Sight Seaing

‘WAS it the coldest winter on record? Or the wettest? No – hang on – it was the driest since records began. And all the spring flowers are still asleep. Or dead in the beds. Or murdered by flu-ravaged birds stoned out of their minds on hooch.

It is proving tricky to keep abreast of the bad news. But forewarned is forearmed, and anyone living in the London area is advised to move and learn to swim.

Sure, you may one day mention “sea views” in your home’s list of notables, but on the downside the foundations are sinking like the Titanic and there’s a dead whale on the roof.

And this vision of the future is coming sooner than expected. The Times says that sea levels are rising faster then previously thought and by 2100 London will be twinned with Atlantis, and New York and Amsterdam, which will also be under water.

Looking at historical data produced by events between 129,000 and 116,000 years ago, scientists at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, found that sea levels could rise by 20ft by the turn of the next century.

This sounds just terrible. And over in the Telegraph, Prof Michael Oppenheimer, of Princeton University, calls the study ‘fascinating and scary at the same time’. Says he: ‘We should take this as a serious warning sign.’

“This is a real eye-opener,’ says Prof Jonathan Overpeck, who led the research. Prof Bill McGuire, of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre, University College London, says a ‘doomsday’ scenario would see a 275ft rise.

Unless, of course, none of it happens and the scientists have miscalculated…again.’

Posted: 24th, March 2006 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink