Quantifying Sea-Level Rise
In response to my recent post Latest Carbon Dioxide Reading Falls in Line with Past Data, senior energy analyst Glenn Doty writes:
It’s horrible.
Current median projections show a 40 cm sea-level-rise for the U.S. by 2050. We’ll SEE that. When the Thwaites Glacier starts to go, the rate of sea level rise will increase by 5-15 FOLD… That’s the tipping point that has terrified me since I was in high school, and it’s supposed to begin within 5 years (though until recently I actually thought it would be the collapse of the Greenland Ice Shelf, that began first, not the West Antarctic Ice Shelf).
It’s tragic for the infinite degree of abject stupidity that went into “kicking this can down the road” for so many years that we’re now here… and it’s tragic.
Now, if we don’t geoengineer a solution, (the best of which is) Sea Cooling, we’re facing the imminent loss of the entire country of The Netherlands, half of Bangladesh, the cities of New Orleans, Miami, Charleston, Savanna, Houston, Singapore, as well as major loss and costs to Washington DC, London, and hundreds of other cities around the world.
The cost will be in the tens of trillions, and the accommodation will have to be made within the next 4 – 5 decades.
It’s just horrible.
I agree, but IMO, though “abject stupidity” is part of this, I think it’s more a result of selfishness and greed.
The behavior of the fictional U.S. president in the movie “Don’t Look Up” is essentially what’s been going on here from the onset. We don’t have to solve the problem; we have to spin it so the people don’t panic, or worse, blame me for it and vote me out of office.
