While they showed really cool high tech methods of damming the sea -'world's largest robot' they also looked at alternate ways.
The interesting thing about most of the coverage I've seen on television is that the discussion seems to be mainly about how to deal with the flooding -- as in, how do we keep on doing what we're doing while dealing with the flooding? Of course, that is a large part of the practical side of figuring out what to do next. As the scientists said on TNOT, the problem is now that the melting is accelerating, it's not going to be possible to stop it very easily. They used the example of a roast turkey. If it were just a turkey, it would cook quickly. You put stuffing inside of it and it takes much longer to cook. You take it out of the oven after it's cooked and it takes a long while to cool off again. We're on the upswing in the "cooking" process, and we're not even out of the oven yet. The heat is continuing to increase, so there's no way we'll start to cool down for a very long while, even if the oven gets shut down right now.
The other problem for some places... Tuvalu is a good example.. is that there's just no way those places can be saved from flooding. Many of those islands are onlly 2-5 meters above sea level even now, and as the outer protective islands are now submerged, the main islands are just being ripped away by the ocean. Also, all fresh water sources on the islands have been getting flooded with salt water. These people are going to be, or have already been, displaced. Where will they go? Who will make room for the people of nations which have been swallowed by the ocean due to the mindless and relentless march of "progress" of the so-called "developed" nations of the world that refuse to halt their dependence on the burning of fossil fuels? Will we just refuse to help these people and let them drown as their lands are covered over with the oceans -- in much the same way as land developers ignore the plight of the frogs and turtles in a pond when they move in with the bulldozers and truckloads of dirt to prepare a subdivision for more housing?
I don't see much hope for the people of Tuvalu or for the frogs and turtles living in ponds throughout the world. This "thing" that humans so tritely pass off as "progress" is nothing less than an abomination against the earth and its natural creatures.
One person in NO talked about the futility of fighting nature and likened the energy in a hurricane to 100 or 1000 nuclear bombs!
Yes, well, the interesting truth is, that in the end, Nature will have the last laugh. Just too bad that mankind can't seem to grasp that fact. |
