Submitted by Sandra P. on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 07:52.
No where near enough is being done about Global Climate Change. I know that the people in this blog are vastly more conscious of the issues involved than is the average citizen, but we must try much harder to get our point across. Here is a simple way to make a point. Take 2 identical clear water glasses; add water to the first up to around 2/3 or 3/4 full; put in a couple of ice cubes. Add water to the second glass up to exactly the same water level as the first one is right now. Put some sort (1" - 2") of white writeable-on tape, label or similar thing, vertically, with the water levels in each glass at about the middle of the tape/label. Now mark the water levels in each glass - try to make the levels exactly the same. Now add a couple of ice cubes to the second glass. The first glass represents the ocean level now, with SEA ice on it; the second glass represents the ocean level with LAND ice sliding and melting into it. As the ice cubes in the first glass melt, they do not raise the water level (sea level) at all. The second glass, representing the planet's future, will have a HIGHER sea level WHETHER OR NOT the ice has melted. The point is that Global Climate Change is not a slow, regular process that we can easily remedy any time we want. Land ice (Greenland, the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet, glaciers world-wide) is not only melting, but also SLIDING into the ocean at a very dangerous and increasing rate. Melting ice lubricates the bottom of the ice sheet or glacier making it slide into the ocean at rates unforeseen by climatologists. We should be very afraid. At the height of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago, the sea level was 120 meters lower than it is today. In other words, the land ice that has melted since 20,000 years ago has raised sea level by over 400 feet. Just think what would happen should sea level rise 10 feet, 20 feet, and more. We must make all people, especially our representatives in Washington, aware of the extreme danger the world is facing. Fees for CO2 emissions and other measures more of a tax burden on people? Just wait till they see the costs of devastating rises in sea level world-wide.
Melting land ice increases sea level (sea ice does not)
No where near enough is being done about Global Climate Change. I know that the people in this blog are vastly more conscious of the issues involved than is the average citizen, but we must try much harder to get our point across. Here is a simple way to make a point. Take 2 identical clear water glasses; add water to the first up to around 2/3 or 3/4 full; put in a couple of ice cubes. Add water to the second glass up to exactly the same water level as the first one is right now. Put some sort (1" - 2") of white writeable-on tape, label or similar thing, vertically, with the water levels in each glass at about the middle of the tape/label. Now mark the water levels in each glass - try to make the levels exactly the same. Now add a couple of ice cubes to the second glass. The first glass represents the ocean level now, with SEA ice on it; the second glass represents the ocean level with LAND ice sliding and melting into it. As the ice cubes in the first glass melt, they do not raise the water level (sea level) at all. The second glass, representing the planet's future, will have a HIGHER sea level WHETHER OR NOT the ice has melted. The point is that Global Climate Change is not a slow, regular process that we can easily remedy any time we want. Land ice (Greenland, the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet, glaciers world-wide) is not only melting, but also SLIDING into the ocean at a very dangerous and increasing rate. Melting ice lubricates the bottom of the ice sheet or glacier making it slide into the ocean at rates unforeseen by climatologists. We should be very afraid. At the height of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago, the sea level was 120 meters lower than it is today. In other words, the land ice that has melted since 20,000 years ago has raised sea level by over 400 feet. Just think what would happen should sea level rise 10 feet, 20 feet, and more. We must make all people, especially our representatives in Washington, aware of the extreme danger the world is facing. Fees for CO2 emissions and other measures more of a tax burden on people? Just wait till they see the costs of devastating rises in sea level world-wide.