Global sea levels may quickly rise if 'doomsday' glacier breaks away: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Global sea levels may quickly rise if 'doomsday' glacier breaks away
NOW reporter Jordan Mendoza talks about the latest climate change travesty. Plus, a CDC panel recommends Pfizer and Moderna over Johnson & Johnson for COVID-19 vaccines, Kentucky rebuilds after devastating tornadoes, travel reporter Eve Chen talks about a Facebook group that connects queer people with stand-in parents and college football bowl season is here.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things you need to know, Friday, the 17th of December, 2021. Today, a massive glacier in jeopardy, plus, how Kentucky continues to recover from tornado devastation, and more.
Here are some of the top headlines.
- The FDA is permanently making abortion pills available through the mail and telehealth. Officials are removing a restriction that the pills only be prescribed after an in person visit.
- Educators around the country have announced plans to increase security in response to TikTok posts warning of shooting and bomb threats around the country, though officials are assuring parents that the threats are not credible.
- And there's a new Miss America: Miss Alaska, Emma Broyles, took the crown last night.
The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica also goes by another name, the Doomsday Glacier, and it's in trouble. Scientists say it's on the brink of sliding into the ocean with the ice shelf holding it back, showing signs of cracking. If and when it breaks off into the ocean, the Florida-sized glacier could raise global sea levels by at least a foot over the next decade. NOW reporter Jordan Mendoza explains.
Jordan Mendoza:
It's being held together by this ice cliff, if you will, and it's considered the Doomsday Glacier because of the implications that it could have if it were to ever melt or break off, or things like that. And so, the glacier, it's one of the biggest. It's about the size of Florida and it's being basically held together by this ice shelf. If the ice shelf breaks off or falls apart, then this puts this glacier in a whole lot of danger of melting and no longer existing.
There are a whole bunch of consequences that can happen from this. So you're looking at global sea levels rising so dramatically because there's so much ice there. One thing that a lot of people, or a lot of scientists were concerned about when it came to this glacier is they're worried about... You ever seen those videos of where there's a big iceberg or a big glacier, and a piece of ice falls off and hits the water and it's super dramatic? They're worried that this is going to happen to this glacier and when that happens, it's going to create a massive chain reaction to where you see ice melting and you see sea levels rising.
The thing that's really crazy about this whole thing is that usually when you see studies done about, "Oh, we can see sea levels rising maybe like one or two inches by the next decade, by the next century," things like that, scientists right here are saying that they can see sea levels rising at least a foot in the next decade. That's a dramatic change of events that's threatening coastal cities around the globe. You're seeing a lot of beaches being heavily impacted and people living on the coast be heavily impacted. So it creates a massive chain reaction if something were to happen to this glacier.
They're basically saying that the ice shelf that's holding this all together has a bunch of cracks in it and it's continually growing. They say that this eye shelf that's keeping it in place can be completely done in the next three to five years. And so, when that happens, then it signals the beginning of the end, if you will, for this glacier. So, this whole process can start in five years. This ice shelf, for all you know, can hold off a little bit longer and last another decade, or maybe a couple other decades and stuff like that. It's really hard. They're trying to estimate what the timeframe is, but one of the scientists was very clear in saying that this isn't a for sure thing that's going to happen, but it's a real big possibility and we need to monitor this glacier; we need to monitor this ice shelf very carefully over, honestly, the next century, just to make sure that no one's being heavily impacted by what can happen down in Antarctica.
Taylor Wilson:
Check out more of Jordan's work on Twitter at jordan_mendoza5.
A CDC panel is recommending that Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines be preferred for adults over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The CDC, hours later, formally accepted the recommendation because of rare but dangerous blood clots related to J&J. The organization's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said yesterday that out of some 17 million people in the US who have gotten the J&J vaccine, there have been nine deaths from a condition called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia. The panel still emphasized that getting J&J is still much safer than any rare side effect since COVID 19 itself is much, much more likely to cause severe disease or death. The latest recommendation comes after calls for those with a J&J dose in particular to get a booster shot of either Pfizer or Moderna to add protection after studies showed slightly weaker efficacy in the single dose regimen.
Meanwhile, the fight over vaccine requirements continues. President Joe Biden filed an emergency application in the Supreme Court yesterday in an attempt to reinstate a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers at hospitals that receive federal money. Federal judges had previously blocked that mandate in 24 states. Seventy-two point four percent of Americans are now at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19 with 61.2% of people fully vaccinated.
Kentuckians continue to work to recover from last weekend's devastating tornadoes. At its height, one twister reached 190 miles an hour wiping out a factory and a slew of homes in Mayfield, Kentucky. Local business owner, Brent Wright, said he's hopeful the town will bounce back.
Brent Wright:
I put all my blood, sweat and tears into this business. And now, it's like everything I worked for, you just walk up on it and see it all piled up in a big old mess. And so, one of our retired army buddies wanted to help in Fort Campbell, so they all jumped in and 30 minutes later there's 20 of them here with excavators and every kind of equipment you can think of. We're getting it all cleaned up and it's going to take a minute, but this town's going to come back together and we're going to be stronger than ever.
Taylor Wilson:
That's something Rebecca Vanderhule, whose home was severely damaged, can get behind.
Rebecca Vanderhule:
There's a lot of determined people here. Everybody here has a really strong sense of town and family. What I've seen here over the past couple of days, the town is rallied.
Taylor Wilson:
But not everyone is that optimistic and some, like Chris Eigenrauch, don't plan on sticking around.
Chris Eigenrauch:
It's going to take time to rebuild. It's going to take months if not years and I plan on leaving. It ain't nothing towards the people of the town and what's left of the town of Mayfield, but I just plan on moving on and trying to put this behind. It's something that's never going to go away. It's always going to be there. It's always going to be in our minds. This day will be remembered, December 10th, 2021. It will always be remembered.
Taylor Wilson:
Thousands of people across five states are newly homeless after the devastation and at least 88 people were killed. To find out how you can help tornado victims in Kentucky and across the US, find a link in today's episode description.
There's a void that many queer people face when their families have failed to accept them. That void can feel particularly strong during holiday gatherings or other events like weddings, but a Facebook group has parents ready and willing to stand in place if anyone in the LGBTQ community needs a parent figure for any occasion. Travel reporter Eve Chen has more.
Eve Chen:
TikTok Stand in Families was started by two people, Daniel Blevins and Rae Otto. Daniel initially started it after posting a video on TikTok. In the video, he offered to stand in as family to any LGBTQ couples who may have been turned away by their own families, but need that extra support there on their wedding day. He, as a dad, would be happy to stand in as a dad and knew of other parents who'd be willing to do the same. He got a tremendous response to that and then he thought there was something there, so he reached out to his friend, Rae, and said, "Hey, I want to make a group. Let's make this into a bigger thing since there's so much need for this within our community, and there's so many people who want to help the community as well."
And so they created TikTok Stand in Families as a Facebook group because that way they can keep it private and respect the privacy of their members, especially for folks who aren't out. So the people that are in the actual group are both people who are LGBTQ who would love to have someone to stand in for them, not necessarily only at special events, but just in their lives and be there as support for them because their families may have rejected them, which is unfortunately very common within some experiences within that community.
And then, it's also for folks who come as stand-ins and allies who are happy to be there and be a chosen family for these folks. Some of these people who are the chosen family stand-ins are themselves queer or have LGBTQ folks in their direct family, or may not and just want to be there and be a good ally. So, it's a whole mix of folks trying to be there for each other and support each other. The group has about 30,000 members, which blows away the minds of the founders. It all started with a TikTok, so it's pretty amazing.
Taylor Wilson:
For more, head to the Life section on USATODAY.com.
College football bowl season is here. The sports post-season begins today with a pair of games. First up Middle Tennessee State against Toledo in The Bahamas Bowl at noon, Eastern; then Northern Illinois and Coastal Carolina tonight in the Cure Bowl in Orlando at 6:00 PM, Eastern. In all, there will be 43 bowl games on tap over the next three-plus weeks. Things wrap up with the College Football Playoff semi-finals and then the National Championship game. The semis are on December 31st with number one, Alabama, against number four, Cincinnati; and number two, Michigan, versus number three, Georgia. You can follow along with all the action at Paste BN Sports.
And you can find new episodes of 5 Things right here, wherever you find your pods, seven mornings a week. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his fantastic work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from Paste BN.