Comment Re:Not as extreme as headline may imply (Score 1) 696
The scenario presented in the article isn't exactly new, it has been around for at least a decade. The desalination data is new though
Now another scenario, that builds on top of the one from the article goes like this:
We have this local ice age in Europe and north east america because the gulf stream stopped. Then Scandinavia and north eastern America will freeze. Winters will be longer and thus surface albeido rises (google it up). The white snow and ice reflect more sunlight (= heat...energy) back into space cooling earth yet a bit more. Due to the stopped heat exchange tropical regions get hotter: more clouds, more albeido.
This global cooling of just a few degrees would be enough to freeze down another huge area: Himalaya. This again raises surface albeido and you have a global ice age. Game over, enter coin.
The article is rather conservative in its telling of past climate changes (speaking geological time scales). It is probably conservative because it does not want to sound too crazy. But from all we know, ocean level changed by tens of meters in disturbingly short periods of time. Much of Sahara once was green and so on
No, seriously: We don't know a shit about what's going to happen. But one the is shure - before the bloody environmentalists don't have a water tight case on any kind of climate change, we won't listen. And certainly we won't fund them.
Thorsten