Entire Nation of Kiribati to be Relocated

[digitS']

. . . over rising sea level threat.

Tiny country but . . . Fiji is a long, long way away!

FROM TELEGRAPH.CO.UK (click)

You can also click the "Low-lying Pacific islands consider building 'floating platforms'" in "Related Links" to read about what was being considered last year.

Steve

 

[OldGuy43]

Interesting Steve. The thing most people don't know/forget/ignore is that the sea levels have been much higher than they are now. Take a look at a map. Austin, Texas was once on the gulf coast. We live on a dynamic planet. It's always changing. It has, in the distant past been both much warmer and colder than it is today, and yet man loves to take the credit for global warming.

 

[hoodat]

There are entire large cities, mostly in the Mediteranean area, that are deeply submerged due to a combination of rising water levels and land subsidence. The sea levels in the ancient times when they were built were much lower than in our modern time.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

I couldn't agree more OG! When you understand that a single volcanic eruption releases more greenhouse gasses than have been produced by the entire human race it makes no sense to assume we are to blame for global warming. I don't think this gives us carte blanche to pollute the environment though. We may not have caused global warming but we certianly aren't taking good care of the planet.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

I couldn't agree more OG! When you understand that a single volcanic eruption releases more greenhouse gasses than have been produced by the entire human race it makes no sense to assume we are to blame for global warming. I don't think this gives us carte blanche to pollute the environment though. We may not have caused global warming but we certianly aren't taking good care of the planet.

Global warming is caused by the sun. Right now we are seeing the results of solar flares or tsumanis or whatever it is called.

I agree, we are called by God to be good stewarts of the earth. I don't think he meant for us to use Nuclear Power. This isn't the PC thing to say but I don't think using oil is a bad thing. The BP oil spill was very bad but the earth experiences worse spills every year with natural cracks in the oceans floor. And guess what mother nature took care of the spill and the sea food is OK to eat. They have tested it and it is fine. We should be responsible but I think that using oil is OK. Nuke .... no. The earth doesn't have a nature defense to that.

I also like hydro and wind. Solar not substainable really here in OH. I think we have the least amount of sunny days in the county but boy do we have a breeze. I hate the ethanol idea. Driving up corn prices and not really giving a good resource.

 

[nachoqtpie]

I believe that the world could run thru a combo of wind and solar technology. I don't believe that either is a 100% fit for all places. Take NC coast for example. Hubs and I have talked about getting solar/wind power when we build our forever home/farm. I at first said that we should look into getting a wind turbine, then I said no, because a hurricane would take it out in an instant!! Not that we have a lot of hurricanes here, but, I think that we have more sun than wind. The military base here uses solar hot water panels on every single new house they build on base. I believe that if they military can use it to heat water, we can use it to electrify our home!

 

[OldGuy43]

I hate the ethanol idea. Driving up corn prices and not really giving a good resource.

I couldn't agree more. Using our food supply to run our vehicles is a really bad idea in a long list of bad ideas!

 

[The Mama Chicken]

I don't think oil is inherently bad but it IS a finite resource. In 2008 there was a global 8% drop in oil production, I believe we have reached peak oil and that oil will just keep getting more expensive. Solar, wind and small scale hydro are all good for home use depending on location. I agree that ethanol from corn is not a good option for running vehicles, I believe that some research is being done using algae to make ethanol, but I'm not sure that's feasible either. I don't know what the solution will be, maybe it's time to invest in a horse and wagon...

 

[hoodat]

I don't see why tides aren't in common use. There are inlets all along all of our coasts that have tremendous rushes of water twice a day during the tidal changes. Closing the mouths to channel that force into a turbine such as is used at dams would seem obvious to me. If low dams were placed at the mouth the water from high tides could be stored to produce electricity even at dead tide.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

At this point there's just no money in the coffers for the infrastructure involved in getting alternative energy up and running nationwide.