Jim on FOX (again): Seas still rising
Fox Business News' Neil Cavuto had me on again to talk about climate change. But the "smoking gun" that some say makes climate scientists look like flip-floppers is really much ado about not much.
Mon, May 18 2009 at 12:02 PM EST
11
So Neil Cavuto had me on Fox Business News a second time to talk about climate change. Here’s the video:
The first time I was on, as you may recall, the subject was a report that sea ice is thickening in Antarctica. It is, and scientists are trying to explain it, but it hardly sends global warming science into a tailspin.
My return visit to Fox headquarters in New York was triggered by another seeming assault on the fortress that is climate science, this one also relating to Antarctica but about sea-level rise. A paper in the May 15 issue of Science, co-authored by Jonathan Bamber of the Bristol Glaciology Center in England, predicted that in the event of a total and cataclysmic meltdown of the West Antarctic ice sheet, seas would rise 10 feet instead of the previously assumed 20 feet.
Now let’s get this straight: The Science paper did not say that sea-level rise itself would be half what scientists had previously said (though some misleading headlines implied this). It relates only to the contribution by the West Antarctic ice sheet, and it said that all the ice would likely not collapse into the ocean—parts would remain grounded on the continent. That collapse should not be underestimated—West Antarctica holds 90 percent of the world’s ice—but it is hardly imminent. Our children and their children will probably have other things to worry about.
When and if the sheet does collapse, the effects will be most strongly felt in the southern Indian Ocean and the coastal U.S.—much of Southern Florida could disappear, says a University of Toronto/Oregon State study cited in Science Daily—but how it would unfold and when are still the subject of much debate. As the New York Times’ Andrew Revkin (who wrote a May 15 story on Bamber’s study) put it to me in an email, “This study was expressly a thought experiment about the worst-case, long-term outcome. The big question remains totally unanswered.” There’s a lively debate on all this at Revkin’s blog here.
Climate skeptics are not going to find a smoking gun that will “prove” that global warming is (to quote Senator James Inhofe) “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”) but absent that they want to just make climate scientists look like flip-floppers. But this study is probably not the best vehicle for such a mission.
The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those
providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of
MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies
with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy
of any of their information.
 WorldShares
lets you earn donations for your favorite nonprofit. Earn up to 20
points now.Learn More Earn Points
|
Twitter
Stumble
Digg
Share
CLOSE
link:
link:
| Previous Post My Commute Sucks.org: Documenting how we drive ourselves crazy | Next Post Obama regulates tailpipe greenhouse gas |
Comments
Janet Mill
06/01/2010 09:47 AM
That collapse should not be underestimated—West Antarctica holds 90 percent of the world’s ice—but it is hardly imminent.
club penguin cheats
Global Changes
05/21/2009 08:01 AM
When are FOX going to realize that the world has changed. Ignorance just doesn't cut it anymore. We ignored the problems in the banking system and look where that got us. We cannot ignore climate change
Leigh
05/22/2009 18:44 PM
No need to insult Democrats about the banking thing. Of course we cannot ignore climate change. That is why we must look at all data, not just the stuff that shows warming and glacial retreat, but the stuff that shows opposite trends as well. Ignorance doesn't cut it anymore, so stop regurgitating the mantras of the ignorant.
Anonymous
05/20/2009 17:05 PM
I dont understand Fox or anyone that sticks his or her head in the sand. If they would take a look around and see all that is going on now, droughts, floods, reduced crop yields around the world. Take a look at these links ocean is not rising the land is sinking.
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/news/environment-news/s...
.... More
ecpdancer
05/19/2009 17:06 PM
Jim sounds like he really read the report all the way through and understood it instead of just picking and choosing what he wanted to hear/promote. Way to go, Jim.
Keith
05/19/2009 16:32 PM
A continuous campaign by FOX and its commentators to un-educate people and stop progress in this country. It's incredible how short-sighted they can be; how does Cavuto thinks those trillions would be spent? In ice makers? It'd be all an investment in scientific research, technology innovation & development, regulation, etc. which at the ends translates to education, jobs, healthier products and environments, economic growth, better living standards, i.e PROGRESS! That word that used to be.... More
Leigh
05/22/2009 18:46 PM
...if all of those things that you listed could happen, but the people elected Obama, so there is little chance of that.
larrydalooza
05/19/2009 11:41 AM
The idea that humans MUST be affecting something so let's go find it... is what drives all this "climate change" nonsense. Yes, we could use less people and we should be clean and efficient... but, for cripes sake, the crying wolf crap is getting old.
tom
05/19/2009 10:40 AM
...It's POX Network. A Pox on the truth.
DMW
05/18/2009 21:39 PM
Neil Convuluted should be his name. Arrogant, stupid and proud. Fox - the network of simplicity. He's worried about the costs we're incurring now? The guy just doesn't get it.
Leigh
05/22/2009 18:48 PM
Many people actually would agree with that supremely ironic statement. That is the scary thing.
