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EVERYBODY FLOATING?
"It seems that the world do not care what happen to my people, they want
to see everybody floating before they respond", the former Prime Minister
Kamuta Laatasi of Tuvalu said, "but they might not even be able to do
that. We might not have enough wood here to build paopaos (rafts/canoes)!"
EL NIÑO STRONGER!
Former vice-president Al Gore of USA said the following on a El Niño
top-meeting in California: "Our scientists say that the emission of greenhouse-gases
contributes to that El Niño gets stronger and more destructive
each time".
VERY
DANGEROUS!
"Our islands are low-lying atolls, barely two meters above the surface,
and much of the land-mass is already eroded and the sea has flooded on
to the land. If the sea continues to rise, then we will have no islands;
we will be disposed from these islands. So that is very dangerous", said
the former Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Bikenibeu Paeniu.
BURY OUR HEADS IN THE SAND?
"The potential for serious climate disruption is real" US former president
Bill Clinton said in a speech opening a conference on climate change,
"it would be a grave mistake to bury our heads in the sand and pretend
the issue will go away. Although we do not know everything, what we do
know is more than enough to warrant responsible action."
THE
CHILDREN SHOULD LIVE!
"Soon big waves will roll across our islands. We will try to climb the
coconut-trees, but then we will drown. I don’t mind dying, I am old now,
but the children should live!", said my mother-in-law, Fakalei.
We left, but Emma’s family are still there...!
THOR
HEYERDAHL: "FRIGHTENING!"
"You have an important mission in telling your frightening message, you
have experienced something that we other will feel later on if we don’t
change our direction in time!", says Thor Heyerdahl in a letter to me
25/4-97.
THREATEN
OUR EXISTENCE
"The
greenhouse effect and sea level rise threaten the very heart of our existence",
the former Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Bikenibeau Paeniu.
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HUMAN INFLUENCE
The UN climate-panel (IPCC 1995):
"The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global
climate."
THE RISE OF SEA-LEVEL
UN climate-panel:
"Average sea level is expected to rise as a result of thermal expansion
of the oceans and melting of glaciers and ice-sheets.
Models project a "best estimate" increase in sea level of about 50 cm
from the present to 2100.
Sea level would continue to rise at a similar rate in future centuries
beyond 2100, even if concentrations of greenhouse gases were stabilized
by that time, and would continue to do so even beyond the time of stabilization
of global mean temperature."
The Norwegian Meteorological Institute:
"In case of a general sea-level rise, then the ocean will rise fastest
close to equator due to the rotation of the earth."
INCREASING
NUMBER OF HURRICANES:
The atolls of Tuvalu is situated in/near the equatorial belt (between
5 and 11 degrees) and this is not a place one would expect hurricanes.
In the encyclopedias you can read that the development of the rotation
of wind that forms a hurricane only can take place on latitudes higher
than 5-10 degrees south or north. In the British Admiralties Pilot Books
you will find that it is considered safe for hurricanes between equator
and 8-9 degrees.
List of hurricanes that have caused damages in Tuvalu this century:
1958 Hurricane NN, 1972 Hurricane Bebe, 1984 Hurricane Eric, 1990 Hurricane
Sina, 1990 Hurricane Ofa, 1991 Hurricane Val, 1992 Hurricane Joni, 1992
Hurricane Kina, 1993 Hurricane Kina, 1993 Hurricane Nina, 1997 Hurricane
Gavin, 1997 Hurricane Hina, 1997 Hurricane Kili.
The development is frightening, and the most frightening is perhaps that
the last hurricane took place in the middle of June, the season for the
southeasterly trade winds.
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All the islands of Tuvalu are low-lying atolls, here the main-island
Funafuti. |
Want
to find out where Tuvalu is, click for
a map! |
ALREADY
HAPPENED
WORLDS
FIRST CLIMATE-REFUGEE
