Sobering Thought

Here's a snippet from The Independent on the glaciers in Greenland and the rapid increase in the melt. This is serious business folks. Can you just imagine the financial impact of the world's oceans rising by 20 or so feet? Good bye London, Hong Kong, Sydney, New York, Boston, etc., it is a very sobering thought. Not only will a major portion of the UK disappear under water but the climate in Northern Europe will drastically change for the worse without the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream.

Granted, it is probably too late to do anything about it but we should at least begin planning for the upheaval.

Greenland's glaciers have begun to race towards the ocean, leading scientists to predict that the vast island's ice cap is approaching irreversible meltdown, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

Research to be published in a few days' time shows how glaciers that have been stable for centuries have started to shrink dramatically as temperatures in the Arctic have soared with global warming. On top of this, record amounts of the ice cap's surface turned to water this summer.

The two developments - the most alarming manifestations of climate change to date - suggest that the ice cap is melting far more rapidly than scientists had thought, with immense consequences for civilisation and the planet. Its complete disappearance would raise the levels of the world's seas by 20 feet, spelling inundation for London and other coastal cities around the globe, along with much of low-lying countries such as Bangladesh.

More immediately, the vast amount of fresh water discharged into the ocean as the ice melts threatens to shut down the Gulf Stream, which protects Britain and the rest of northern Europe from a freezing climate like that of Labrador.