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."
Miller explained that was the "most optimistic" of scenarios, despite the rising tide of skepticism that the globe is warming, or as WGN-TV in Chicago on March 22 proposed the globe could be cooling due to a decline in sunspot activity. Miller's article ran to nearly 1,100 words and didn't include a single voice of dissent from global warming alarmist orthodoxy.
"This is no science-fiction scenario," Miller wrote. "This is the most optimistic real-life projection that scientists today make for the year 2100 -- a year in which some people born in 2009 will still walk the earth. A less optimistic scenario calls for the sea to rise 19 feet from today. If that happens, fish would swim where this article was written, in downtown Providence."
The solution - alternative energy, according to Grover J. Fugate, director of Rhode Island's Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC).
"We're going to have find ways of getting a hold of this carbon monster," Fugate said to the Providence Journal. "There is a sense of urgency. Some of the climate scientists are giving us essentially two decades before this train can't be turned back. Unfortunately, we as society often wait for more visible signs. And by the time you get visible signs, a lot of times it's too late."
These pleas for costly, less-effective non-carbon energy sources by the state's CRMC come at a time when Rhode Island's economy is facing the brunt of the nation's economic woes. The state's unemployment rate is at 10.5 percent - third highest in the country behind only Michigan and South Carolina.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Rhode Island under water
March 23, 2009 - 11:40 ET by merlin61Yah, yah, yah, blah, blah, blah. The world
could end, the sky could fall, fear mongering,
and Al Gore's wallet is tingling.
I can recognize a metaphor
March 23, 2009 - 11:57 ET by ConservativeRexI can recognize a metaphor when I see one. What Miller meant is, The Providence Journal is going under water.
He is just another in a long line of media types seeking a bail-out with taxpayers money.
... and if that doesn't
March 23, 2009 - 11:59 ET by SickofLibs... and if that doesn't work, they can try deep space warming next.
Would we really miss R.I.?
March 23, 2009 - 12:11 ET by aakaakaakWait, so R.I. sinking into the ocean and the dissolusionment of a state full of Democrats is supposed to be a bad thing?
wow! everyone fire up
March 23, 2009 - 16:31 ET by UndercoverConservativewow! everyone fire up their grills! burn everything you can! Start up that old 70's Buick! We gotta keep this thing rollin'! With enough momentum, maybe we can sink Massachusetts too! :P
I do feel sorry for the sharks and carrion eating fish that'll have to eat all the hypocritical leftists though. Yuk!
"to call an illegal immigrant an "undocumented alien" is like calling a streetcorner drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist".
"You spend your money anyway you want and respect other's rights to do the same&quo
Going Down with the Ship/State
March 24, 2009 - 00:12 ET by Lakewood BobI believe all the democrat politicians should go down with the state like a good captain goes down with his ship! And take Al Gore with you.
Yup - the sea is rising. Let's look at the data
March 23, 2009 - 12:13 ET by Gary HallYup - the sea is rising. Let's look at the historical data.
Mean Sea Level Trend 8452660 Newport, Rhode Island
Instantly one can note that the mean trend line has quite a stable characteristic to it - just keeps plugging along at a 10 inch rise per 100 years. Now just how do we get from 10" / 100 yrs. to:
It would be fun to overlay a temperature chart, or even better a CO2 chart - which shows that CO2 has increased significantly since the 1940-50's, but nothing else happened. What did the sudden increase in CO2 do to the trend line of rising seas at Newport? Natathing. Just plugging along minding it's own long term cyclic trend.
We recently had a similar story here in CA. It was accompanied by colored maps showing how the local area would be under water by the expected 55 inch rise by the end of this century. The historical trend from NOAA for Los Angeles - at a mere 3 1/4 inch rise per century - and no visable change on the chart here either.
Next week's news? "New study suggest that sea level will suddenly begin to accelerate by the end of this decade. As researchers scramble to understand the reasons why sea level rise has not played nice with their predictions, they discovered...."
(;~/ gary
just want to share some stuff
March 23, 2009 - 13:12 ET by katainkentI used to make charts for business presentation so I thought I'd share this flyer that Rhode Island is posting for handing "preparation" for the inevitable sea rising I don't profess to know a ton about AGW but I got a particularly good laugh from the one on page 11.
katainkent - see page 29
March 23, 2009 - 16:27 ET by Gary HallThat's pretty good. I see that on page 9, they've taken the sea level record and the historic trend is clearly shown - but wait, the IPCC projected models are plotted back to 1990 - yet there's no change (and during these past rather warm 18 years) to the trend line. Fancy that!
All of these folks should spend their time doing what they are doing on page 29.
go paddle out to sea...
gary
It's not that steady
March 24, 2009 - 05:21 ET by danboEyeballing your NOAA chart. From 1930 to about 1960 mean sea level went from about -0.28 to about +0.08 or about 0.36 or 0.12/decade. From 1960 till about 1998 it increases by about 0.12 or roughly 0.05/decade. (Actually sea level went south to steady for most of that period till about the year of the super El Nino of 98.
Most interesting since 1998 it's dropped by by 0.18.
So I since AGW causes everything. I must conclude that AGW is causing sea level to drop at Newport.
Limited Disclosure: I used to belong to the Sierra Club untill they went crazier. Worse of all, I was bribed by Exxon with free New Orleans Saints glasses with fill ups in the 70's.
How ironic that the same
March 23, 2009 - 12:18 ET by MassConservativeHow ironic that the same whackjobs who want to "save the planet" for future generations have no problems supporting a President looking to bankrupt the very people who will be here to enjoy that planet.
"There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them." - Tom Delay
Drink Kool-Aid and Swim
March 23, 2009 - 12:21 ET by dboR.I. is going under water? Gee...I didn't know. Isn't it amazing what an increase of 0.0001 more CO2 than 150 years ago in the atmosphere can do?
"Could global warming turn R.I. into the under-ocean state?"
March 23, 2009 - 13:14 ET by jdlybrandWell... we can only hope!
Global Warming in 2100!
March 23, 2009 - 14:10 ET by blazermaniacLike any of us are going to be alive to see that take place!
Under Water Global Warming
March 23, 2009 - 14:55 ET by UgottaBkiddinMeThe Bible says that Hell is in the center of the earth and its borders are ever expanding. This could explain all the volcanic activity...the pressure needs to be released somehow. It may also be the cause of all the severe adverse weather in the past few years. That's where you'll be if you reject Jesus Christ.
If you reject truth all you're left with is a lie.
Don't You Just Hate Facts?
March 23, 2009 - 15:01 ET by dboDespite all the doom and gloom and apocalyptic predictions, sea level rise in Rhode Island (Longitude 289-Latitude 41) in the last 15 years has been absolutely zero.
They can put new park
March 23, 2009 - 16:26 ET by goldboughThey can put new park benches further up the beach. I don't know if a 100 year old bench is that much good anyway when they're probably pretty cheap. Also, who wants a 100 year old water fountain?
Good Riddance.
March 23, 2009 - 17:36 ET by farstar99The coasts are hopelessly infected with liberalis dumbtuchusis, anyway.
2100?
March 23, 2009 - 19:54 ET by pmohbuckLet me guess this scenario ... The earth finds a way to cool and cleanse itself of the radiation from the nuclear war iran started in 2010 that wiped out mankind ... And more importantly, the rainforests ;)
.... And we're suppose to worry about the year 2100 ... Pfft!