Columnist.
William D. Balgord, Ph.D. (geochemistry) heads Environmental & Resources Technology, Inc. in Ft. Pierce, FL and Middleton, WI. He is a Contributing Writer for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, a not-for-profit advocacy group based in Cambridge, MA, recently issued a report that drew immediate responses from news outlets. They predict 17 U.S. military facilities, including the Norfolk Naval Yard, will deal with flooding events from rising seas by the year 2050, and also assert some bases may be awash by 2100. Such dire predictions are based on climate models suggesting future atmospheric temperature rise of two degrees or more accompanied by melting of the massive glaciers that cover Greenland and Antarctica. But the climate models, which have yet to be validated, come under criticism because of poor correlation between increasing CO2 and global temperatures — temperatures that have not risen at the pace models predict, while CO2 emissions have risen significantly. Without meaningful temperature increases, little melting of either polar icecap would occur.