Gaius Publius: How Climate Change Could Cause an Ice Age in Europe

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Lambert Strether

Lambert here: NC has flagged this risk before: As global warming progresses, the melting of polar and Greenland ice will lower ocean salinity, which will slow or stop the Gulf Stream, on which Europe depends for its temperate, relatively mild climate. The Pacific Northwest, which benefits from a less pronounced gulf stream effect, is also at risk.

By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and contributing editor at AmericaBlog. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius and Facebook. Originally published at AmericaBlog

So far, the progress of global warming and climate change has been relatively smooth, a gradual decline in livability marked by a gradual increase in increasingly catastrophic events. Yes, catastrophic events — but a gradual increase in their number and degree. Key word, gradual.

We assume, perhaps to comfort ourselves, that the (so far) slow and gradual decline in the livability of the planet will remain … slow and gradual.