From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sat Apr 13 2002 - 11:25:09 MDT
On Saturday, April 13, 2002, at 12:06 pm, Mike Lorrey wrote:
> If at all. Let me say once again: Antarctica's ice caps will not
> collapse. The ice sheets which are breaking away from the continent now
> were already floating in the water. There is a difference between ice
> SHEETS and ice CAPS. Greenland's ice cap may collapse, resulting in a
> 3-9 meter rise in ocean levels, but this will require a rise in global
> temperatures exceeding 6-9 degrees celsius.
You may be right. But the big sheet that just collapse was famous. It
was on all the maps. it helped shape the continent as seen from space.
We now have to change all our maps. The outline that has remained
unchanged for tens if not hundreds of thousands of years suddenly is
gone in a single collapse. Maybe this won't be doomsday, but it is
probably the biggest geological event that humans have been around to
see. Maybe a volcano covers Pompeii, maybe small islands sink beneath
the sea, but this was major. Past warming had never done something like
this, as far as we know. Other ice shelves are also now threatened. I
agree disaster is not certain, but massive change of some sort is
certain. Things are changing now at a rate never done before.
I see no reason to assume that the environment is immune from the
ever-escalating rate of change we keep talking about. If humanity,
society, technology, civilization and everything else is transforming in
ways never before seen, why is it so difficult to believe that the
planet itself might be changing in new ways? Natural processes are no
more in control of the planet than evolution is still in control of
human destiny. We have passed that point. We are in control of the
planet now. We can't ignore it or assume it will take care of itself.
We have taken the helm and are calling all the shots. We are steering
its course. If it crashes and burns, it will be our own fault. If it
survives, it will be because of humanity's will to survive. There is no
"nature" left anymore. We have taken over.
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