I lied

Okay, one post before I go: Terrifying news about global warming. It's getting worse by the day.

The massive west Antarctic ice sheet, previously assumed to be stable, is starting to collapse, scientists warned on Tuesday. Antarctica contains more than 90% of the world's ice, and the loss of any significant part of it would cause a substantial sea level rise. Scientists used to view Antarctica as a "slumbering giant", said Chris Rapley, from the British Antarctic Survey, but now he sees it as an "awakened giant".

The article goes on to say that this was accelerated by the calving off of the Larsen B ice shelf, that chunk of ice the size of Rhode Island which broke off of Antarctica in 2002. Of course, back then we were assured that this was part of the natural cycle of things, and that These Things Happen - which I believe is the official motto of the coal industry.

If West Antarctica goes, we can expect sea level rises of up to 7 metres. So, good bye Halifax, much of Vancouver, Tokyo, New York, London, all of the Low Countries, Bangladesh, half of Florida, Los Angeles, Seattle, basically all of the world's major population centres can expect to be ruined by this. That's a cost on the order of Trillions of dollars in real estate alone. Suddenly, Kyoto doesn't look so expensive. Not that we can expect an apology from Stephen Harper or Ralph Klein.

Having managed to thoroughly depress myself, I now have to go to work.