Siberia: melting of the ice and the 'imminent' universal deluge
In some cases, the effects of climate change are slower than predicted. Russian observer: no need for "apocalyptic alarmism", but use new technologies against the inevitable floods.
Moscow (AsiaNews) - 40 years have passed since the imminent new universal flood was predicted due to the melting of the polar ice caps. The images of the past few days of Siberian rivers overflowing due to the accumulation of detached blocks of ice seem to confirm the most catastrophic predictions. An extensive report by Julia Latynina, observer of the Novaja Gazeta, traces the history of the announced disasters to understand what future actually awaits us.
Latynina points to the many published articles according to which "the Maldives islands should have already disappeared more than 20 years ago", and the Arctic is about to collapse on the world below, in the words that former US vice-president Al Gore has been repeating since the 2009 Copenhagen summit. Scientific theories, when disproved by reality, are usually revised and corrected, but "if they refer to the end of the world, the disproof seems to reinforce them even more".
What did not happen in 2000 is postponed to 2010, and in 2022 it is strengthened for the next decades, at least until 2100, when according to the latest forecasts the waters of the oceans will rise by half a meter, or perhaps more than two meters, for others up to nine meters above the current level, making disappear not only the Maldives, but almost all of Europe, whose survivors will have to move to Siberia; between 100 and 700 million people are in fact destined to die by drowning, according to the authoritative magazine Science and Nature, which has predicted the disappearance of Miami and all of Florida within 80 years and that of London within 50, given that "the height above sea level of the British capital is only 11 meters".
The unanimity of such beliefs make it scandalous just to suspect their inevitability, "almost like the suspicion about the existence of witches in the Middle Ages," recalls the Novaja Gazeta report. In fact, the sea level has been rising steadily since 1900, as confirmed by the graphs on the Nasa sites. After all, in the last 20 thousand years, after the last glaciation, the sea has risen by more than 120 meters. Yet the figures are not as catastrophic as they seem: since 1995 the oceans have risen by 8 centimeters, about 3 millimeters per year, 18 centimeters throughout the twentieth century.
Human efforts in more recent times have actually not been limited to defending the mainland from disappearing due to flooding, but have partly succeeded in gaining other territories. The small island of Singapore (719 km2) expanded by more than 22% between 1965 and 2015, and an additional 8% will be gained by 2030 through the creation of embankments. Similarly, the territory of Hong Kong, Macau, Dubai and South Korea has grown, with projects, moreover, harshly condemned by ecologists as too invasive with respect to the balance of the ecosystem. And yet, since ancient times, the Egyptians have defended themselves in similar ways from the floods of the Nile, and the Dutch have begun to reconquer the submerged lands from the sea since the XI century.
Latynina's conclusion, certainly in agreement with the many fears for the imminent flood, is that it is necessary to intervene to save the planet, but "not with apocalyptic alarmism, rather with the imitation of our predecessors", because if the men of the past times fought against the floods of seas and rivers, "those who have conquered the moon and space, and have more advanced technologies at their disposal than those of the Pharaohs, should be able to do just that.".
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20/06/2023 17:17
16/05/2023 09:47
