U.S. news media fails again on a big climate story

The article below was a lead story on BBC and around the world, but largely ignored in the U.S.  (please let us know if you saw or heard it anywhere in NC).  

This is at least the third set of researchers concluding that sea levels could rise far higher than previously thought possible (1.5 meters is nearly five feet).  Because the rate is accelerating, Dr. James Hansen and others believe it could be much higher than that by 2100. 

Also, see an excellent essay on the failure of the US media on climate change:  Jim Hansen, the Big Ice Melt and the Mainstream Media at   http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/040908EA.shtml

Forecast for big sea level rise

BBC   Tuesday, 15 April 2008 18:14 UK

By Richard Black, Environment correspondent

Sea levels could rise by up to one-and-a-half metres by the end of this century, according to a new scientific analysis.

This is substantially more than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast in last year's landmark assessment of climate science.

Sea level rise of this magnitude would have major impacts on low-lying countries such as Bangladesh.  The findings were presented at a major science conference in Vienna.

The research group is not the first to suggest that the IPCC's forecast of an average rise in global sea levels of 28-43cm by 2100 is too conservative.

The IPCC was unable to include the contribution from "accelerated" melting of polar ice sheets as water temperatures warm because the processes involved were not yet understood.

See the full story:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7349236.stm