Some Stray Thoughts on Global Warming

Some things have occurred to me regarding the global warming trend. It was recently brought to my attention that the Northwest passage is now open for travel and exploration. A giant peat bog is now available for playing around in - I think, in northern Canada. These are things we did not have since they were buried under tons of glacial ice. It is true that the sea level will rise, altering coastlines the world over and submerging most islands. But for anyone who has ever played Sim City, islands are not the best landforms for booming populations of humans. Unless we are planning on shrinking ourselves to take up significantly less space on this planet, or give up the American dream of owning our own chunk of land with a nice big house on it, we are going to be needing continental land mass for living on and growing crops.

God forbid if some terrorist nut cases end up nuking some part of the planet, that region will be uninhabitable for thousands of years, at least. Maybe the Iranian warlords over there in the Middle East might want to think about that for a while before they push the wrong button. I do believe al Quaida and the Taliban have a suicide wish - because that's what will happen if they even try such a tactic - the entire Middle East will be wiped out in less than a day.

There's more to the Global Warming situation than a lot of folks realize. First of all, as the ice melts, sea level will rise everywhere. However, there is a concept in geology called isostatic rebound. As glacial ice melts away, the excess weight on the continental plate is decreased. The continental plate takes advantage of this and buoyantly bobs upward, similar to a spring being released after the pressure is taken off. In the final analysis, we may all end up with more coastline, instead of less, once all the ice is done for.

Since it is melting anyway, and since we need as much fresh water as we can get. I believe that the best course of action would be to harvest as much of the fresh water from these glaciers as we can, before it all ends up in the saline sea water. We could build massive reservoirs and catchments to collect it in and transport it to parts of the planet where it will do the most good, where fresh water is most needed for growing crops and making life livable.

These were just a few thoughts I have scurrying around in my mind, of late. Until later...