Antarctica is thawing, now green with plant life!

[Gurori]

Welp, time to invest in scuba gear and/or spacesuits.

[Iceland-Greenland Union]

-snip-

Your post was entirely about how climate change is not as bad as some people make it out to be, but I didn't see a single shred of evidence that humans didn't cause it. How is climate change not caused mostly by humans?

[Zeclil]

Also, just a minor thing; Antarctica, not Antartica.

Heebee jeebees now.

[Greater Miami Shores]

For all of recorded history, Antarctica has been an inhospitable and frozen wasteland, nothing but tundra- until now that is. Because of man made climate change, we are finally beginning to see the first signs of an Antarctica that is gradually becoming green with plant life. In the not too distant future, it might become warm enough to support human colonization. A new continent might truly be opening up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... -find.html
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... ica-green/

What are your thoughts on this unexpected development? Is this a sign of just how bad the rest of the globe's temperatures will become? To what extent can we expect the greater land area covered in plants to offset the current and future emissions from fossil fuel use and melting permafrost releasing vast stores of carbon and methane?

Should we permanently settle Antarctica like we have for the other continents?

If it becomes green and settleable yes. I think the Lost City of Atlantis is buried and preserved under all that ice. I think we will have discovered the Lost Continent of Atlantis.

[Hurdergaryp]

A new territory for the British empire!

Why should the British even bother? It is inevitable that the colonies will secede.

[Northern Ateria]

Antarctica growing with plant life.

MY PRECIOUSSSSSS.

[Greater Miami Shores]

Antarctica growing with plant life.

I have read, that it was once green.

[Saiwania]

IF climate change is our fault, the government is not a solution. However, since it is not our fault, we can only do what we can to mitigate rising temperatures and seas until the earth returns to the global cooling cycle that Chicken Little heralds said would start the next Ice Age.

Finally, a serious post.

From what I've seen, the private sector doesn't seem to be solving the problem of climate change fast enough to avoid a dangerous rise in global temperatures. If Donald Trump's administration were allowed to use as much coal and oil as they wanted, that will make CO2 levels worse and not better.

The biggest problem that I see is that no one can agree on what an ideal tax on carbon emissions would look like. What should such a tax be priced at? Some people claim that it has to be at least $100/ton if not higher- to really reverse the trend of carbon emissions only increasing every year. Under our status quo, there is just no economic incentive for industry to avoid polluting. I would think that a carbon tax is preferable to legislating pages of regulations which will be harder for business to follow and implement.

[Diopolis]

IF climate change is our fault, the government is not a solution. However, since it is not our fault, we can only do what we can to mitigate rising temperatures and seas until the earth returns to the global cooling cycle that Chicken Little heralds said would start the next Ice Age.

Finally, a serious post.

From what I've seen, the private sector doesn't seem to be solving the problem of climate change fast enough to avoid a dangerous rise in global temperatures. If Donald Trump's administration were allowed to use as much coal and oil as they wanted, that will make CO2 levels worse and not better.

The biggest problem that I see is that no one can agree on what an ideal tax on carbon emissions would look like. What should such a tax be priced at? Some people claim that it has to be at least $100/ton if not higher- to really reverse the trend of carbon emissions only increasing every year. Under our status quo, there is just no economic incentive for industry to avoid polluting. I would think that a carbon tax is preferable to legislating pages of regulations which will be harder for business to follow and implement.

No actions which can actually solve climate change are able to be executed without collapsing the economy and making the problem worse. We need to gear up to weather it, not focus our efforts on preventing it. It's too late.

[Jamzmania]

Apparently, thanks to global warming, vast sums of land will now be much more habitable and arable. Thanks global warming!

[United Muscovite Nations]

Turn it into a jungle and genetically engineer new creatures to live in it. It would be interesting.

[New haven america]

1. For all of recorded history, Antarctica has been an inhospitable and frozen wasteland, nothing but tundra- until now that is. 2. Because of man made climate change, we are finally beginning to see the first signs of an Antarctica that is gradually becoming green with plant life.

1. False
2. Dat's bad

[United Muscovite Nations]

1. For all of recorded history, Antarctica has been an inhospitable and frozen wasteland, nothing but tundra- until now that is. 2. Because of man made climate change, we are finally beginning to see the first signs of an Antarctica that is gradually becoming green with plant life.

1. False
2. Dat's bad

1) Um, how is that false?

[New haven america]

Apparently, thanks to global warming, vast sums of land will now be much more habitable and arable. Thanks global warming!

Actually, a lot (If not most) of Antarctica is below sea level, so if the ice melts, it'll turn from a continent into an archipelago, so not much land would actually be gained.

[Dytarma]

The penguins did it! Woohoo!

[Dooom35796821595]

A new territory for the British empire!

Why should the British even bother? It is inevitable that the colonies will secede.

Because most ex British territories are great countries.

[Iceland-Greenland Union]

Apparently, thanks to global warming, vast sums of land will now be much more habitable and arable. Thanks global warming!

Also, as the Earth get's warmer, ice will melt, causing some arable land to go underwater. Also, stuff expands as it gets warmer, which will make even more land go underwater.

[New haven america]

1. False
2. Dat's bad

1) Um, how is that false?

There has been quite a few times where Antarctica (Especially the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica) has been temperate enough to support both plant and animal life.

[Dytarma]

Apparently, thanks to global warming, vast sums of land will now be much more habitable and arable. Thanks global warming!

Also, as the Earth get's warmer, ice will melt, causing some arable land to go underwater. Also, stuff expands as it gets warmer, which will make even more land go underwater.

That's not the case with water. As water freezes, it expands, so if ice melts, it won't expand, there will just be more water.

[United Muscovite Nations]

1) Um, how is that false?

There has been quite a few times where Antarctica (Especially the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica) has been temperate enough to support both plant and animal life.

Not abundantly during recorded history.

[Saiwania]

I sort of said "recorded history" with regards to Antarctica for a reason. The only part of history that really matters, is the duration of when people existed or formed civilizations. Almost nothing noteworthy happens in the timeline without people, so it is boring. Human activity more or less, is what tells the story in hi-story. Ahem, history.

[New haven america]

There has been quite a few times where Antarctica (Especially the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica) has been temperate enough to support both plant and animal life.

Not abundantly during recorded history.

Yes, actually.

How do you think Alfred Wegener figured out Continental Drift? Hint: He was studying plant and animal fossils from Antarctica.

[Please Understand]

Antarctica will grow fat with rye and flax. Its reindeer hunters will prepare to conquer Australia, and then realize they can't swim that far.

[New haven america]

I sort of said "recorded history" with regards to Antarctica for a reason. The only part of history that really matters, is the duration of when people existed or formed civilizations. Almost nothing noteworthy happens in the timeline without people, so it is boring. Human activity more or less, is what tells the story in hi-story.

So the Earth being created is boring...?

[Iceland-Greenland Union]

Also, as the Earth get's warmer, ice will melt, causing some arable land to go underwater. Also, stuff expands as it gets warmer, which will make even more land go underwater.

That's not the case with water. As water freezes, it expands, so if ice melts, it won't expand, there will just be more water.

It does expand when freezing, but only when the water is a certain temperature (4 to 0 degrees Celsius). Also, more water means more land goes underwater.