CLIMATE CHANGE

Keith Saw at

http://www.aussieseek.com


And seeks your comments here and there

===================================


CLIMATE CHANGE
« Thread Started on Today at 5:52am »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Carteret Islands are almost invisible on a map of the South
Pacific, but the horseshoe scattering of atolls is on the front-line of
climate change, as rising sea levels and storm surges eat away at their
existence.

For 20 years, the 2,000 islanders have fought a losing battle against
the ocean, building sea walls and trying to plant mangroves. Each year,
the waves surge in, destroying vegetable gardens, washing away homes
and poisoning freshwater supplies.

Papua New Guinea's Carteret islanders are destined to become some of
the world's first climate change refugees. Their islands are becoming
uninhabitable, and may disappear below the waves.

A decision has been made to move the islanders to the larger nearby
Bougainville island, four hours' boat ride to the southwest. Ten
families at a time will be moved, over one to two years, once funds are
allocated for the resettlement program.

"It's a pretty hard life out there on the islands. Some of the homes
have been washed away," Joe Kaipu, the senior district coordinator of
Bougainville, told Reuters by telephone.

"The only action now is to resettle them," he said.

A United Nations panel of more than 2,000 scientists has predicted that
average sea levels are likely to rise between 9 and 88 cm (3.5 to 35
inches) by 2100, mainly because of a build-up of heat-trapping
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels,
such as oil and coal.

Sea levels are expected to rise because of a melting of ice caps and
because water expands when it warms. If the entire Greenland ice sheet
melted in coming centuries, for instance, sea levels would rise by
seven meters.

Many scientists say a 50 cm rise in sea levels could cause a 50 meter
retreat of the coastline in low-lying areas.

At the higher end of the forecast, the sea would overflow the heavily
populated coasts of countries such as Bangladesh, and cause low-lying
island states like the Indian Ocean's Maldives and South Pacific's
Kiribati and Tuvalu to disappear.

SINKING ISLANDS

"It's a matter of survival for us. If our islands go under, we all go
under," said President Anote Tong of Kiribati, 33 low-lying islands
covering 5 million sq. km (1.9 million sq. mile) in the South Pacific
and home to about 100,000 people.

"We move back from the shoreline, (but) how far can we move back? We
are in danger of falling off the backside of our islands," Tong told
Reuters at a recent Pacific leaders' summit in Port Moresby, capital of
Papua New Guinea.

Kiribati's highest point is 87 meters (261 ft) above the sea. Most
islands are coral atolls covered with just 2.5 meters (just over 8 ft)
of hard sand and meager soil. There are no rivers and most islands
enclose a lagoon.

Two uninhabited Kiribati islands, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared
underwater in 1999, according to the South Pacific Regional Environment
Program, and the island of Tepuka Savilivili no longer has any coconut
trees due to salination.

Tong said the world's big polluters, like the United States and
Australia who have remained outside the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol
on reducing greenhouse gases, must face the moral consequences of their
inaction.

"That is a question that they have to ask themselves -- are they
willing to see us go under?" Tong said.

The United States pulled out of Kyoto in 2001 when President George W.
Bush said it was too expensive and wrongly excluded poor nations from
the first round of cuts to 2012. Australia has also refused to ratify
the protocol.

ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES

Scientists say rising sea levels would also foul freshwater supplies
for millions of people and spur mass migrations.

A recent UN study forecast that some 50 million people could became
environmental refugees by 2010, driven from their homes by
desertification, rising sea levels, flooding and storms linked to
climate change.

Tuvalu Prime Minister Maatia Toafa hates the term "environmental
refugee" but admits his 11,600 people may have to abandon their South
Pacific island homes.

Tuvalu consists of a fringe of nine atolls, with the highest point no
more than 5 meters (17 ft) above sea level, but most a mere 2 meters
(6.5 ft) high.

A small island off the capital Funafuti has already disappeared beneath
the sea and some islanders have been forced to grow crops in tins
because the soil has become too salty.

In February, only days before Kyoto came into effect, Tuvaluans in the
capital watched high tides and strong winds send waves crashing across
the main road. Children rode the waves on makeshift surfboards,
trailing behind cars and vans dashing for higher ground.

"The prediction is (that) in 50 years Tuvalu will not exist," said
Toafa. "Resettlement is impossible in the country because all the
islands are low-lying," he said from Funafuti.

MONTREAL HOPE

In the Indian Ocean, the Maldives' 1,200 coral islands lie so low that
some were briefly swamped when the December 26 Asian tsunami hit the
scattered island state off India.

Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom published "The Maldives: A
Nation in Peril" in 1998, outlining the danger of rising seas. Since
then, coastal defenses have been built and efforts made to protect
reefs and guard against storm surges.

"We are doing all we can to protect our nation. However, what we do
here in the Maldives does not guarantee us an environmentally secure
future," Gayoom told Reuters.

"Our safety would only be certain when the international community
takes concrete steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and specific
actions to reduce the threat of sea level rise."

Small island nations want a new insurance facility to help underwrite
the cost of climate change-related weather damage, and have called for
a special fund to build coastal defenses, protect water supplies and
develop new forms of agriculture.

Gayoom said he hoped the UN climate change conference in Montreal,
starting on November 28, would lay foundations for a post-Kyoto
solution to climate change, by finding common ground with big polluting
nations.

"Those who have rejected the Kyoto Protocol should not wait for
unequivocal scientific proof of the climate change process, but need to
find the political will to go beyond the short-term benefits of their
respective countries, for an environmentally secure future," Gayoom
said.

It's safe to say most of us know less about the real causes of global
swings in temperature, water level and depth of the ice sheets than we
would care to admit. I think the causes of global climatic change are
a good deal more complicated and involve long term swings as well as
short term man-made causes. I find it interesting for instance that
while Glacier Bay in Alaska has continued to deepen since it was
discovered in the 1800's while glaciers around it continue to grow.

Keith and Phil at AussieSeek.com Political Messageboards wrote:
CLIMATE CHANGE

Keith Saw at

http://www.aussieseek.com


And seeks your comments here and there

===================================


CLIMATE CHANGE
« Thread Started on Today at 5:52am »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Carteret Islands are almost invisible on a map of the South
Pacific, but the horseshoe scattering of atolls is on the front-line of
climate change, as rising sea levels and storm surges eat away at their
existence.

For 20 years, the 2,000 islanders have fought a losing battle against
the ocean, building sea walls and trying to plant mangroves. Each year,
the waves surge in, destroying vegetable gardens, washing away homes
and poisoning freshwater supplies.

Papua New Guinea's Carteret islanders are destined to become some of
the world's first climate change refugees. Their islands are becoming
uninhabitable, and may disappear below the waves.

A decision has been made to move the islanders to the larger nearby
Bougainville island, four hours' boat ride to the southwest. Ten
families at a time will be moved, over one to two years, once funds are
allocated for the resettlement program.

"It's a pretty hard life out there on the islands. Some of the homes
have been washed away," Joe Kaipu, the senior district coordinator of
Bougainville, told Reuters by telephone.

"The only action now is to resettle them," he said.

A United Nations panel of more than 2,000 scientists has predicted that
average sea levels are likely to rise between 9 and 88 cm (3.5 to 35
inches) by 2100, mainly because of a build-up of heat-trapping
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels,
such as oil and coal.

Sea levels are expected to rise because of a melting of ice caps and
because water expands when it warms. If the entire Greenland ice sheet
melted in coming centuries, for instance, sea levels would rise by
seven meters.

Many scientists say a 50 cm rise in sea levels could cause a 50 meter
retreat of the coastline in low-lying areas.

At the higher end of the forecast, the sea would overflow the heavily
populated coasts of countries such as Bangladesh, and cause low-lying
island states like the Indian Ocean's Maldives and South Pacific's
Kiribati and Tuvalu to disappear.

SINKING ISLANDS

"It's a matter of survival for us. If our islands go under, we all go
under," said President Anote Tong of Kiribati, 33 low-lying islands
covering 5 million sq. km (1.9 million sq. mile) in the South Pacific
and home to about 100,000 people.

"We move back from the shoreline, (but) how far can we move back? We
are in danger of falling off the backside of our islands," Tong told
Reuters at a recent Pacific leaders' summit in Port Moresby, capital of
Papua New Guinea.

Kiribati's highest point is 87 meters (261 ft) above the sea. Most
islands are coral atolls covered with just 2.5 meters (just over 8 ft)
of hard sand and meager soil. There are no rivers and most islands
enclose a lagoon.

Two uninhabited Kiribati islands, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared
underwater in 1999, according to the South Pacific Regional Environment
Program, and the island of Tepuka Savilivili no longer has any coconut
trees due to salination.

Tong said the world's big polluters, like the United States and
Australia who have remained outside the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol
on reducing greenhouse gases, must face the moral consequences of their
inaction.

"That is a question that they have to ask themselves -- are they
willing to see us go under?" Tong said.

The United States pulled out of Kyoto in 2001 when President George W.
Bush said it was too expensive and wrongly excluded poor nations from
the first round of cuts to 2012. Australia has also refused to ratify
the protocol.

ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES

Scientists say rising sea levels would also foul freshwater supplies
for millions of people and spur mass migrations.

A recent UN study forecast that some 50 million people could became
environmental refugees by 2010, driven from their homes by
desertification, rising sea levels, flooding and storms linked to
climate change.

Tuvalu Prime Minister Maatia Toafa hates the term "environmental
refugee" but admits his 11,600 people may have to abandon their South
Pacific island homes.

Tuvalu consists of a fringe of nine atolls, with the highest point no
more than 5 meters (17 ft) above sea level, but most a mere 2 meters
(6.5 ft) high.

A small island off the capital Funafuti has already disappeared beneath
the sea and some islanders have been forced to grow crops in tins
because the soil has become too salty.

In February, only days before Kyoto came into effect, Tuvaluans in the
capital watched high tides and strong winds send waves crashing across
the main road. Children rode the waves on makeshift surfboards,
trailing behind cars and vans dashing for higher ground.

"The prediction is (that) in 50 years Tuvalu will not exist," said
Toafa. "Resettlement is impossible in the country because all the
islands are low-lying," he said from Funafuti.

MONTREAL HOPE

In the Indian Ocean, the Maldives' 1,200 coral islands lie so low that
some were briefly swamped when the December 26 Asian tsunami hit the
scattered island state off India.

Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom published "The Maldives: A
Nation in Peril" in 1998, outlining the danger of rising seas. Since
then, coastal defenses have been built and efforts made to protect
reefs and guard against storm surges.

"We are doing all we can to protect our nation. However, what we do
here in the Maldives does not guarantee us an environmentally secure
future," Gayoom told Reuters.

"Our safety would only be certain when the international community
takes concrete steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and specific
actions to reduce the threat of sea level rise."

Small island nations want a new insurance facility to help underwrite
the cost of climate change-related weather damage, and have called for
a special fund to build coastal defenses, protect water supplies and
develop new forms of agriculture.

Gayoom said he hoped the UN climate change conference in Montreal,
starting on November 28, would lay foundations for a post-Kyoto
solution to climate change, by finding common ground with big polluting
nations.

"Those who have rejected the Kyoto Protocol should not wait for
unequivocal scientific proof of the climate change process, but need to
find the political will to go beyond the short-term benefits of their
respective countries, for an environmentally secure future," Gayoom
said.

On 23 Nov 2005 08:37:24 -0800, "John S." wrote:

It's safe to say most of us know less about the real causes of global
swings in temperature, water level and depth of the ice sheets than we
would care to admit. I think the causes of global climatic change are
a good deal more complicated and involve long term swings as well as
short term man-made causes. I find it interesting for instance that
while Glacier Bay in Alaska has continued to deepen since it was
discovered in the 1800's while glaciers around it continue to grow.

Keith and Phil at AussieSeek.com Political Messageboards wrote:
CLIMATE CHANGE
Don't you think it might be wise to err on the side of caution?

David wrote:

On 23 Nov 2005 08:37:24 -0800, "John S." wrote:

It's safe to say most of us know less about the real causes of global
swings in temperature, water level and depth of the ice sheets than we
would care to admit. I think the causes of global climatic change are
a good deal more complicated and involve long term swings as well as
short term man-made causes. I find it interesting for instance that
while Glacier Bay in Alaska has continued to deepen since it was
discovered in the 1800's while glaciers around it continue to grow.

Keith and Phil at AussieSeek.com Political Messageboards wrote:
CLIMATE CHANGE
Don't you think it might be wise to err on the side of caution?

LMAO at the clueless 'tard boy yet again.

Keep the laughs coming, boy.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

John S. wrote:

It's safe to say most of us know less about the real causes of global
swings in temperature, water level and depth of the ice sheets than we
would care to admit. I think the causes of global climatic change are
a good deal more complicated and involve long term swings as well as
short term man-made causes. I find it interesting for instance that
while Glacier Bay in Alaska has continued to deepen since it was
discovered in the 1800's while glaciers around it continue to grow.


These people claim that greenhouse gases are at a level not seen for
650,000 years.


http://tinyurl.com/8w5ss


In a matter this important, if we are to err, it should be on the side
of caution, not extinction. Bush disagrees.







mike

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 02:12:58 GMT, m II wrote:

John S. wrote:

It's safe to say most of us know less about the real causes of global
swings in temperature, water level and depth of the ice sheets than we
would care to admit. I think the causes of global climatic change are
a good deal more complicated and involve long term swings as well as
short term man-made causes. I find it interesting for instance that
while Glacier Bay in Alaska has continued to deepen since it was
discovered in the 1800's while glaciers around it continue to grow.


These people claim that greenhouse gases are at a level not seen for
650,000 years.


http://tinyurl.com/8w5ss


In a matter this important, if we are to err, it should be on the side
of caution, not extinction. Bush disagrees.







mike
Bush thinks he's going to an invisible city in the clouds where all
the rich people get to hang-out with Jesus and eat ice cream.

K&P @ AS.Com,

Climate Change occures just about everyday somewhere.

The Idea {Hyperbole} of Global Warming and Climate Change
is "SCIENTISM" and not a proven 'Scientific Fact' to date [.]

"The `Hockey Stick': A New Low in Climate Science"
- by John L. Daly
GoTo= http://www.vision.net.au/~daly/hockey/hockey.htm

NOTE: Have placed this on my RMR
= Rapid Message Recall (RMR) List.

I now have the : "What About the 'Medieval Warm Period'
and the 'Little Ice Age'"; as counter points to the Wild
Claims of 'Evironmental Wackos' about Global Warming.

Plus being able to ask any 'Evironmental Wacko'
who is making Absurd Claims about Global Warming:.
? "Have You been out in the Sun Too Long ?
? Do You have Sun Spots Imprinted on your Brain ?
? Do You Know anything about the 'Maunder Minimum'
and diappearence of Sun Spots for 70 Years ?
? Well Do You ? - do you, Do You. DO YOU !

But the Great Fun will be being able to Scream
at them and Repeating these Two Words:
"hockey sticks, Hockey Sticks. HOCKEY STICKS !"
All the while Waving-My-Arms about in the Air
and Bulging-My-Eyes-Out )

just for the fun of it ~ RHF

On 28 Nov 2005 13:39:44 -0800, "RHF"
wrote:


I now have the : "What About the 'Medieval Warm Period'
and the 'Little Ice Age'"; as counter points to the Wild
Claims of 'Evironmental Wackos' about Global Warming.

? Do You have Sun Spots Imprinted on your Brain ?
? Do You Know anything about the 'Maunder Minimum'
and diappearence of Sun Spots for 70 Years ?

.
You can no longer deny that it is real and it is being made worse by
human activity. We have data going back through many natural cycles.
What is happening now is unprecedented.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1128/p25s01-usgn.html