Discussion to focus on rising sea levels
Rising sea levels, which are expected to threaten coastal property and wildlife increasingly during this century because of climate change, will be the focus of a public panel discussion this evening in Charleston.
Sea levels have been rising along the South Carolina coast at the rate of about one foot per century, but most scientists expect sea levels to rise significantly more in this century as the oceans warm and polar ice melts from global warming.
A highlight of the presentation tonight is expected to be a short video intended to demonstrate visually how rising sea levels could impact Charleston, Mount Pleasant and the barrier islands.
The Southeast Coastal Climate Network will host the panel discussion at the main branch of the Charleston Library, 68 Calhoun St., from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Scheduled speakers include Orrin H. Pilkey, professor emeritus of Earth & Ocean Sciences at The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University; the Rev. Michael McClain, regional coordinator of the National Council of Churches; John Clark, director of the South Carolina Energy Office; and several city officials and members of Charleston's Green Committee.
The video, "Rising Seas: Challenges and Opportunities for the Lowcountry," was developed by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and produced by Open Dome Productions using Google Earth imagery developed by Architecture 2030, a group that advocates a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants.
Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postand courier.com.
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Comments
This article has 5 comment(s)
Posted by number1volsfan1 on August 28, 2008 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Just more liberal environmental "doom and gloom". Is King Al in town?
Posted by mkris on August 28, 2008 at 2:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hope none of you have any children or grandchildren in the next generation. They will blame you for the climate and political troubles they will be forced to address because of your stupidity.
Posted by iceman1978 on August 28, 2008 at 5:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sea levels have risen and fallen in the past and there's not very much that we can do about it. On a long enough time scale everything within 50 miles of our current coastline will be underwater. The problem I have with the global warming theory is that I find it hard to believe that our actions can cause so much damage on such a short time scale. It's not to say that we shouldn't take precautions in safegarding our environment, but at the same time we shouldn't base our future plans on what they're projecting to happen over the next 100 years. They can't even predict with full accuracy where a hurricane will go.
Want to know what's more harmful to the atmosphere? Volcanos. Krakatoa, Tambora and Pinatubo were some of the worst eruptions in the past two-hundred years. Tambora released so much pumice and ash that 1816 became known as 'the year without summer'. 1816 was one of the worst years for food shortages and caused crop failures across New England which sent many people heading south or west in search of better areas.
Krakatoa sent shock waves that circled the globe seven times and caused the sky to turn a shade of orange, the moon blue and the sun red. Remember the painting done in Norway by Edvard Munch known as "The Scream"? His inspiration in making the sky that color came from the effects of Krakatoa.
Posted by iceman1978 on August 28, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My honest assessment of global warming has more to do with the role that is played by mankind rather than whether or not it is occurring. I honestly believe that when you consider the age of the earth, that mankind has not been in existence long enough to make this assumption. When you look through human history at what has been assumed by the scientific community of previous generations; you can come to the conclusion that previous generations felt just as certain in their predictions as people do today. I believe that it is our moral duty though to be good stewards of the planet and that if we wish to survive as a species that we should address issues of pollution on all levels. I also strongly believe that in order for our economy to remain prosperous that we must develop alternative and sustainable methods by which we produce energy. On the issue of global climate change I believe that just as our technology changes, so will our assessment of the situation on global climate change. It is likely that in the future we will have developed better models to predict changes in the climate patterns. Dr. William Gray http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._... of Colorado State University is not only considered an expert on the subject of hurricane activity, but is also a skeptic of global warming. As early as 2005 Dr. Gray stated the following:
“Despite the global warming of the sea surface of about 0.3 C that has taken place over the last 3 decades, the global numbers of hurricanes and their intensity have not shown increases in recent years except for the Atlantic.” –Dr. William Gray, November 18th, 2005.
Also in 2005, when appearing before a Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works, Dr. Gray questioned our ability to make accurate weather forecasts into the next hundred years, forecasts which cannot be verified within our lifetime. He further went on to state that our ability to predict weather patterns on a much shorter timescale is questionable. Dr. Gray has also stated that we could end up going into a cooling period in the near future. Consider the following statement which appeared in the Denver Post in December of 2006:
"I don't question that, and humans might have caused a very slight amount of this warming. Very slight. But this warming trend is not going to keep on going. My belief is that three, four years from now, the globe will start to cool again, as it did from the middle '40s to the middle '70s." –Dr. William Gray, December 26, 2006.
http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/for...
Posted by iceman1978 on August 28, 2008 at 6:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
RW, Thanks. I wrote that myself. It was taken from a book that I'm working on where I discuss global warming, the history of hurricanes and volcano eruptions, how the hurricane activity goes in cycles and how it coincides with population growth along the southeast and Gulf of Mexico. The second chapter is on environmental policy and renewable energy and the third is the war on terror and the history of the Cold War.
I don't worry about Iran in the short term but I do consider them a more immediate threat than climate change. The most likely scenario is that if they develop nukes then we could end up with a regional arms race in the Middle East. It's a whole other topic. I would love to share my views on the subject of Iran but I'm about to do some yard work before it gets dark. I'll be back on in about an hour.