The Link to the story here

Britain 2101: 'hot and diseased'

Parts of Europe will be lost to the sea and half of the continent's mountain glaciers and snowcaps will vanish in the next century as the effects of man-made global warming take hold, according to an authoritative report published today.

Northern Europe, including Britain, will become prone to increased flooding from heavier winter rainfall and higher sea levels while rising temperatures in southern Europe are likely to reduce agricultural productivity, a report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said today.

England is likely to become Mediterranean, the Alps will lose half their glaciers and snowfields, probably killing much of the skiing trade, and the temperature in southern Europe will become too hot for holidays.

The Americas will not escape either. Florida and parts of the US Atlantic coast are likely to be lashed by storms and rising sea levels, with the number of destructive hurricanes likely to rise significantly and to become more extreme in both wind speed and torrential rainfall.

It is the second volume of the report which talks of potentially enormous loss of life and economic costs. The panel is the most authoritative body of expertise on the subject, consisting of 700 expert scientists across the world.

The panel's reports are issued only after scrupulous examination and rigorous debate with government representatives and within the scientific community.

They report the arid conditions of northern Africa will probably cross the Mediterranean. Rising temperatures will bring increased risk of tropical diseases to Britain and the north of Europe with malaria returning after nearly 300 years. It would also increase agricultural productivity and reduce the number of cold-related deaths.

But changes farther south are likely to add to the pressures on Europe, bringing the possibility of human migration on a scale never seen before. The changing climate would put intolerable pressure on Africa, reducing rainfall still further, increasing coastal erosion and flooding - and possibly inundating the Nile Delta and the most productive parts of Egypt.

In Asia, tens of millions of people are likely to find their homes destroyed by rising sea levels, with potentially enormous loss of life.

Global economic losses from socalled natural catastrophes increased from about $4 billion per year in the Fifties to $40 billion in 1999. Total costs were in reality twice as high, taking into account smaller weather-related events. The report says that these already poorer countries would bear the brunt of devastating changes.

All this is likely to force mass migration of tens of millions of people.

Where those displaced from Asia and Africa will go is not made clear - but Europe appears the most likely destination. In the natural world, rates of extinction are likely to increase dramatically as habitat is wiped out.

Changing rainfall patterns coupled with population growth would lead to huge pressure on water supplies, the report predicted. At present 1.7 billion people live in areas where water resources are tight. This is likely to increase to around 5.4 billion in the next 25 years.

The report said that the change in temperature was most extreme and rapid in the polar regions and this would have potentially disastrous consequences. "Polar regions contain important drivers of change. Once triggered, they may continue for centuries, long after greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilised, and cause irreversible impacts on ice sheets, global ocean circulation and sea-rise."

In the United States, a sea-level rise would result in increased coastal erosion, flooding and the risk of storm surges, particularly in Florida and much of the Atlantic coast.

This report follows one published last month in Shanghai which predicted that global temperatures could rise by as much as 5.8C over the next century.

It said there was clear evidence that industrial pollution, including emissions from cars, was to blame. The third volume, on solutions, will be released next month.

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), February 20, 2001

Answers

In a similarly authoritative report, it was revealed that

"God don't make little green apples

and it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime"

Natives of Indianapolis, Indiana, and representatives of the International Union of Little Green Apple Growers immediately filed protests.

-- Chicken Little (cluck@cluck.com), February 20, 2001.

*Global warming "as a fact" is bullshit*

The point of the matter is, that it's up in the air.

Nobody really knows.

Anybody who says, "We know the truth about global warming", is just blowing smoke.

For every study that alarms, "Yes, it's true!" there's another one that says, "Bull".

And those are the facts.

The jury's not in yet.

That's the truth.

-- Chicken Little (cluck@cluck.com), February 20, 2001.

Big deal.

So in 25 or 50 years IF global warming is PROVEN to be true we simply send into orbit a giant screen between the Sun and the Earth. This screen would be like a window screen that keeps out bugs, but instead it's purpose would be to decrease the amount of the Sun's energy that reaches the Earth, thereby reducing "global warming".

Next problem?

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), February 20, 2001.

You really ought to start the patent process now if you haven't already, Unk. The Giant Screen idea is liable to be stolen by one of our resident geniuses. Hell, if you suggest the building of The Giant Screen be outsourced to faith-based organizations, our current president may just adopt it.

How have you remained out of elective office, Lord & High Master?

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 20, 2001.

The global warming exhibit at the Chicago Science Center says in 50 years the average temperature will go up 2 degrees.

I don't think we'll need the net, Unk ;-D

-- (Netsc@pe 6.0), February 20, 2001.

It won't snow in Minneanapolis in the wintertime

-- (RogerMiller@Branford.MO), February 20, 2001.

So in 25 or 50 years IF global warming is PROVEN to be true...we'll all be dead by then anyway. Fill 'er up!

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), February 20, 2001.

What the hell was that ?????????

I thought the damn house was falling down .

-- Chris (enquiries@griffenmill.com), February 20, 2001.

Uncle Bob,

Perhaps you should read the IPCC report rather than just simply post someone else's opinion on that report. The IPCC give six possible scenarios on climate change, and the one spoken of here is the most catasrophic but also the least likely to occur. Yet the media imediately jump on this one because it is the most sensational. Also the IPCC report doesn't say "Parts of Europe will be lost to the sea" it uses the term "...may be lost...".

Try to put a bit of rational analysis into what is said and suddenly it doesn't seem so frightening. If the world did heat up by 5.6 C over the next century then we have a climate very similar to that which existed during the medievil warm period (MWP to climatologists). Yes the world was around 5 degrees C warmer than now and the poles didn't melt. It was one of the most productive and least violent periods of the earth's history.

However, lets go one step further and examine the evidence for global warming. First off the idea that GW was happening was as a result of a computer model, not based on any real data. (GIGO) Average temperatures around the world have been increasing by 0.035 degrees per decade ever since the little ice age which only ended 150 years ago. Temperatures globaly are currently much colder than average. Is this global warming, or is it just a normal cycle in climate?

There simply is no eveidence for global warming, and the origional proponent of the idea (Dr Hanson) has now admitted to the UN that he made a mistake in some of his assumptions.

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), February 20, 2001.

Found on Clmate Change Debate

Intellicast.com Examines Overlooked Information in the Global Warming Debate; Recent Changes in Solar Activity May Portend Colder - Not Warmer- Temperatures Ahead

02/20/2001 Business Wire (Copyright (c) 2001, Business Wire)

BILLERICA, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2001--In recent years, there has been much said about global warming due to the Greenhouse Effect. Intellicast.com announced today it has posted a series of articles raising questions as to both the magnitude and cause of the warming, alerting readers to the possibility of an imminent global cooling due in part to changes that are already occurring on the sun.

According to government-released statistics from the global network of surface observations, the warming, which began in the 1880s, has accelerated in the last 20 years. The statistics rank the 1990s as the warmest decade on record with six of the top ten warmest years.

However, satellite and weather balloon data present a very different picture with little temperature change and even some slight cooling over the last two decades. Examination of all the data shows some features that are not indicative of a greenhouse warming. This data shows the warming is only at the surface, and it is almost exclusively at night and mostly in or around mid-latitude cities. In contrast, the Greenhouse Effect produces the maximum warming in the atmosphere, with higher temperatures both day and night and the greatest warming in the vast uninhabited Polar Regions.

"The warming that greenhouse proponents are using as evidence is much more consistent with local factors such as urbanization - or `Urban Warming' - than with the trapping of greenhouse gases," said Joe D'Aleo, chief scientist/meteorologist for Intellicast.com. "When you factor urbanization out, the real background warming is much, much less."

D'Aleo cites studies that show that the real global temperature changes over the past two centuries actually correlate very closely with the sun's activity. This suggests that the sun may provide clear evidence in the next few decades that it is the primary climate control factor.

"During this current 11-year solar cycle, the peak level of sunspot activity was 25 to 30 percent less than predicted," D'Aleo said. "A solar cycle with lower sunspot numbers means less energy input into our atmosphere resulting in slightly cooler temperatures. Historically, when the sun was quiet for several successive cycles, widespread global cooling, even `mini-ice-ages' took place."

Such quiet-sun, colder-temperature eras actually took place near the beginning of each of the last four centuries, suggesting this relatively quiet 11-year cycle may be more than just a singular aberration with more, perhaps even quieter, cycles ahead.

Intellicast.com has posted several articles on this new twist on climate change.

These articles can be accessed here and here.

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), February 20, 2001.

You aren't fooling anyone, MT. Toss out a briefcase full of FACTS why doncha, that we might be distracted from your true aim:

You want to manufacture and unfurl Unk's Giant Screen!

Too late, Malcolm. The patent process is underway. Preliminary papers have been filed with the U.S. and World Patent offices. You see, I'm a patent attorney. Yeah. That's what I am. Based in Washingtom, DC. With a bigggg office. And a puttin' green, for puttin'.

Anyone for Marching Up And Down The Square?

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 20, 2001.

"hot and diseased

Sounds like someone I know.

-- (nemesis@awol.com), February 20, 2001.

I insist that all casual talk of MY ‘Giant Screen’ cease at once or you will hear from my attorney, J. Reno, Esq.

Sincerely,

Al Gore

-- Go (sic@em.dano), February 20, 2001.

It is the second volume of the report which talks of potentially enormous loss of life and economic costs. The panel is the most authoritative body of expertise on the subject, consisting of 700 expert scientists across the world.

"There's simply no evidence for global warming..."

"The jury is not in yet..."

You people are shameless immoral idiots. Read the friggin' report by 700 scientists and come back with your "refutations," morons.

-- Idiot Right-Wing Denial (in@full.bloom), February 20, 2001.