Permanent Winter Coming Soon
26-Jan-2004


The media still doesn't understand global warming. Last summer, when people were dying from the hot weather in Europe, they wrote about the world warming up. Now, when incredibly harsh winter weather is sweeping across the northern hemisphere, they deny the problem exists. But with global warming, not only will some places heat up—others will get MUCH colder—and the change could last for thousands of years. There's new evidence that this is happening right now.

Geoffrey Lean writes in The Independent that Britain and parts of Europe may be plunged into an ice age within our lifetime. Scientists at the U.S. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute have detected a change in the Gulf Stream circulation of the North Atlantic "of remarkable amplitude" which is "the largest and most dramatic oceanic change ever measured in the era of modern instruments." The Gulf Stream is what keeps Europe's weather mild; without this, it will have the same weather as central Canada, which is on the same latitude.

When the Gulf Stream suddenly turned off about 12,700 years ago, it brought about a 1,300-year ice age. Britain had continuous permafrost, and icebergs existed as far south as Portugal. Droughts struck worldwide, including in western parts of the U.S.

The weather in Britain and northern Europe could change suddenly, which would have a disastrous effect on agriculture and cause an increased demand for heating oil at a time when the world is predicting upcoming oil shortages. This change has been predicted ever since researchers began to understand the consequences of global warming, but they thought it wouldn't happen for at least a 100 years. Now it looks as if it's beginning already. One year very soon—maybe this year—spring simply won't arrive in some parts of the world.

Will Steffen, of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, says, "A major finding is that change will not be progressive. There will be abrupt changes and tipping points. Never before have we seen the range of change or the rate of change at the same time." http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=3501