Global Warming as Peacemaker

Who said mythical global warming did nothing but harm? This pile of rocks with some trees on it apparently has been the source of a long-running feud between India and Bangladesh, but thanks to "rising sea levels" of a fifth of an inch a year, this land mass, known as New Moore Island, is now mostly submerged.

At last there will be peace in our time. We can now officially rename it No More Island. Requisite Al Gore hysteria sure to follow.

For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal.

Now rising sea levels have resolved the dispute for them: the island's gone.

New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta.

Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said. "What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming," said Hazra.

Scientists at the School of Oceanographic Studies at the university have noted an alarming increase in the rate at which sea levels have risen over the past decade in the Bay of Bengal.

Until 2000, the sea levels rose about 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) a year, but over the last decade they have been rising about 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) annually, he said.

Another nearby island, Lohachara, was submerged in 1996, forcing its inhabitants to move to the mainland, while almost half the land of Ghoramara island was underwater, he said.

At least 10 other islands in the area were at risk as well, Hazra said.

"We will have ever larger numbers of people displaced from the Sunderbans as more island areas come under water," he said.

Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation of 150 million people, is one of the countries worst-affected by global warming.

Bangladesh has been affected by a lot more than just global warming, but if these jokers wants to blame decades of misery on the climate, have at it. Maybe it's time for another benefit concert.

Officials estimate 18 percent of Bangladesh's coastal area will be underwater and 20 million people will be displaced if sea levels rise 1 meter (3.3 feet) by 2050 as projected by some climate models.

Oh yeah, climate models. We all know how reliable they've turned out to be.

As to what's purported to be New Moore Island in the photo above, I saw scenes similar to that in North Jersey after heavy rains a couple of weeks ago, and somehow we managed to overcome that long weekend of climate change.