Antartica: Western Ice First – Now in the East A Threat of Massive Sea Level Rise

THE HEADLINE:  “An Antarctic deja vu”

The free paper at the Metro station on March 17 reveals the natural world is MELTING in the background.  You don’t see it, but it’s happening. Something a bit off kilter? The world coming to an end of its present self? A concern?

The Bible says it will be wars and rumors of wars that are the big clue to the end of days … but our environs are changing and threaten to sneak up on us with still other dramatic surprises.  Normal days will end and abnormal days will be upon us as sea levels alter the map over the entire face of the globe. We see it coming, eyes wide open, but stare at the blinding light of global change like deer paralyzed by headlights of on coming car … WHACK!  Then it hits us … but in this case coastal cities in the modern world will be the new watery Venice and Venice will be inundated and condemned by submergence.

The article gives us reason for calm by saying we won’t see the ‘WHACK’ in our lifetime. The process of sea level rise may take some time.  So lets go burn more fossil fuels and make some more heat! Yet our world won’t be the same for our kids, because sea level rise seems certain and from global human activity we “…have irreversibly destabilized the great ice sheet of West Antarctica and thus set in motion more than 10 feet of sea level rise.”

Read on … because the free paper’s article leaves out something provocative and alarming …

The Sub Header: “Ice in west may cause a massive sea level rise. Now the east threatens, too”

When ice at the South Pole melts, this is what to expect: “Meanwhile, 2015 could be the year of the double whammy – when we learned the same about one gigantic glacier of East Antarctica, which could set in motion roughly the same amount all over again. Northern Hemisphere residents and Americans in particular should take note: When the bottom of the world loses vast amounts of ice, those of us living closer to its top get more sea level rise than the rest of the planet, thanks to the law of gravity.

In the East of Antarctica is … “the Totten Glacier of East Antarctica – the fastest thinning sector of the world’s largest ice sheet – and [scientists] took a variety of measurements to try to figure out the reasons behind its retreat. And the news wasn’t good: It appears that Totten, too, is losing ice because warm ocean water is getting underneath it.

Added to the Western ice and a potential 10 feet of sea level rise, the Western “… glacier holds back a much more vast catchment of ice that, were its vulnerable parts to flow into the ocean, could produce a sea level rise of more than 11 feet – which is comparable to the impact from a loss of the West Antarctica ice sheet.

HERE is the Kicker as they say … 

First, what goes on at the southern pole is only part of the story.  Up north, the Greenland ice sheet is also melting, shifting, and adding to sea level rise, now. The article on Antartica suggests some 20 plus feet of sea level rise … add to that what Greenland has to add and the ‘not in our lifetime’ might not hold up if the rate of ice melt increases – globally!

Second, and perhaps more universally than at the South Pole alone, scientist worry about an unstoppable melt … “The problem, then, is that once such a gigantic geophysical process begins, it’s hard to see how it comes to a halt. “With warming oceans, it’s difficult to see how a process that starts now would be reversed, or reversible, in a warming world,” Siegert said.

CONVERGENCE IS UPON US

The WindowView web pages all hinge on the idea that changes in the globe, evidence from the sciences, and the harmony in Scripture all reveal something certain … foretold, hedging humanity into humility and to the point of bending a knee and acknowledging we were put here not to glorify ourselves, but instead to recognize the One who gave us life in the first place. The Earth cannot bear us any longer. We are wearing out the planet like a coat going thread bare … with no place to escape to, we are destined to face the ultimate truth … and God knows what that is. (no, that is not a pun, it is in fact truth)

Quotations from the March 17, 2015 Express (Washington, DC)

Director, WindowView.org

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Bible, Earthquakes, Science Data in View

Previously we cited a series of serious earthquakes (see blog post: Science Data, Current Events, and Nature as Biblical Indicators, March 11, 2011) that prominently made a resonating note with the following scriptural statement declaed in the Bible:

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. “(Mark 13:8 NKJV)

What the Messianic Writings are referring to involve events leading up to Messiah’s return to Israel.

The illustration below reveals how active the planet is in recent time. You can visit the original article with the graphic shown below. ( http://www.livescience.com/21284-world-earthquakes-map.html )


20120704-084058.jpg

To be clear, earthquakes alone don’t make the linkage complete, but then ARE you looking at how this relates to ALL the other signs we can see in the daily news. The most remarkable point to add here is how nations are building a swell of momentum in opposition to the mere existence of Israel. There is war elsewhere, too. There are serious troubles, globally, in the areas of economics, environment, and human relations. And famine is local to where ever you live, someone nearby, in even the most affluent areas … is hungry. All of this contributes HUGE pieces of significant evidence to complete the picture. Are you seeing what the Window reveals?

The reason for WindowView is to get you to LOOK at the science and scriptural evidence that are right in front of you. And if you don’t know what the Bible says … then read it for yourself! Most people let others tell them what to think without thinking for themselves. What kind of person are you? What does the evidence tell you?

Director, WindowView.org

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Climate for a Tribulation

Blog posts have to say the conclusion up front or you’ll move on quickly.  The main point here is that too much has changed in recent decades that all of the troubles humanity faces are getting beyond our abilities and resources to effectively respond.  Here is an UPDATE and even a link to a report on change. [Read the full article on the WindowView page on Climate for a Tribulation]

The POINT IS a present material dilemma soon leads to revisiting a spiritual question.  What is life?  How do we respond to mounting global woes?  Is change leading us to some kind of tribulation period?

The following account is an update of sorts.  WindowView.org could include hundreds of articles and commentaries on climate change, but in reality, just a little information comes to some basic conclusions.  You can go everywhere else to read all the rest.

Our MAIN CONCLUSION is, in the face of global changes, not just climate change, we as a human race face the biggest dilemma on a spiritual scale.  How we respond to change and respond to humanity in a time of need and trial, that’s the point.  How you respond is sustainable, even if life on the planet loses its sustainability over time.  Our responses will encounter psychological stresses and a growing cry to fix it, do something, reverse the damage, make the planet a safe place for life.

————–  CHANGE UPDATED   —————-

There are numerous sources documenting humanity’s impressions on climate change–some scientific and others not so.  In fact, we paused on writing a lot about climate change due to the multitude of science sources and numerous doubts expressed by non-data driven counterpoint groups.  Why?  Simply because a key WindowView conclusion is that the most vital element to change is not in the OMINOUS consequences but instead it is HOW humans will respond.  Part of that response is to one another and ultimately relates to a spiritual reality beyond our physical condition. What we believe matters a great deal!

From the believer’s perspective, all things work together to God’s will and purposes.  In that context we need to accept what ever changes are at play, globally, and then consider the broader and deeper implications. The ultimate reality comes down to the interface between events and the dilemma of finding faith in the midst of chaos and emotional responses.  THIS IS the point we are highlighting here.

Belief is not an emotional response if also based on well grounded truth.  Let’s consider some information related to immediate episodes of change and think how the human condition is confused before grasping well founded faith.

The Australian Climate Commission just released their publication entitled: THE CRITICAL DECADE Climate science, risks and responses.  As we recall elsewhere in WindowView, the Sigma Xi scientific society called the 90’s a critical decade for responses to global change–to no avail–humans sat on their hands.  At the start of the Aussy Climate Commission’s document they note the following:

“Climate science is now being debated outside of the normal discussion and debate that occurs within the peer-reviewed scientific literature in the normal course of research. It is being attacked in the media by many with no credentials in the field. The questioning of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the “climategate” incident based on hacked emails in the UK, and attempts to intimidate climate scientists have added to the confusion in the public about the veracity of climate science.”  [Get your own PDF copy of the 2011 report HERE]

 

So clearly we have a population that sees both evidence for and against validation of climate change. Ironically, within the WindowView, we see so much evidence for precipitous GLOBAL changes (the list is long and way beyond climatic parameters) just by what an ever enlarging human population does, and that regardless of any CLIMATE considerations. People are just blind to the obvious implications.  As long as the consequences are not yet local, denial is okay. Once the reality sets in by some kind of poverty under the superficial affluence, or outright bare bones impoverished state of just surviving, then the cries of the affected are glossed over. Are we hoping the consequences can be ignored long enough the effects will just go away.

In biblical terms, consequences bring a kind of self inflicted or unintended judgment.  But how does one “get the concept,” as intended here?  If one says dry conditions are due to drought driven by extreme episodes of local climate change, then dry ground and brush fires occur.  But is that all?  Might other consequences reveal a more histerical component that will drive people askew?

The Climate Commission notes:

“For example, there is little doubt that extreme weather events such as bushfires and floods have significant impacts on human health and well-being. The 2011 Queensland floods have led to long-term, mental health and related problems, such as depression, bereavement, post-traumatic stress disorders and other mood and anxiety disorders; and the 2009 Victorian bushfires also led to considerable psychological distress, some of it prolonged, to those who experienced the fires and survived (A.J. McMichael, personal communication). Such extreme weather events have occurred before the advent of human-induced climate change, and the degree to which climate change affects risks associated with extreme events is a very active area of research.”

As long as the consequences seem removed from you, the thoughts of what life really means can be put off. But tornadoes in the middle of the US (a record breaking 875 in April 2011 alone — see NOAA Report), earthquakes around the world ( as described here in another blog post here), fires in Australia, floods all over the globe, and other physical and climatic challenges ALL are pause for thought.  And not just survival now, but thoughts on the value of our lives, what existence is, and the eternal implications. There are in fact eternal implications. Life now, and at no other time, is your opportunity to embrace the greater reality … or just live in denial of the greater truth.

If you are interested, you can visit the Australian Climate Commission on the web and download the report, or again visit the WindowView link here to download the PDF.

————- REVISITING THE CONCLUSION ————-

There is a lot that is EMOTION driven about all the climate issues.  We know some reject the science because of personal beliefs.  But when changes occur, the emotions of the moment are in response to the ominous events.

The human response in the material moment should be to helping others get through the moment.  On the spiritual level, we need remember that our lives are temporal and the challenges we face may in fact help us to grow a deeply rooted faith.

Change brings tribulations.  The Bible speaks of a time of tribulations to come.  There may e some interplay between the biblical timeline and the global changes that create a human theater of sorts.  Will some god-like figure promise humanity a way out?  But there is no way out of the truth that our physical existence is only for a time.  The real God inure at the root of faith is one that supposes the temporal dilemmas we face in the present time.

The material thinkers will decry we must counter change to make the planet safe for life.  If you do a web search regarding the report cited here, you’ll see a lot of diverse reactions, but none bring into perspective the real reason for tribulations or finding solace in a greater biblical truth.

————  THE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS ———-

We say: Just remember, humans are at war, struggle over water rights, try to grow food to sustain the entire population, strive to achieve market success and expanding growth to build wealth, struggle politically, fall short of achieving peace, and fail to reach a harmonious and unified front to solve global problems.  We are a fractured family and species in peril. Global change is a growing matrix of complex issue!

They say a lot just about climate and you can read their summary points from the Australian report at the conclusion of our full article at Climate for a Tribulation (a WindowView page on Change).

Director,  WindowView.org

 

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Unsettling Thoughts — Humanity’s Narrow Existence

The Window is a thinking place in cyberspace.  Some material here relates to biblical prophecy (a prediction).  Some information here relates to changes in our environment.  We do not prophesy (that is make predictions), nor do we care for sensational claims.  There is enough stern faced Bible thumping and irate environmentalism to have us want to move on … but if there is pertinent information regarding things biblical, even in environmental terms, then it might be worth a look at dimensions of information put before us long ago.  Let’s just look at what evidence is there already.

A BIG BURN:  ALL GREEN GRASS and ONE THIRD of TREES

Some number of years ago I, Director of WindowView, attended professional scientific meetings and heard what might be the early descriptions of global climate change.  Scientists from around the US and the world, attended the annual meeting for the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  The latter part of the same year, now two decades ago, came with another scientific symposium on global change and the prospects for humanity in the face of coming change.  Scientists were beginning to grasp the fullness of changes that were just beginning to reveal themselves.  Yet, change itself had not just begun, it was humanity’s consciousness of change that was beginning.  There is a difference here.  Some consequences were obvious, others to come.

Because of a biblical and scientific awareness, it seems important if not simply interesting to wonder if there are links between what we see currently in nature and what the Bible tells us about the future.  The sensational approach might be a screaming claim and you need to get down on your knees to pray for salvation or otherwise escape to the hills to save yourself.  Actually, at this point, it’s all a bit more subtle than that. This brief article simply points to something rather interesting.  You can form a personal conclusion if you like.

SCIENCE

The AAAS meeting presented an opportunity to hear scientists who follow the weather, those who explore ice core evidence for past climate, modelers who try to predict consequences to desert or rain forest–should patterns persist and change have greater effect.  But a while back, the models used to predict complex systems, like what might happen to the Amazon rain forest, were too simple.  More computer strength, more computation power, more variables, more of a lot of sophisticated approaches needed to be brought online.  Modeling was a growing field.  But could I ask a question about models, change and a Bible prediction?

BIBLE

Let’s just start with a few briefly stated points.  Many people are aware that the Bible contains prophecies.  Some have been declared and fulfilled, others declared and await fulfillment.

One ‘waiting prophecy’ concerns a time when all green grass and one third of all trees burn.  Let’s just consider something interesting about consequences in relation to this prediction.  We equate this prediction to an environmental change and thus label this an ‘environmental type.’ We say ‘type‘ because it relates to circumstances in the present, yet this looks to the future.

First, if you are alive on the only known habitable planet in the solar system, or perhaps in the galaxy, or even perhaps the only habitable place in the universe, if you saw a huge fire consuming the Earth’s vegetation, would you not be concerned?!

Second, if that burn appears in order of a lager sequence of events, other pre-recorded prophetic predictions, might that garner further attention?  You have to admit, if someone pointed out the parallel occurrence, you’d give it some thought–wouldn’t you?

Third, green grass only grows in one of the Earth’s hemispheres at a time.  That is, it is only summer in the northern or southern hemisphere, but not both at the same time.   The Bible is predicting a rather large prophetic event for all green grass in one hemisphere.  If the northern hemisphere, it’s a lot of green that burns.

FOURTH, major point, 80 PERCENT of the foodstuffs we eat as humans (from plant sources) come from species of crops in the grass family!  Wheat, barley, corn, and other related crops are grasses.  And many domestic animals depend on the grasses for the food and thus all green grasses going away in rapid fashion also impacts farming.  Totally, a big impact.

Do we have your attention at this point?

From an economic point of view, the result on obtaining foodstuffs means what food remains after this event is a matter of possession–the cost to buy food will be out of sight.  And if you have some food, you’re not likely to give any out, at any price.

Survival?  Material existence and the meaning of life, will be keenly accentuated by an incredible predicament.

SCIENCE AGAIN

So I called up a scientist at NASA and asked: “What would be the consequences to the Earth’s environment if all green grass (in one hemisphere) and all trees burned at one time?”  He asked why I asked!  I was forthcoming about the concept based on the Bible’s prediction.  He told me I was crazy and had no interest in answering my question.

I then wrote a letter to Dr. James Lovelock, the author of the GAIA Hypothesis.  You can explore this hypothesis on your own (just use an Internet search engine).  This time I was careful to explain that I was not seeking to be sensational, but was scientifically curious.  I explained the scenario and its source. [also see a write up on this correspondence in relation to environmental types at WindowView (book outline here, plus you can click on the title to download Chapter 22 to read further about environmental types)]

Interesting and surprisingly, I got a reply.  Now, to be clear, the answer was to a hypothetical and by someone who is not concerning himself with the Bible or its predictions.  But the answer is remarkable.

SURVIVAL and THINKING

The answer I got described consequences to the biomass burn (grass and trees) in terms of loss of sunlight reaching the earth surface, boost in carbon dioxide level, and negligible change in oxygen level.  Temperature would also change over time.  BUT remarkably, humans alive throughout this event would survive.  At least they would live to see the end of the fires.

Humans would have to think about what happened.  What you you think about in such a time as that?

CONCLUSION (one of many)

Today we are in possession of data of a much greater degree concerning global changes.  We know that some rather dramatic shifts can or are taking place.  Science gives us better models and better data sets to understand that we, humans, on the only habitable planet we know of, are living on a thread of life support.

If Bible be true and science information helpful, then the concept of all green grasses burring along with one third of all the trees (at one particular time), then this event will stare humanity in the face not only as prophetic, but with a question!  So many will yell: “Oh my God!”  So, do they believe?  Is there a God?  How do people in that moment respond?  Knowing ahead of time, how do you respond?

The idea behind WindowView is to tease out thoughts and to get you to think.

The Bible’s prophecy is for a time yet to come, but it begs a question.  When faced with the evidence in the material realm, how do we respond to something that goes to the spiritual realm?  And what if that provides an opportunity to walk through an open door from here to hereafter?

It’s that, or starve, because food will be in very short supply on that day.

Think about that!  Each day we live is a gift dangling from a thread of life support.

Director, WindowView.org

[See Revelation 8:7: The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.]

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