Scientists are now reporting that thanks to global warming the ice that covers most of Greenland is melting more rapidly than previously believed. According to the report, the sea level would rise about 23 feet if the entire ice sheet were to melt. Now, it might take a couple of hundred years for this to happen, so it’s not something we would see in our lifetimes.
But where Nature is concerned, it’s impossible to be sure of anything. Would it happen faster if atmospheric warming increased at a faster rate? And what about when the melt of Arctic and Antarctic ice are taken into account?
The atmosphere is a complex mix of gases. As the level of carbon dioxide in that mix has increased, I’ve wondered if there’s a point of no return — that is, a point at which it would be impossible to begin to reverse that trend. Which is why I must now consider the possibility that President Bush’s own reversal on alternative energy may be too little too late. I can’t help but remember that since the early 1970s and the beginnings of the environmental movement it’s been mostly conservative Republicans who’ve rejected the kinds of policy changes that might have avoided the catastrophe we may now be facing. When NASA’s James Hansen explained the greenhouse effect and warned of the threat of global warming in 1988, he was pretty much ridiculed. He’s since been vindicated of course, but maybe it’s too late.
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