Scientist and TV personality Bill Nye is warning that one of the world's largest glaciers is melting at such a high rate due to human-induced climate change, it could collapse before the end of the decade and cause catastrophic results.
Nye made the claim while discussing Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier, also known as the "doomsday glacier" because of the destruction it would cause if it were to break up entirely, which some scientists have predicted could happen in as little as three to five years.
If that were to happen, Nye said sea levels around the world would be affected.
"It's estimated the ocean will rise about a half a meter, 20 inches, 19 inches, which you say 'Well I've been around 19 inches of snow,' or something like that, but this would be catastrophic. A place like Florida, southern Florida, would be under water," Nye told CNN.
"The problem with that," he continued, "is that people will leave. Where are they going to go? What are they going to do when they leave? It won't happen instantly but it will happen fast enough."
The doomsday glacier has been receding for some time but is now becoming unstable. It is connected to an underwater mountain, which is weakening as ocean temperatures continue to warm. If that connection fractures, the glacier would collapse.
Nye said the doomsday glacier is a prime example of "the old problem that we've been talking about for 30 years, where scientific concerns have not been heeded by governments, by people around the world."
"The fossil fuel industry has been very successful at introducing this idea that scientific uncertainty, 'When will the glacier fall? Tomorrow? Ten years from now? Well, that's too uncertain,'" said Nye. "The scientific uncertainty is somehow the same as doubt about the whole thing. And this is leading to catastrophes big enough where I think people are noticing them."
Nye added that the effects of climate change are definitely no longer hard to visualize.
"The very large tornado that swept through Kentucky, it set all kinds of records. It was on the ground for two and a half hours, went over 200 statute miles, tore up everything -- in December," he said. "I think people will now be able to see that these predictions that scientists have been making, climate scientists have been making for decades, 30 years... people are seeing it in their own front and back yards."
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