Reply #73: James Hansen worries sea levels will rise 80 feet

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RapidCityJournal.com
A couple of really smart scientist guys disagree with you.


Sam Hurst, 2-26: It's already too late
By Sam Hurst, Journal columnist

"Pat Zimmerman is a conservative fellow. I'm not talking about politics. I have no idea what his politics are ... or his religion. I'm talking about science. He's no Cassandra. He makes no exaggerated speculations.

Pat is a professor of atmospheric science at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. We meet about every six months so that he can teach me about global warming. He's patient with me. He starts out slow. But invariably he forgets who he's talking to and by the time our main course arrives, I am lost in the chemistry of the greenhouse effect, the calculus of ocean currents and the elaborate ecological feedbacks of this complex problem. We had lunch last Tuesday, and Pat Zimmerman was different than I had ever seen him before. At first glance, he was the same old frumpy, spectacled professor. But he kept tapping his foot against the floor - faster and faster. The pitch of his voice was higher, more frantic. People at nearby tables began to listen to the tension in his voice. He seemed stressed out. Why?"

snip "Then there was the congressional testimony from James Hansen at NASA. When I first started reporting on global warming 15 years ago, Hansen was arguing that sea levels would rise 3 to 5 feet over a few hundred years. That was bad news for the Everglades and Bangladesh and Cape Cod, but there was time to do something about it.

Now Hansen is worried that sea levels will rise 80 feet! Eighty feet takes out the east coast. Zimmerman's descriptions of what is going on are laced with the word "exponential."" snip

The article goes on to describe how the glacial runoff disrupts the ocean currents, acting like a pump, adding to the ferocity of hurricanes here .... like Katrina. We've reached the tipping point --devastating tornados, fires brought on by drought that are destroying miles of our country.

At the end of the article, Sam Hurst asks Dr. Zimmerman what we can do for our children, who must live in this world we have helped create.

"Teach our children to think critically. They are going to need to know how to think."

To read this article in its entirety, go to http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/02/26/news/opinion/opin820.txt