Thanks bruceyg - I was unaware of the 1841 Tasmanian benchmark. But reading the article you reference, rather than as you state it "does not appear to indicate a rise in sea levels" its say's...
"Global predictions are for the rate of change to increase, such that by 2100 sea-level will be between 9 and 88 cm above the 1990 global average sea-level. For the periods 1990 to 2025 and 1990 to 2050, the projected rises are 3 to 14 cm and 5 to 32 cm respectively (Houghton & Ding 2001). Already the Port Arthur benchmark is showing a rise in sea-levels of at least 13 cm since 1841, with an average annual rate of 0.8-1.0 mm/year (Pugh, Coleman & Hunter 2002). Hence the site will be an important benchmark to continue measuring the changes in the average level of the sea."
My point of view is this, I'm not a scientist, and I was once extremely sceptical of the doom-sayers!! But if NASA says possible global warming is a big deal, I worry for my kids and grandkids... Add to this, last year, the US Pentagon [who are not known as a bunch of tree-hugging Greenies] named climate change as a "threat multiplier" http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/220575-pentagon-unveils-plan-to-fight-climate-change. They've gotten past the stage of "Is it or Is'nt it Happening?" to "we had better start factoring it into our planning."
As they say "Politics or ideology must not get in the way of sound planning"
