Vast Antarctic Ice Shelf on Verge of Collapse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qczUcQ-VjM

Here is something we can all do. Turn out for Earth Hour 2008. Turn off your lights for one hour starting at 8PM this Saturday, March 29.

Futuregen: yes., or turn it into something sexual. People on the whole seem to always be drawn to sex scandals You know, "hot glacial action in Antarctica... watch the ice shelves tremble and climax into the warm wetness"...

We need to send Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton and Micheal Jackson down there to cover the story.

dude, I don't know the impact, but they say summer sea ice could be gone in as little as 5 years or summer 2012, any one know what kind of impact that would have on the world? positive feedback loops?

wow, I had not heard of this.....

Hmm, Stephen, "The Real World Antarctica"...That's it what it has come down to. And Al Gore had the satellite that could have given us a 24 hour look at this world from the sunlit side from Lagrange -1 in deep space in Triana, but Congress pushed that down too, the idiots.

http://current.com/items/88806880_why_was_nasa_s_dscvr_al_gore_s_triana_really_g...

It seems to me that Gore did try to put this information into layman's terms, in An Inconvenient Truth, and even gained International recognition with the Nobel prize for doing so....BUT, too many Americans view global warming as a political issue rather than a planet issue. In fact, I've seen actual scientific papers indicating that global warming, while occuring, is a GOOD thing for life on earth as it will increase the terrestrial plant life (more CO2 and more land available from land previously occupied by ice) which will, in turn increae animal diversity. And the world will be a better place.

http://www.oism.org/pproject/s33p36.htm
(see conclusion)

While money can certainly buy any scientific study, this is why people in the US don't generally think, or care, about this as a problem. So sadly, by the time Americans step up enough to make a difference there will be nothing left for anyone to do but shut up and put a life jacket on.

But don't let that stop us from trying!!

derk,
I partly agree with you on the translation thingy. AND....Not much of this matters to so many people because it is not in their own back yard effecting their own property. So , all the translation may not amount to a hill of beans. It is so damn frustrating to see the selfishness spell that has America so shut down to global responsibility.

derk, that's partly the media's responsibility, to put it into plain talk. it's partly all of our responsibilities as educators and media specialists.

Jan, I think it will be important for people to see these events either on video or in photos. Maybe not quite by putting 7 silver spoon-fed college brats on Antarctica (although i'd love to watch them freeze to death), but definitely get some cameras in there or up in space to show exactly what 7 Manhattans of ice floating in the ocean and melting away faster than anyone can say "we're fucked" looks like.

Good idea. I will definitely do some research on that.

I guess it's up to us ... we need to make some sort of calculator ...

derk: I couldn't agree with you more.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/071205/afp/071205051455asiapacificnews.html

Sinking Indonesian islands. It has started, but as Al Gore and other scientists have stated we still have time to slow this down if we work to lower our own emissions. But it seems all we do is just slow down watching this happen as if it were a car crash on the highway we rubberneck to see and then just move along. Just like those cerntruies ago who condemned those who claimed the world was round, and who claimed the sun not the Earth was the center of the universe. We don't have time to argue with these same people this time out who want to claim this isn't happening as more information contrary to that continues to make itself known. Are all the scientists wrong?

I totally agree ... but someone needs to translate all this science talk into common speak.

Like this - which I got from the link (thanks!) you just posted:

"The Ross ice shelf, for example, is the main outlet for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which harbors several large glaciers that contain the equivalent of about 16 feet of global sea-level rise."

More succinctly: What is the measurable impact of 220 square miles of ice breaking off from Antarctica?

I fear that until scientists can begin communicating in a language everybody understands - instead of their own dialectic - these situations will continue to go un-noticed and uncovered by the (mainstream) media.

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/antarctic-04m.html
The potential for sea level rise, which is already occurring off the coasts of India and Indonesia. The portent of things to come if we don't start taking this seriously.

So what's the impact of this?? The article doesn't say and now I'm really freaked out ...