Currently, the ice melt is running about .0001" per day or a sea level rise of roughly 1/3 inch per year; by 2039 we should be able to easily measure this.
By 2015 (when we are all dead) we will be under water if we don't move inland.
By 2115 there will be no ice left on the planet and we can all go naked in the winter.
Actually this makes the point in my last paragraph. We move inland and wear linen. Over a period of 100 years, the transition would be not too difficult. Would it be nicer if Washington DC weren't flooded (perhaps a bad example :)). Of course.
But is this a species threatening or civilization crashing event? Nope. Not any more than the Ice Age killed off early humans--it didn't. We're really adaptable and would adapt just fine.
What we would not adapt to well is the dismantling of our economy and the totalitarian regime the ecofreaks want. Especially since the globe's probably going to warm up anyway. So with the greens, we get a twofer--it'll be too darn hot AND our world will be run by eco-stalins.
Sorry, I just don't buy the 'catastrophe' mode thinking about this issue. As long as we are free and have a semblance of a market based economy and the government doesn't try to help out too much, we will adapt just fine.
you can go naked in the winter right now in L.A., but i dont see too many doing it. so whats your point?