Sundance Conference on Global Warming

For those who have stuck with this blog, you know that I have made specific recommendations as to what needs to be done regarding global warming, mostly based on the programs put forward by Architecture 2030. This is all based on the knowledge that global warming is directly related to energy use and that building operations consume approximately 50% of our fossil fuels.

While the Federal Government offers platitudes about "voluntary programs" the world around us is changing. The arctic icecap is shrinking at an increasing rate. We were warned about this in 2003, in 2004, and we were warned again just this week.

The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at a record low, scientists said last night. Experts said they were "stunned" by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as Britain disappearing in the last week alone. So much ice has melted this summer that the north-west passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the north-east passage along Russia's Arctic coast could open later this month. If the increased rate of melting continues, the summertime Arctic could be totally free of ice by 2030.

The rate of melt of the arctic ice is paralleled by the rate of melt / movement of the Greenland glaciers. Like the arctic ice cap, the rate of change is much greater than predicted. As the Time article suggests, maybe the meltdown has begun.

The usual argument put forth by global-warming skeptics for why we shouldn't rush to do anything yet is that the science behind climate change is uncertain--and in fact it is. While there's little doubt that humans are helping heat up the planet, the questions of how much, how quickly and leading to what consequences are fiendishly difficult to pin down. That's because the actual climate is still far more complicated than any existing computer model can accurately reflect, making predictions iffy at best. Some natural processes nobody has yet thought of could end up blunting the severest impact of global warming.

Or, conversely, they could make the impact even worse than expected.

While the Feds do little or nothing, the US Conference of Mayors is pro-active. With little media notice (Brittany Spears is too fat and has no energy) Mayors from all over America held the Sundance Conference on Global Warming.

Part of that conference involved Architecture 2030. Follow this link to see their online report. I suggest that you click on some of the location in California to see what would happen were the ocean to rise.

Is I was right in talking about the need to have an economic plan for America, then I ask you to spend some time thinking about what these changes will do to our economy. Consider also what they will do to millions of displaced people all over the globe.

How many of them will want to immigrate to America? I don't know. I can guess that the Minute Men will meet them at the border with machine guns blazing. If Jared Diamond was right in "Collapse" about the decline of civilizations that failed to adapt, then we are not far from failure. I know what I am going to do about it. Do you?