I’ve always assumed that a 5 meter sea level rise would be catastrophic – is that too simple?

I have no patience with the “It isn’t happening” view of climate change, which to me is part of the anti-rationalist view of the world. (The battle over the relative merits of Faith and Reason was supposedly settled, at least in Europe, by the Enlightenment, and the supporters of Reason won.)  Pumping large amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere must increase temperatures, and the burden of proof is on those who claim that it hasn’t and won’t. But everything (else) is susceptible to analysis, with no presumption that any particular conclusion is valid.

One of the surprises I have run into is the seemingly small estimates of damages in, say, the next 50 years.  Continue reading →