Re: Global warming

[Carl Remick <carlremick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> LRB | Vol. 27 No. 1 dated 6 January 2005 | Michael Byers
>
> On Thinning Ice
> Michael Byers

I wonder when the prospect of rising sea levels will start to erode the
value of coastal property, which is now some of the priciest real estate
extant?  I would imagine panic could set in pretty soon, as coastal dwellers
realize that their prime property is sure to be a wasting asset at some
point.  From the Byers' piece:

"A rise in the sea level is also a concern. Melting sea ice does not affect
the water level any more than an ice cube melting in a glass. But there are
about three million cubic kilometres of land-based ice in the Arctic, and in
most places it is melting. The Assessment foresees a rise of 3°C in
Greenland?s temperature in the course of this century and the eventual
disappearance of the Greenland ice sheet. In August 2004, the Geological
Survey of Greenland and Denmark reported that in the southernmost part of
the island the ice is already thinning at a rate of ten metres per year. In
several centuries? time, when the ice sheet has melted completely, it will
have caused a global sea-level rise of about seven metres; the melting of
the Antarctic icecap could push that even higher. During this century, we
may see only a 50 centimetre rise, with much of that resulting not from
melting ice but from the expansion of water as it warms. Yet even this rise
will inundate several entire island-nations and large portions of the
world?s best farmland, displace hundreds of millions of people, and impose
potentially unbearable costs on low-lying cities such as Amsterdam,
Calcutta, London, Manila and New Orleans. During high tides in November, 80
per cent of Venice was underwater. A new report by the Hadley Centre for
Climate Prediction and Research ? part of the Met Office ? indicates that
large parts of Britain, including London?s Docklands, will soon be under
threat."

Carl