Reading a newspaper article about an iceberg four times the size of Manhattan that recently broke off the Petermann Glacier in Northern Greenland, the phrase “It’s been a summer of near Biblical climatic havoc” jumped off the page at me. The recent forest fires in Russia and the flooding in Asia are cited as examples.
What I find interesting about that phrase is that it could refer to several different things. My first thought was that it referred to the Book of Revelation (the final book of the Christian New Testament) in which the end of the world is described. Thinking on it some more, I realised it could also refer to the Flood or perhaps even the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (both from the Book of Genesis).
Interesting how an article from a New Zealand newspaper referring to something being “biblical” straight away makes me think that it refers to the New Testament.
The article continues and mentions climate change and global warming, and how the breaking off of this iceberg from the glacier seems to be a cause of the second. It also mentions that “scientists say this is the biggest [iceberg to have broken off a glacier] in the northern hemisphere since 1962”.
While I'm only in the beginning stages of learning about climate change and global warming, this story does interest me. I'm just trying to picture "global sea levels [rising] by a devastating 6 metres" - what that would mean and how the world as we know it would change.
Beaches would be gone, land that is already below sea level now and protected by dykes would be underwater, each and every major harbour would be as well. That does indeed sound like a scenario for movies like "Waterworld", "2012" and "The Day After Tomorrow".
Link to the original article on the stuff.co.nz website.
What I find interesting about that phrase is that it could refer to several different things. My first thought was that it referred to the Book of Revelation (the final book of the Christian New Testament) in which the end of the world is described. Thinking on it some more, I realised it could also refer to the Flood or perhaps even the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (both from the Book of Genesis).
Interesting how an article from a New Zealand newspaper referring to something being “biblical” straight away makes me think that it refers to the New Testament.
The article continues and mentions climate change and global warming, and how the breaking off of this iceberg from the glacier seems to be a cause of the second. It also mentions that “scientists say this is the biggest [iceberg to have broken off a glacier] in the northern hemisphere since 1962”.
Few images can capture the world's climate fears like a 260 sq kilometre chunk of ice breaking off Greenland's vast ice sheet, a reservoir of freshwater that if it collapsed would raise global sea levels by a devastating 6 metres...
Since 1970, temperatures have risen more than 2.5degC in much of the Arctic, much faster than the global average. In June the Arctic sea ice cover was at the lowest level for that month since records began in 1979, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
While I'm only in the beginning stages of learning about climate change and global warming, this story does interest me. I'm just trying to picture "global sea levels [rising] by a devastating 6 metres" - what that would mean and how the world as we know it would change.
Beaches would be gone, land that is already below sea level now and protected by dykes would be underwater, each and every major harbour would be as well. That does indeed sound like a scenario for movies like "Waterworld", "2012" and "The Day After Tomorrow".
Link to the original article on the stuff.co.nz website.