Posted on 09/08/2004 12:06:36 PM PDT by ChuckShick
8 September 2004
BRUSSELS - By the year 3000, Brussels will be a coastal capital and Antwerp will have disappeared into the sea, warned a report out on Wednesday.
The study into the effects Belgium could suffer from global warming was carried out by the Catholic University of Leuven (UCL) and was commissioned by the environmental group Greenpeace.
A team of 20 experts, headed by climatology professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, warned Belgium would not escape the green house effect.
The researchers predicted that the country will see milder winters in the years to come, but that summers would become more humid, with many more heatwaves like 2003.
By the end of century, temperatures may rise between 1.7 and 4.9 degrees in winter and 2.4 to 6.6 degrees in the summer - the kind of temperature increases that haven't been recorded for the last 10,000 years.
Increased flooding, storms and coastal erosion were also predicted. The experts said an increase of one metre in the sea-level around Belgium would see 63,000 hectares of land disappear.
That problem could be tackled in the short-term, stated the report, through schemes to add extra sand to beaches.
One such project is currently under way in Ostend, for example.
The experts also said new species were proliferating in Belgium and would continue to do so, such as the arrival of oysters in the North Sea, which until now have preferred warmer waters.
Van Ypersele said some of the effects of climate change would be welcomed but added: "Looking at a horizon of 2030, 2050 or beyond, we can see that the potential negative effects significantly outweigh the few positive effects."
Greenpeace said it hoped the government would look at the report's findings and realise the importance of using more renewable energy sources and of developing a long-term environmental strategy.
By the year 3000, Brussels will be a coastal capital and Antwerp will have disappeared into the sea, warned a report out on Wednesday.
Not enough global warming.
At least I'll be here to see it.....
Think I'll drive my SUV around the block a few times just for the heck of it.
That's 995 years too late IMO.
lol....I hear ya. Northern France could join them.
You goths in England better drink up your Stella Artois in a hurry then, because there won't be any in... oh, about a thousand years. ;-)
Save the beer.
Belgium Will Slip Into SeaQuelle domage.
Maybe but by the year 3,000 we will also have capitals in 10 or 20 new star systems .
France's MINI-ME is to be France's Under The Sea.......
And the bad news is????
I wonder how the Grand Ayatollah of Belgium will handle the ensuing panic...
Hehe...that's all the more reason to drive my SUV...
Their social security system will go bust in the next 20 years. Seems like that ought to be a bigger worry for them.
Buh-Bye!
Beam me up Wyrm!
He'll blame it on Bush.
/john
Would someone pray explain to me the downside of this?
LOL! And ship all our Sprouts back to them. It's a win/win.
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