-  Simon & Garfunkel

“GLOBAL WARMING IS YOUR FAULT”  

Lower polar ice levels = Higher sea levels.  

This isn’t rocket science, but it is "science."  There is a finite amount of H₂O on earth, all of which is either in the form of a liquid (water), a solid (ice and snow) or a gas (water vapor).  If one of these three forms of H₂O increases or decreases, there is an equal and opposite decrease or increase in either (or both) of the other two forms.  

When glacial and polar ice fields melt, oceans rise – "Basic Science."  

It is also "Basic Science" that says that burning of fossil fuels increases carbon dioxide emissions, which increases the “Greenhouse Effect,” trapping more heat in our atmosphere, causing global temperatures to increase, and hence causing glaciers and polar ice to melt and sea levels to rise.  

I know.  You’ve all heard this before.  And you’ve also heard an equal (or greater) amount of “disinformation” generated by the organized climate change denial groups who are doing everything that they can to maintain the status quo in regard to the burning of fossil fuels.  At this point, their goal is to keep the debate (or non-debate) alive as long as possible.   

The tobacco industry perfected this technique in the 20th century.  The energy industry hopes to duplicate this strategy in the 21st century.  They intend to keep the climate change issue "controversial" and "on the table” indefinitely, resulting in very little meaningful action taken on global warming in the United States for decades to come.      

Mankind cannot afford to wait for "decades to come."  In the words of former Vice President Al Gore, “Earth (is) in the Balance.”  

There are parts of the world that are already experiencing the devastating impact of global warming.  The low-lying atolls in the Pacific Ocean have lost a lot of real estate due to the rising seas.  Tonga, the Maldives, the Cook and the Solomon Islands have all experienced considerable loss of land.  The situation has become so dire in the island nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu, that these two countries, with populations of 100,000 and 10,000 respectively, are making plans for the evacuation of their homelands.    

As Anote Tong, the President of Kiribati, states in the video below, dealing with climate change is “the greatest moral challenge of humanity in this century, if not ever.”   

Recently, Australian climatologists issued a report that addresses climate change in the Pacific region.  As noted in this December news release:   

“The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, announced the release of a landmark research report Climate Change in the Pacific.  

This new information will be invaluable in supporting governments and communities to plan and prioritise adaptation responses.‘ 

Climate Change in the Pacific is being released with three new online tools to help Pacific Island countries understand how the climate is changing in the Pacific and is likely to change in the future,’ he said.  

The landmark report details future climate projections for 15 small islands states: East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Niue, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau.”  

Unfortunately for the nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu, it is too late to reverse the impact of global warming on their islands.  They can only hope to mitigate future problems by moving to higher ground or evacuating their homelands completely.  

Also unfortunately, the world has paid little attention to their plight, mainly because these island communities have no natural resources and have no impact on the other players in the global economy.  

Will other islands continue to be insensitive to the urgency of this issue?  

The Island of Manhattan – 2062?