Scientists: Millions Could Flee Rising Seas

[RestoreGore]

We need action now. And to the idiots on the Right who trashed Al Gore because they claim we didn't get as many hurricanes this season... the issue is not quantity as much as it is SEVERITY of storms and the damage they have and will inflict on our ecosystems. All one has to do to know that is look at the typhoons and cyclones that have hit this season from China to Australia. It comes down to two words: EDUCATE YOURSELF.
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http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/38918/story.htm


KENYA: November 10, 2006


NAIROBI - Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of "sea level refugees" if climate change continues to ravage the world's oceans, German researchers said on Thursday.


Waters are rising and warming, increasing the destructive power of storms, they said, and seas are becoming more acidic, threatening to throw entire food chains into chaos. "In the long run, sea level rises are going to be the most severe impact of global warming on human society," said Professor Stefan Rahmstorf, presenting a report by German scientists at a major United Nations climate change meeting.

Warming could melt ice sheets and raise water levels, and the report said nations should already be considering making a "managed retreat" from the most endangered areas, including low-lying island states, parts of Bangladesh or even the US state of Florida. A report by international scientists who advise the UN has predicted a sea level rise of up to 88 cm between 1990 and 2100. The situation was worsened, the German team said on Thursday, by the increasing frequency of extreme storms whipped up by warming sea surface temperatures -- meaning many would flee coastal areas hit by hurricanes.

Many of the world's biggest cities, from Tokyo to Buenos Aires, are by the coast. Some rich nations might be able to build ever higher dikes, such as in the Netherlands, but poor nations were destined to be swamped. The low-lying Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has already agreed a deal for New Zealand to take about half its 10,000 people to work in agriculture if it becomes swamped by rising sea levels.


Story by Daniel Wallis

More at the link

[Warpy]

1. I'm just sad my mother didn't live to see it.

She once told me she liked to see the huge condos going up because that meant Florida would sink a little faster.

The problem is all the island and shore communities still populated by subsistence fishermen and hemmed in by corporate farms. People in relatively wealthy countries may have a better chance at survival.

[RestoreGore]

3. The poor will suffer most...

From the behavior of rich nations that refuse to now do their part to mitigate this crisis. That is so immoral on so many levels.

[bloom]

2. the bad storms this year were around Australia

China, and the Pacific - for the most part.

And now Australia is having the worst drought in 1000 years. They're really getting it this year.

I don't know how much of that makes our corporate press - it's become so irrelevant I barely pay attention.

[RestoreGore]

4. Farmers committing suicide

And that isn't happening just in Australia, but in India as well. It certainly isn't irrelevant, but of course to the corporate media here it is.