The next President will have to tackle Climate Change

Noel Hodson, "That Distinguished Futurist" (Brian Aldiss) who forecast the electronic revolution, now warns of global-warming and a worse pandemic.

OXFORD, OXFORDSHIRE, UK, November 5, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- "The oceans have a surface area of 335 million square kilometres. Antarctica has an area of 13.8 million square kilometres which is 98% covered in ice, with a depth of up to 5 kilometres. Greenland, in the Arctic, has an area of 2.2 million square kilometres, with an ice cap of up to 2.6 kilometres. Should both the Antarctic and Arctic land based ice caps melt, the sea-level would rise 113 metres, or 309 feet. Eighty percent of all the people in the world live below 309 feet, on the coastal margins. Greater London is all below 300 feet. Florida’s east coast urban areas are below 30 feet. Manhattan Island rises just 36 feet above the ocean. The infamous settlement of Monmouth Junction in New Jersey is built at 135 feet above sea-level. The centre of Oxford, England is 200 feet above sea-level. - SW2000 Telework Studies 1994."

Both the Arctic (Greenland) and the Antarctic land-based polar ice caps are melting. Recent reports are that the two regions are warming faster than any other parts of the world. As the above 1994 calculation demonstrates, the mountains of ancient ice are now calving into the oceans and increasing the sea level. The world is also experiencing more extreme weather events such as hurricanes and forest fires. The polar meltdowns are releasing methane-hydrates that have been frozen on the seabed. Methane is a far more harmful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, affecting the upper atmosphere. Just as the increase of heat in the air causes stronger storms - so the increase in ocean temperatures causes stronger currents, which in turn accelerate polar melting. Visible evidence for this melting is the opening of the North-West passage, which cargo ships are now using to shorten their voyages; and the opening of northerly Russian ports. The permafrost in Alaska and Siberia is melting, causing villages to sink and be abandoned. Coastal cities, including New York, are building higher sea-walls to protect against flooding. The Thames Barrier, built to protect London from surges in the North Sea, is forecast to be overwhelmed in the coming decade - potentially displacing millions of families.

A little remarked consequence of the permafrost melting is that bodies of victims of the Spanish-Flu, the most deadly coronavirus to date, have been exhumed from ice graves in Greenland, by Finnish and Norwegian scientists who are reproducing the virus to study and understand it. It is probable that many other northern victims among the estimated 50 to 150 million of those who died from Spanish-Flu from 1918 onwards (it swept the globe at least three times) are being uncovered as the permafrost melts. It is possible that the virus might escape from a laboratory, or from remote and forgotten burials. Hodson labels the revived virus as Glacier-Flu.

Noel Hodson extrapolates these facts in his novel, The Wisdom of Alice Whitaker, to graphically illustrate and warn leaders of the impacts of global warming, in the hope that they will counter or at least prepare for the the consequences. His first book in 1992 Teleworking Explained, attempted with some success, to persuade leaders to reduce business travel and commuting - to reduce carbon-dioxide.

Noel Hodson
Noel Hodson
+44 7713 681216
noel@noelhodson.com
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