the Greenland ice sheet:
Satellite observations and a state-of-the art regional atmospheric model have independently confirmed that the Greenland ice sheet is losing mass at an accelerating rate, reports a new study in Science.(Science Daily, emphasis added). A 21 foot (7 meter) rise in ocean level would certainly have the effect of destroying civilization as we know it.
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The Greenland ice sheet contains enough water to cause a global sea level rise of seven metres [about 21 feet].
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Without [some lucky] moderating effects, post-1996 Greenland mass loss would have been double the amount of mass loss observed now.
The great and small sea ports of current civilization would be destroyed, as a billion people who live in the areas that would go underwater migrated, relocated, or perished.
The small nation of Greenland could effect our entire civilization on earth?
Yes, however, the nation of Greenland by itself has no control over global weather, a function of all nations that are warming the global temperature of the earth by their own seemingly local endeavours.
If we add to this phenomenon the fact that the Arctic & Antarctic ice are also experiencing the same thing, factoring in that it is not reversible in any meaningful way, it is an incredibly serious matter.
The next post in this series is here.
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