This is a Long Term Issue for Civic Planners

February 16, 2009 by mike.

I guess there is some justice or karma at work with the conclusions of a recent study that indicates the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet will have unexpected impact on North America.

The solution to global warming is global. The solution is to stop thinking about growth and start thinking about sustainability.

There is an amazing opportunity right now with the collapse of unsustainable economies to promote a global recovery based on sustainable economies.

clipped from latimesblogs.latimes.com It was bad enough when the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)–the agglomeration of the world’s top climate scientists–predicted in 2007 that the globe’s oceans would rise by 16.5 feet if the West Antarctic ice sheet were to melt. But now comes a new study projecting that, in California and along the West Coast, the rise would be as much as 30% higher–21.5 feet. The National Science Foundation, which partly financed the research, posted a video of the researchers discussing their findings. “There is widespread concern that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet…may be prone to collapse in a warming world,” the researchers wrote. But author Peter U. Clark, a geosciences professor at Oregon State, cautioned, “It may not happen for hundreds of years, and even then it may not melt in its entirety.” Nonetheless he suggested, “If you are planning for sea level rise, you had better plan a little higher.”

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