"SCIENTIFIC" AMERICAN

The table of contents sets the stage with the inclusion of a small map showing most of Florida covered by the Atlantic Ocean. This map is reproduced in larger format in the article, which begins with a disaster story about 1953 floods in Holland during severe storms. So, after gurgling past the cover, reliving the Dutch floods, and saying good-by twice to Florida, the reader enters the world of "science'' where, too late, he learns a little about sea level changes.

Our favorite part was the numerical estimate of sea level rise of 60 centimeters - about two feet. When asked about this potential calamity, a Dutch official estimated that adjusting the dikes to allow for this rise would cost about the same amount of money that Holland now spends for the maintenance of bicycle paths.

We recently participated in a debate with a global warmer on a call-in talk radio show in New York. During the show, the warmer, who billed himself as a "physicist,'' warned a caller who lived 100 feet above sea level in Florida that he would be flooded by global warming.