On Apr 21, 10:30 pm, Cato wrote:
From: http://www.misunderstooduniverse.com...g_Benefits.htm

Global Warming Benefits -- You may well like it!

WARMER WINTERS ARE HEALTHIER: From a purely evolutionary point of
view, warm periods have always benefited plants and animals. The world
has thrived during the warming periods between the ice ages. Cold
periods have always caused serious survival problems for all organisms
including mankind. Scientific studies show that there will be 40,000
fewer deaths each year in the U.S. In Britain alone, scientists
estimate that about 30,000 deaths a year are related to cold winter
weather. Warmer temperatures in the U.S. will reduce medical costs by
about $20 billion every year.

WARMER WINTERS ARE SAFER: With most streets free from ice and snow,
driving will be a lot safer; No need to shovel snow reducing the
stress induced heart attacks; Heating bills will be drastically lower;
No need to waste money on all of that cold weather gear. Rail, road
and air transportation would be positively impacted by a general
warming since weather-related delays and accidents would be greatly
reduced. Department of Energy studies show that consumer energy bills
would be reduced by over $12 billion each year.

Global warming will have no real effect, positive or negative, on
economic activities such as manufacturing, retailing, wholesaling,
banking, education and the majority of other businesses that are
unrelated to cold weather. Of course cold weather activities, such as
snow-sports, would be negatively affected.

WARMER WEATHER WILL OPEN THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE: As rising temperatures
melt glaciers in the Arctic and particularly in Alaska, a new, faster
trade route will soon open up. The Bering Strait, a legendarily
difficult passage for ships, could become an oceanic super-highway
between the hemispheres as ice sheets disappear. The seldom-used
strait is set to become the Panama Canal of the north, cutting down
travel time between Europe, America and Asia by as much as one-third.
Experts predict the Northwest Passage will be open for year-round
travel within a decade. This would be of particular importance for
supertankers which are too big to fit through the Panama Canal and
currently are forced to go around the tip of South America. This
reduction of sea lane ice in the Arctic will be a dramatic boon to the
shipping industry carrying cargo between the continents.

WARMER WEATHER MEANS MORE USABLE LAND: As the ice retreats to the
poles, more arable land will become available for both residential and
agricultural purposes. Large land-masses in the northern hemisphere,
just south of the Canadian/U.S. border, have some very extreme
climates that can be quite inhospitable for human habitation. Most
Canadians live in a belt running along its southern border with the
United States. But once global warming is factored in, vast northern
regions will become arable and comfortably habitable. All of Canada
will welcome an agricultural boon field with long growing seasons.
Heretofore uninhabitable land will not only become inhabitable, but
even temperate.

The process of converting northern US and Canadian forests and grasses
to cropland will have a positive cooling effect, because agricultural
crops reflect more sunlight and release more moisture into the air.
This expanded agriculture will counteract global warming by as much as
fifty-percent across parts of North America, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
The old boreal forests of both Canada and Russia add to global warming
since these pine and waxy leafed trees are darker, thereby absorbing
more heat, and, because of their leaf structure, do not evaporate
cooling water into the surrounding air. The replacement of boreal
forests with more tropical trees will dramatically aid in balancing
and diminishing the negative affects of global warming.

WARMER WEATHER MEANS MORE CROPS: Satellite measurements now show that
our planet has become greener than it was prior to the onset of global
warming. The rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere
dramatically increases overall global food production. The presence of
carbon dioxide has a fertilizing effect on the growth of plant life.
The warmer weather means a longer growing season, and thus greater
output. This, combined with fewer frosts and more precipitation, among
other factors, will greatly benefit all of the agricultural economic
sectors, plus the positive impacts on forestry and recreation. In
addition to the dramatic increase of actual land available for
cultivation, natural resources would be much easier to extract. The
overall economic impact of global warming on the U.S. economy will
actually be positive, creating a measurable increase in Gross Domestic
Product

- well, what if we're all wrong, and the Western antarctic ice shelf
slides into the sea . .

http://192.171.163.165/Climate%20Enc...-ice-sheet.gif

Recent research based on 177 tide gauge stations with a global
coverage gives a mean sea level rise over the last 55 years of 1.7 ±
0.2 mm per year. Evidence based on satellite altimetry suggests that
at least for coastal stations sea level rise over the decade 1993-2002
was significantly above the global average. If this is representative
of global conditions, as some models suggest, sea level rise may be
accelerating. Further new evidence shows that the rate of ice loss
from glaciers and ice sheets has more than doubled since 1988
suggesting that the IPCC calculation of a rise of 0.11 to 0.77m in the
21st century is an underestimate. Calculations made on the new
evidence indicate that glacier melt could increase sea levels by 2m
this century. The IPCC estimated that other processes such as ocean
warming would cause an additional 0.1 to 0.4m sea-level rise by the
year 2100. Combined together the new estimate is a substantial
increase that would have grave consequences for coastal regions and
countries with low topography such as Bangladesh.

Key references Anthony A. Arendt, Keith A. Echelmeyer, William D.
Harrison, Craig S. Lingle, and Virginia B. Valentine Rapid
Wastage of Alaska Glaciers and Their Contribution to Rising Sea
Level Science 19 July 2002; 297: 382-386
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1072497]

Cecile Cabanes, Anny Cazenave, and Christian Le Provost Sea Level Rise
During Past 40 Years Determined from
Satellite and in Situ Observations Science 26 October 2001; 294:
840-842 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1063556]

David G. Vaughan How Does the Antarctic Ice Sheet Affect Sea Level
Rise? Science 24 June 2005; 308:
1877-1878 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1114670]

Curt H. Davis, Yonghong Li, Joseph R. McConnell, Markus M. Frey, and
Edward Hanna. Snowfall-Driven Growth in
East Antarctic Ice Sheet Mitigates Recent Sea-Level Rise Science
24 June 2005; 308: 1898-1901; published
online 19 May 2005 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1110662]

Eric Rignot and Robert H. Thomas Mass Balance of Polar Ice Sheets
Science 30 August 2002; 297: 1502-1506 [DOI: 10.1126/science.
1073888]

S. J. Holgate and P. L. Woodworth, 2004. Evidence for enhanced coastal
sea level rise during the 1990s
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 31, L07305, doi:
10.1029/2004GL019626

ACIA. 2004. Impacts of a warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact
Assessment. Cambridge University Press.
http://amap.no/acia/

Credit for Greenland Ice cap images: National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) and Cooperative Institute for Research in
Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at University of Colorado at Boulder,
USA.