Twenty one years ago, on this day, January 31, 2002, things began to fall apart.
31 January 2002–7 March 2002- the Larsen B sector collapsed and broke up, 3,250 km² of ice 220 m thick, covering an area comparable to the US state of Rhode Island, disintegrated and collapsed in one season.[6] Larsen B was stable for up to 12,000 years, essentially the entire Holocene period since the last glacial period, according to Queen’s University researchers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larsen_Ice_Shelf
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 371ppm. As of 2023 it is 419.
The context was folks had been talking about the impacts of greenhouse gas build-up on the Antarctic for a looooong time (try January 25, 1978)
What I think we can learn from this
Humans ignore warnings, especially if paying attention would be inconvenient to powerful people who have the ability to ‘help’ everyone else ignore those warnings. Profound observation, I know – it’s what you have spent all month enjoying, no?
What happened next
It helped the film-makers who gave us “The Day After Tomorrow”(2004) with their opening scene
In 2005 British Sea Power’s album Open Season included a song called “Oh Larsen B”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HN0rqVJT4U
You had twelve thousand years and now it’s all over
Five hundred billion tonnes of the purest pack ice and snow
Oh Larsen B , oh won’t you fall on me?
Oh Larsen B , desalinate the barren sea
Oh I think it’s the start of the end
Like saw blades through the air
Your winter overture
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Do comment on this post.