Slate's coverage begins:
In what may prove to be a turning point for political action on climate change, a breathtaking new study casts extreme doubt about the near-term stability of global sea levels.
The study—written by James Hansen, NASA’s former lead climate scientist, and 16 co-authors, many of whom are considered among the top in their fields—concludes that glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica will melt 10 times faster than previous consensus estimates, resulting in sea level rise of at least 10 feet in as little as 50 years.
The article goes on to add the caveat that the study has not yet been peer reviewed -- the authors have chosen to publish in a forum that invites peer review to take place online after publication rather than before -- but Hansen's stature lends his predictions a lot of weight. "In the study’s likely scenario," Slate summarizes, "New York City—and every other coastal city on the planet—may only have a few more decades of habitability left." Hansen calls for "emergency cooperation among nations."
Here's the article.
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