Here’s a scary newspaper headline: “Could global warming turn R.I. into the under-Ocean State?” The answer to that question could only be, “Yes.” And so it was in a one-sided report in a Rhode Island newspaper.
A news article in the March 22 Providence (R.I.) Journal by G. Wayne Miller details how a portion of the beautiful harbor town of Newport will be underwater due to the effects of anthropogenic global warming by the year 2100.
“The ocean covers the place where once-popular Perrotti Park used to be. The park benches that stood on dry land are gone. So are the water fountain and coin-operated binoculars through which visitors once observed the harbor,” Miller wrote. “Adjacent to the park site, America’s Cup Avenue is history, too, along with the harbormaster’s building and the salon, restaurant and stores that did business on nearby Long Wharf. It is 8:16 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2100.”
I think this is just wishful thinking.
No No No…
The world will end in 2012. Because the movie says so.
Maybe, it’s not a good idea to promote that Blue states will disappear because of global warming…
Kevin Costner chased by the Intermission Monster. ;P
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The US needs to act now! Dig a trench to the western states from the East Coast so that drought-stricken lands will get the water they’ll need.
I guess there is an upside to everything!
If you’ve ever wandered past the “cottages” of Newport, you’d know there’s lots of Red State dollars owning that waterfront. Especially including the old-line tobacco families.
I can foresee a generational conflict arising in those moneyed clans.
Good article. I like this response to the idea that you’re newspaper is going under; just report all the news ahead of time while you’re still around. The Boston Globe should do this too.
You must be very careful when dealing with anyone who has Wayne for their middle name.
From Chuck Sheppard’s News of the Weird for the week of 3/15/09
The Classic Middle Name (all-new!)
Arrested Recently and Awaiting Trial for Murder: Kevin Wayne Dunlap, Hopkinsville, Ky., October; Richard Wayne Smith, Marietta, Ga., January; Joshua Wayne Cubbage, St. Helens, Ore., February; Timothy Wayne Murray, Slidell, La., convicted on a 2005 cocaine possession charge in March 2009 while awaiting trial for a 2006 murder. Indicted for Murder: Arnold Wayne McCartney, Lewis County, W.Va., March; Arthur Wayne Blood, Pendleton, Ore., March. Convicted of Murder: Michael Wayne Charles, Beaumont, Texas, October; John Wayne Graves Jr., Lancaster, Pa., November; Michael Wayne Sherrill, Charlotte, N.C., February; Douglas Wayne Hall II, Richmond, Ky., February. Sentenced for Murder: Charles Wayne Warden, Brownsville, Texas, January. Murder Conviction Upheld on Appeal: Thomas Wayne Weaver, Gastonia, N.C., February. Executed for Murder: Kenneth Wayne Morris, Huntsville, Texas, March. Died in Prison Awaiting Retrial for Murder: Michael Wayne Jennings, Martinez, Calif., convicted of murder in 1984 but granted a retrial in 2002. Dunlap: [Times Leader (Princeton, Ky.)-AP, 10-27-08] Smith: [Marietta Daily Journal, 1-12-09] Cubbage: [South County Spotlight (Portland, Ore.), 3-4-09] Murray: [Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 3-3-09] McCartney: [MSNBC-WBOY-TV (Clarksburg, W.Va.), 3-4-09] Blood: [KTVZ-TV (Bend, Ore.)-AP, 3-5-09] Charles: [Beaumont Enterprise, 10-30-08] Graves: [Lancaster New Era, 11-7-08] Sherrill: [Charlotte Observer, 2-20-09] Hall: [Lexington Herald-Leader, 2-28-09] Warden: [Brownsville Herald, 1-30-09] Weaver: [Charlotte Observer, 2-25-09] Morris: [United Press International, 3-5-09] Jennings: [Contra Costa Times, 3-3-09]
I guess those polar caps on mars are melting from car exaust?
So, we are back to Global warming this week huh?
I really need to find out the rule for this. From what I can tell we call it Global Warming during summer, and Climate change during the winter. Does that about sum it up?
I predict the Providence Journal will be “under water” by 2010.
Why is it a one sided article when it supports the Global Warming argument, and well reasoned journalism when it doesn’t?
Assuming all the Land locked Ice melts then most of the east coast as we know it, not just Rhode Island, will be submerged. On the other hand the process will be so slow that there will be plenty of time to move actually important things. You know, historical landmarks further inland, Politicians further out to see to insure they don’t survive…
The sub 100 year time table is a bit on the quick side though. Even assuming all the continental ice is going to melt it will take a long time. Just do the math, the process is well understood.
Climate change can be appallingly fast and has been according to people who study the evidence left in the Earth but anyone who thinks they know for sure which way the climate is going to be heading six weeks from now doesn’t know jack because climate is as unstable as the weather.
It’s nice to pretend we know and have some sort of control over it but don’t count on it.
Well, they certainly provided the links to back up their statement. And, they certainly stayed with the optimistic reports, as advertised. This cannot be called alarmism by any stretch of the imagination. If alarmism was the goal, they’d have gone with something more like this.
http://tinyurl.com/c324qd
They even accurately reported the range of information about ice melt. We know that the sea will rise by a certain amount depending on the exact rise in temperature simply due to the expansion of the ocean.
How much the ice will melt is the real question. So far, all indication is that the ice is melting far faster than anyone expected. Kilimanjaro is almost ice free. Greenland is having ice quakes at many times the normal rate and appears to be melting from the bottom, which causes it to slip into the ocean faster.
We don’t know how fast the ice will melt.
What are we willing to bet on the majority of climate scientists in the world being wrong? Why will we not take action when we know that all actions to prevent global warming are actions we must take anyway, regardless of warming? How stupid are we?
#2 – Paddy-trOll,
Florida and Louisiana are blue? News to me. Even in NYC, it will be Wall Street hit hardest. And, the traders are nearly all repugs.
Ah what the hell, so if you now own a nice shore front house on Cape Cod… party with cookouts on the beach while you can, soon it may turn out that fish will eventually be swimming around in the living room, crabs hiding in the wood stove. Who cares, whatever will be will be.
Sell it soon, head inland and buy a foreclosed estate in the Berkshire Mountains to keep the party going.
#9 – Bob,
So, we are back to Global warming this week huh?
I really need to find out the rule for this. From what I can tell we call it Global Warming during summer, and Climate change during the winter. Does that about sum it up?
I think you may be hung up on a name. Global warming, climate change, global heating, ….
Different people have different preferences. Some like to stick with the original, global warming because everyone knows it. Some like climate change because it more accurately reflects that while the whole globe is warming, some parts may experience more, while some experience less, or even cool (especially Europe if the gulf stream stops).
A rose by any other name …
Get over it.
As a weekend ProJo subscriber, I drank my first cup of coffee reading this drivel, which was front page on the Sunday edition (if that wasn’t clear in the article).
I recently dropped my daily weekday delivery. When I get the mandatory phone call asking why I did so, I’ll point out this article, which contains all of the reasons packed into one article.
All during this hyped up scare of what might happen 50 to 100 years from now. NOBODY was even one tenth as concerned about the financial mess that was developing. And that, as we now know, wasn’t a century off, from becoming a “meltdown”. It’s right now!! It took maybe 20 years, since the US Congress pulled all the stops out on regulating the banking industry, to end up as it is now.
And there still is not very much concern about what all this deficit spending, today, bail out the banks and “jumpstart” the economy, will lead to a few more decades hence. But Oh, let’s throw a tizzy about Global Warming, a decades before we even start to see any concrete evidence that it might be real, and caused by man. Well I’m so glad to hear that in spite of everything, we have the ready cash to burn, to reverse global weather trends. Come on people! We are not freaking gods. Regardless of what Al Gore might think. We don’t control the bloomin weather. We never have. We’re lucky if we can even reasonably predict what it will do for more than a few days, in advance. And SUDDENLY, all this power has gone to our collective heads. And it’s believed we know what will happen 50 or more years from now?! Well the world of international finance is far more predictable that the world’s weather. And if this current mess is any indication at just how badly we can get it wrong. Then we shouldn’t be betting (or spending) billions (or trillions) on what we believe the world’s climate will do.
This crap is the 21th century of the tulip investment scandal. Look it up (Wiki it). When whole fortunes were spent on (of all things) rare tulip bulbs. That is until everyone started to wise up to the mania they were involved in. And the “tulip bubble” burst. Fortunes disappeared overnight, and bulbs by the thousands, rotted. It seems completely silly to us now, that people invested so much in “rare” plant bulbs, just because somebody said they were rare and worth a lot. But we (as gullible humans) keep falling for the same sales pitch. But with new “commodities”, such as carbon dioxide. Good grief! Al Gore has us blowing billions on atmospheric gas. And it’s naturally occurring too. Not just what vehicle and factories put into it. Plants, volcanos, THE OCEANS! All contributing far more CO2 that what us humans can. But Gore’s got us investing in Tulip, er… Carbon Futures. Oh yeah, Mr. Occidental Oil, who hasn’t sold a nickel of his stock shares, wants the rest of us to piss away everything that is already (by definition) up in smoke. How clever is that?!!
I’m sorry, the line about the coin-operated binoculars really got to me. What can we do to save them?
Glenn,
But Gore’s got us investing in Tulip, er… Carbon Futures.
Can you show us any place where carbon futures are required? So far, they seem to be a dud in the market.
# 15 Misanthropic Scott said, “Florida and Louisiana are blue? News to me. ”
LA no. Florida, yes. Did you know that there was an election in Nov 2008?
So we’re caring about Rhode Island now?
#23 – Paddy-O,
Yes. Does one election of one candidate out of many change the entire color of a state? If so, the entire nation just turned blue.