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Of course, global warming does present major challenges for human beings and other species.
For
humans, the worst problem would probably be rising oceans, which could
displace tens of millions of people. However, to say that
human-generated global warming is causing the oceans to rise, as many
global-warming activists charge, is a simplification.
Since the
last glaciation ended 12,000 years ago the oceans have risen 120 metres
(400 feet), and that's without any discernible human carbon input until
the last few centuries. Ocean levels are currently rising about four
millimetres a year (that's a fraction of an inch).
If
carbon-dioxide emissions are causing the ocean rise, then the human
contribution to this rise is a mere three per cent (97 per cent of
carbon emissions every year are natural). So, rather than the oceans
going up 40 centimetres in 100 years, which is about what the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts, human carbon input
will cause the same ocean rise in 97 years, a mere three years earlier.
In
other words, humanity has to deal with rising oceans whether we slash
our carbon footprint or not, and a century (or 97 years) is plenty of
time to prepare for the flooding.
So, are there are troubles
ahead due to global warming? Of course there are if the planet keeps
warming (in the 1970s, the climate scientists thought we were heading
for another ice age).
But to say that global warming will lead to
"oblivion," to the planet "burning up," to its "demise," is not only
untrue, it shows an astounding lack of knowledge of the planet's
climate history. Source
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