Environmental crisis - part 3 - The Real Impact

Impact... Interesting word striking an effort. In the last two blog entries of this series we began exploring the crisis. This week Al Gore stated that the present environmental planning of the Conservative minority government regarding global warming was a fraud.

Certainly John Baird walks the fine line of appearing like a tiger regarding the environment while protecting his investment portfolio and his network of staggering rich buddies. The Conservative led minority government certainly appears new to the environment game. And a game it is.

Flying

Impact of flying. You see. Al Gore is flying around Canada. So is John Baird. A single traveler would cause less environmental damage by driving from city to city than to fly the distance. Also note that the great David Suzuki also flies around Canada trying to stop Global Warming.

Modern communication technology and modern architecture has eliminated the need for airplane travel. Business men do not have to travel from city to city. They can Conference Call by phone. With cameras over the internet a large group meeting can take place. And so on.

Choices. What if you said to a Chief Executive of any company who wants to fly to a branch plant a thousand miles away that he was only allowed to go by ground in a car or train, one can bet that there would be a phone call or internet chat as the alternative. Anyone should realize the majority of all airplane trips are unnecessary.

Driving

Much the same ratio applies to cars. If the gas prices are high people finally start asking whether or not this particular trip to the local corner store is really unnecessary if one finds that the car broke down and the short journey must be on foot.

One of the greatest ironies of modern North American or European existence is the use of a car to drive only a couple of miles to allow a person to go exercise at a gym or park. Long known is that a good long walk of any speed is the best possible exercise.

Indeed, every country could easily meet most of if not all Kyoto targets by restricting all unnecessary trips. I heard once an accurate assessment. It isn't the car that pollutes. It is the driver.

The Real Impact

One doesn't have to go too far to understand the real impact of global warming. The modern evaluations of the impact of Global Warming to paint the environment with a latex like coating of palatability. What is being expounded in most media is actually the best case scenario.

What is patently obvious and totally understandable is that the environmental wizbangers are just as guilty of understating the environmental impact of carbon fueled motive systems. People complain about polluting cars but not about the polluting jet aircraft that will wing them to a tropical winter vacation. So a large measure of self interest pervades the detail of the real problem.

The direction of Global Warming is far quicker than even the Kyoto Treaty solution. Kyoto was a comprimise solution. Anyone who actually studies this problem and is cursed with an embedded amalgam of honesty realizes that none of this will work. The Kyoto solution only slows the problem not reverses the direction of the gasification of the Terran biosphere.

Pretty snazzy words huh. But they are meant to convey a muted image of the real scenario by the use of techie bureau words.

The truth. The impact of Global Warming. In plain language.

100% certainty

Dislocation of large numbers of humans. And why?

About one hundred metres rise of sea levels in one hundred years globally. That is one metre or three feet per year on average.

All of Holland. Most of Denmark. Guyana. Vietnam (Mekong), Bangla Desh. Friesland in Deutshland. The Amazon basin. Prince Edward Island. A lot of Maritime Canada. New York. All of Manhattan. Any city in less than 80 metres ASL all gone.

One fifth of all humans rich or poor, regardless of race, on this planet will be displaced if our present lifestyle doesn't change. And they will all move to high ground.

Most of the coral islands in the Caribbean and Pacific. And every single major estuary under water. And this includes Canada.

Small minds surrounding John Baird give poor advice. They paint a rather sketchy sketch. What they are not telling anyone is that the rise in water will move the Atlantic up the St. Lawrence all the way up to Toronto. The new beach of a saline Lake Ontario will lap at King and Bay streets.

Grenadier Pond will have to be renamed Grenadier Bay. The recently renamed Skydome to Rogers Centre will get another name change to Rogers Marina. The ACC will have a new sport... water polo. Ontario Place will become Ontario Reef. And the suggestion about replacing the Gardiner, no problem it will be a causeway. And Captain John's floating restaurant will be wharved at the Royal York.

All those fancy homes on Toronto Island gone. Toronto Island Airport gone. Under 80 feet of salty water. Half of Hamilton all of downtown gone, okay so not all is that bad. All of Kingston, Belleville, Coburg. Fifty percent of Montreal... gone. Blub blub.

Its easy to figure out. Lake Ontario is listed about 230'ASL on the flight charts. Thats one hundred feet too low. Get one of those topological maps and draw a line around the 350' level. That's the new beach.

On the west coast. All of Victoria, Nanaimo. Port Alberni most of Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, gone. Oh all the west coast cities including Hope, Prince Rupert. Blub blub.

And here is the real irony 70' feet of water weighs a lot. So that not only will there be flooding but the extra weight of water on that part of the earth's crust will cause that area to sink further. So in two hundred years that high water mark could be as much as 380' and sinking annually.

Niagara Falls will fall directly into this new saline estuary. Its simple take a look at the altitudes. Remember anything under about 100 meters or 330' ASL will be under water if all the planets ice melts. And there is no diking system build that will cope with all the damage.

Now the John Baird, the MacKenzie Institute, and the Harper Conservatives whine about the cost of Canada's participation without giving the gigantic relocation costs if we do nothing. These alleged business people fail to extend the total cost profile regarding global warming.

Worst of all most of the globally dislocated peoples will look around for High Ground. And these are genuine refugees will move to that high ground. Canada will be forced to accept these refugees or face war.

80% Certainty

And don't Global Warming doesn't work. Not all the planet will get warmer. The Ocean currents are certain to either change or disappear. But this change is still unpredictable so we put it into the lower certainty.

It is likely that Norway, Sweden, Finland, Britain... Oh hell. All of Europe. All will get colder, much colder approaching. Iceland will truly be a land of Ice.

A Bowl of Cornflakes

If the Arctic and Antarctic Ice Caps disappear it means that the cold southerly flow of cold water will change and the Gulf Stream will certainly change course if not disappear altogether. It will make for a change of climate in Greece from the present balmy climate to the equivalent to that found in present day Hay River or Thunder Bay. So much for that years olive crop. France will have to learn to make Ice wine or Bourjelais de Ka Ka. The entire agricultural capacity of Europe will disappear including that of the Russian and Ukraine Steppes.

For the sake of brevity, I will not go into the huge damage to the natural environment. Hundreds of species will become extinct or to perilously low population levels. Vegetation will need time to adjust to the new climates. Huge tracts of agricultural land will become non-arable. Human starvation on a massive uncontrollable scale will occur.

These forecasts are accurate. They come from forty years of study, observation and impersonal discussion. I just want to impress on the reader the real face of Global Warming. It is poorly named. It should be called Global Heating. This is the face, the real face of the crisis. It isn't like a Love Canal or the Chernobyl disaster. Those were local issues, serious issues yes but still a localized problems. Humans and governments can cope with those issues.

This effects the planet's atmosphere. The improper and careless use of carbon fuels effects all the planet because the atmosphere blankets the entire planet not just part of it. It effects everyone. It effects future generations of humans and all life on this planet. We are pissing on a bowl of our own cornflakes.