I have admired the EPA for the work they and similar organizations have undertaken both in the US and here in Australia (as detailed by 579 above). However, they have lost all my respect as impartial 'science driven' professional organisations since declaring CO2 a 'pollutant'.

What a diverse range of comments, packed with facts, opinion and suggestions. Some good, some self serving and some not so good! It’s my opinion that this planet has only one source of energy, which has over time, has created the energy stored and active in its many forms on, around and in it. We call it the Sun. Logic (without going into the science) would suggest that if we where to release this planets stored energy something will change. The Sun continues to power this planet today and will do into the distant future whether we survive ourselves or not. Why is it that we are not using the energy that our sun produces today, in lieu of digging up the past?

The answer is simple. There are a lot of very greedy lazy parasites that derive a lot of power and wealth supplying convenient (not cheap) energy to an even greater number of just as lazy, apathetic, ignorant although poorer individuals.

Those who support nuclear energy should be made to spend time on their own at Chernobyl and Fukushima. They should lobby that any new plants should be built next door to where they live.

Those individuals who think climate change is crap should spend time on their own on the numerous Pacific islands that are clearly sinking. During a king tide in the local grave yard would serve to amplify the message. This would enable those who have and listen to imaginary friends to have a one on one discussion.

The solution is to control individual wealth and thus power. Take away the big individual money and you take away the engine that drives the greed that creates the problem. Everyone should be allowed to enjoy as much as possible the time we have on this planet but in doing so we must preserve the time and the planet for those that follow.

Producer. Which particular pacific islands should I visit/sit on??

Paul Kench at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji used historical aerial photos and high-resolution satellite images to study changes in the land surface of 27 Pacific islands over the last 60 years. During that time, local sea levels have risen by 120 millimetres, or 2 millimetres per year on average.

Despite this, Kench and Webb found that just four islands have diminished in size since the 1950s. The area of the remaining 23 has either stayed the same or grown (Global and Planetary Change, DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2007.11.001).

For the first time, NASA has the tools and expertise to understand the rate at which sea level is changing, some of the mechanisms that drive those changes and the effects that sea level change may have worldwide.

Although scientists have directly measured sea level since the early part of the 20th century, it was not known how many of the observed changes in sea level were real and how many were related to upward or downward movement of the land. Now satellites have changed that by providing a reference by which changes in ocean height can be determined regardless of what the nearby land is doing. With new satellite measurements, scientists are able to better predict the rate at which sea level is rising and the cause of that rise.

"In the last fifty years sea level has risen at an estimated rate of 1.8 mm (.07 inches) per year, but in the last 12 years that rate appears to be 3 mm (.12 inches) per year. Roughly half of that is attributed to the expansion of ocean water as it has increased in temperature, with the rest coming from other sources" said Dr. Steve Nerem Associate Professor, Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Another source of sea level rise is the increase in ice melting. Evidence shows that sea levels rise and fall as ice on land grows and shrinks. With the new measurements now available, it's possible to determine the rate at which ice is growing and shrinking.

"We've found the largest likely factor for sea level rise is changes in the amount of ice that covers the earth. Three-fourths of the planet's freshwater is stored in glaciers and ice sheets or the equivalent of about 220 feet of sea level," said Dr. Eric Rignot,

Principal Scientist for the Radar Science and Engineering Section at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Ice cover is shrinking much faster than we thought, with over half of recent sea level rise due to the melting of ice from Greenland, West Antarctica's Amundsen Sea and mountain glaciers," he said.

Additionally, NASA scientists and partner researchers now are able to measure and monitor the world's waters globally in a sustained and comprehensive way using a combination of satellite observations and sensors in the ocean. By integrating the newly available satellite and surface data, scientists are better able to determine the causes and significance of current sea level changes.

"Now the challenge is to develop an even deeper understanding of what is responsible for sea level rise and to monitor for possible future changes. That's where NASA's satellites come in, with global coverage and ability to examine the many factors involved," said Dr. Laury Miller, Chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry, Washington.

NASA works with agency partners such as NOAA and the National Science Foundation to explore and understand sea level change. Critical resources that NASA brings to bear on this issue include such satellites as:

-- Ocean TOPography Experiment (TOPEX/Poseidon), which uses radar to map the precise features of the oceans' surface;
-- Jason, which measures ocean height and monitors ocean circulation;
-- Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), which studies the mass of polar ice sheets and their contributions to global sea level change;
-- Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE), which maps Earth's gravitational Field, allowing us to better understand movement of water throughout the Earth

I'm not really sure what your point is with the Webb & Kench paper, Prompete.

What are you trying to say? The Pacific islands aren't vulnerable to sea-level rise? Sea-level rise isn't happening? What exactly?