Thousands attend Moving Planet climate change actions in Australia and globally

Did you miss the action over the weekend? Thousands of people around the world from Cairo to Canberra participated in events to move the planet beyond fossil fuels. There were over 2000 events in more than 175 countries with more than 40 Moving Planet events taking place across Australia from the Blue Mountains, Hobart, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin, Sydney and Melbourne joining the thousands of events taking place around the globe.

Melbourne photos by Takver | Youtube video - Sydney | Moving Planet | Global photo highlights

But if you pick up a mainstream newspaper in Australia you won't find any reports of these grassroots actions. It seems the media love sucking up to the outlandish rantings of right wing radio talk-back shock-jock Alan Jones and the raucous placards of climate deniers - the modern day equivalent of flat earthers - but ignore the less confrontational messages of climate change activists. I guess this says much about the state of our current media in Australia.

At Bondi Beach in Sydney a couple of hundred people converged for Kite Flying to say YES to a Price on Pollution (Watch Youtube video). In Perth there was a rally outside Woodside Petroleum. In Melbourne hundreds of cyclists and people converged on Docklands to make a giant human bike sign for a transition to 100% renewable energy! But you wouldn't know any of this if you read the Herald Sun, Sydney Morning Herald, Courier Mail or the Age.

The Moving Planet international event, organised by 350.org, was about speaking out for action on climate change and reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million. (It currently stands at over 390ppm).

The call went out by Bill McKibben from 350.org. “The planet has been stuck for too long with governments doing nothing about the biggest problem we've ever faced,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, the international climate campaign coordinating the demonstrations. “This is the day when people will get the earth moving, rolling towards the solutions we need.”


There were also lots of smaller events in regional places such as the 'Arrival of the Cycle Tribes' at the Warburton Trail in the Yarra Valley, Ride around the lake and picnic in Bendigo, Kite Party for climate action in Newcastle, events in Armidale, Ballina, Blacktown, Maitland, Nambucca Heads, The Entrance, Cairns, Sunshine Coast... the list goes on.

At the melbourne event one speaker called attention to the Beyond Zero Emissions Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan which outlines the technical feasibility of moving Australia stationary energy to 100% renewables by 2020 with just using current commercial technology. The plan was publicly launched in Melbourne in July 2010.

Two weeks ago on September 13 the carbon price legislation was introduced into the Australian Federal Parliament. The legislation is due to put to the vote before Christmas and should succeed with support of the Greens and the three of the four Independent MPs in the House of Representatives and with the support of the Greens senators in the Senate.

Greg Combet, the Climate Change Minister, in one of his many media appearances ,told Philip Clarke and listeners on ABC radio 702 Sydney at breakfast on 14 September: "We’ve taken the advice from scientists and scientific academies around the world Phillip. And this is not a new issue. It’s been, you know, largely debated over the last twenty years. And the Government is standing up for what it believes is the right thing to do for the country."

"And we are determined therefore to make this change. It’s a very manageable change in our economy with a very modest impact. And of course as I said earlier, we’ll be providing assistance to households and to businesses too to manage this change over a period of time. But we do have to tackle it. If we don’t make our contribution to cutting pollution and investing in clean energy, changes will be imposed upon us by other countries. And it’s not as if we are the only ones doing it."

"Yesterday I met with representatives from China, from the State of California in the US. I met recently with people from Europe about these issues. South Korea is also concentrating on this question. People are introducing a carbon price into their economies overseas. California will start next year. It’s a much bigger economy than ours. Six emissions trading schemes that will introduce carbon pricing in China, large areas of China, will commence in 2013. Carbon pricing has been throughout Europe over the last six years."

"We need to be part of international efforts and it’s perfectly manageable. All we are seeing is a scare campaign run by Tony Abbott to try and terrify people about their jobs and the cost of living in order to get himself into the position of prime minister. Ultimately, we’ve just got to look at the facts here and recognise that difficult policy reforms like this we have to come to grips with. We’ve done it in the past and it stands the country in good stead."

Tony Abbott, leader of the Federal Opposition, continues to threaten repeal of the carbon pricing legislation. But such an action will have far reaching and negative consequences. These include trying to reverse the major taxation changes and pension increases that are tied in as compensation, without blowing a budget black hole; and the effect on investment certainty in the business communty who are anticipating the changes already announced.

Greg Combet told Sydney ABC radio listeners "And if you just think about the electricity generating sector and you’re potentially investing in a power station that will have a life of thirty, forty or fifty years. You don’t want the policy changing all the time. In fact the energy sector has been calling for a carbon price so that they can have certainty to invest in long lived assets. And I think from a practical economic point of view, the carbon price will be there and be important to be maintained because it will drive change in our economy and cut pollution."

My attendance at one of the Melbourne events was one small voice added to a few hundred voices at the event in Melbourne Docklands, added to tens of thousands of voices internationally on Saturday around the globe, including many actions across the Pacific from Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, to Auckland.

I have read quite a few scientific papers on climate change, and listened to several climate scientists in person. We are in a critical decade to take action on climate change. I am well aware of the social imperative to start action on carbon pricing, even at a just a nominal level as proposed by the Gillard Government. The Australian Carbon pricing policy is a small start to tackling climate change, but one that is essential to take.

Photos:
* Moving Planet bikesign from Melbourne and Tuvalu reproduced Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
* Photos by Takver of Melbourne are all CC-by-SA 2.0 from Flickr

Comments

Where in the world are sea levels rising?
Australia emits the least amount of carbon dioxide per square kilometre than any other country in the world, and you want a carbon monoxide tax!
labor have said if we don't have a carbon dioxide tax there will be a huge black hole in budget next year that is why we have a carbon dioxide tax.
Gillard is gone because of this tax because the Australian people don't want it as a voter who has always voted labor I will not be voting at the next election I still can't vote for Abbott or Liberal so labor has lost my vote and many long time labor voters because we know it is all bull shit

Was it not the scientists that first said the earth was flat and the sailors said the earth was round who were just the avarage man in the street.The sailors I work with can't see sea levels rising! who is the flat earthers now? you have all been conned LOL

You are showing your ignorance - sea levels are rising around the world but at varying rates according to local geographic and geologic differences:

SPECIAL: Sea levels rising at fastest rate in 2000 years (7/21/11)
Source: Potsdam Institut für Klimafolgenforschung
The rate of sea-level rise since the beginning of industrialization is greater than ever before in the last two thousand years. After many centuries with stable or slowly increasing sea level, around the year 1900 the data curve starts to rise steeply. This is shown by an analysis of sediments from the US Atlantic coast – it is the first continuous sea-level reconstruction covering such a long time span.
http://www.research-in-germany.de/71948/2011-07-21-special-sea-levels-ri...

The risks of Sea Level Change - Dr Peter Ward
Dr Peter Ward claims that the single biggest threat and impact of climate change will be rising seas, rather than hot weather, or even drought. He has a new book out this year called The Flooded Earth: Our Future In a World Without Ice Caps which explains why, how, and how fast the seas will rise, due to global warming. Dr Peter Ward is a paleontologist and professor of Biology and of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle.
http://takvera.blogspot.com/2010/10/risks-of-sea-level-change-dr-peter-w...

"There are serious consequences of rising sea levels for the Gippsland region. The Gippsland Lakes, including Ninety Mile Beach and Corner Inlet, represent one of the most vulnerable coastal areas in Australia. Within 50 years, parts of the Gippsland coast will be inundated to an extent requiring protection or relocation of houses and buildings."
http://climatecommission.gov.au/topics/climate-change-impacts-for-gippsl...

"Rising sea levels will exacerbate existing vulnerability of coastal towns and infrastructure in the Illawarra/ NSW south coast region."
http://climatecommission.gov.au/topics/illawarransw-south-coast-climate-...

"Sea levels along the west coast of Australia have been rising at more than double the global average. With significant part of the population living in coastal cities and towns, rising sea levels pose significant risks to Western Australia’s coastal infrastructure and iconic sandy beaches."
http://climatecommission.gov.au/topics/western-australia-climate-change-...

"Rising sea levels will exacerbate existing vulnerability in South Australia’s coastal towns and infrastructure."
http://climatecommission.gov.au/topics/the-critical-decade-south-austral...

According to Dr John Church "Sea level is currently rising at a rate that is above any of the model projections of 18 to 59 cm". he said. "Our study centered on Australia showed that coastal flooding events that today we expect only once every hundred years will happen several times a year by 2100", said John Church.
http://takvera.blogspot.com/2009/03/scientists-confirm-rising-sea-levels...

Sea Level Rise could reach 1.9 Metres this century
12/07/2009 - A new scientific study warns that sea level could rise much faster than previously expected. By the year 2100, global sea level could rise between 75 and 190 centimetres, according to a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
http://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/archive/2009/sea-level-ris...

Fastest Sea-Level Rise in 2,000 Years Linked to Increasing Global Temperatures
ScienceDaily (June 21, 2011) — The rate of sea level rise along the U.S. Atlantic coast is greater now than at any time in the past 2,000 years -- and has shown a consistent link between changes in global mean surface temperature and sea level. The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110620183242.htm

Are sea levels rising?
http://www.skepticalscience.com/Are-sea-levels-rising.html

or read a general overview on the Weather Underground:
http://www.wunderground.com/climate/SeaLevelRise.asp

And it isn't a tax on carbon monoxide (CO), it's a price on carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution. Many scientists say that the safe longterm level of CO2 in our atmosphere is 350 parts per million. We are currently at 391 parts per million and rising (387.7ppm as measured at the CSIRO Cape Grim Greenhouse Gas website - http://www.csiro.au/greenhouse-gases/ )

http://www.research-in-germany.de/71948/2011-07-21-special-sea-levels-ri..
IT'S GOOD to see this web site states there was a medievel warm period( wasn't man that made it hot then) unlike the Hockey stick graph which shows no medievil warm period it shows how much you hockey stick players contradict yourselves but where in the world is sea level rising?And don't say Kiribati or Tavalu because their Islands are flooding because they pull sand off the beach and in Tarawa the causeway they built changed the current but 12 miles south of Tarawa the Islands have no flooding because there is no causeways being built and the locals don't pull sand of the beach to make concrete like they do in Tarawa and Tuvalu so name the country that has had the sea level rise.Sorry about the word Carbon monoxide insted of carbon Dioxide it's just that I associate carbon monoxide as the bad stuff (you don't live long breathing that stuff) and carbon dioxide as the stuff we breath out as Hillary said I miss spoke LOL

Dear Anonymous,
Sea levels are rising specifically around Australia, but also other locations like the U.S. Atlantic coast (see links in previous comment)
"From 1870 to 2007, the global average sea level rose by close to 200mm. Sea levels rose at an average of
1.7mm per year during the 20th century and about 3.0mm per year from 1993-2009. These levels are global
averages and because of the differing movements of ocean currents around the globe, results vary from
place to place. This is true for Australia where since 1993 levels have risen 7-10mm per year in the north
and west, and 1.5-3mm in the south and east."
http://www.csiro.au/files/files/pvfo.pdf

Interesting reading about Nils-Axel Mörner.
http://www.desmogblog.com/nils-axel-morner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nils-Axel_M%C3%B6rner

His peer reviewed academic papers have been primarily in the area of paleoseismicity, not in climate change and sea level rise. His findings with regard to sea level change have not been widely accepted by other researchers in the field, in fact they are disputed. Morner was a speaker at the Heartland Institute’s 2010 International Conference on Climate Change. The heartland Institute is renowned for it's support for climate skepticism.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heartland_Institute#Actions_a...

A more authoritative person on sea level change is Dr. John A. Church from the CSIRO. He is the co-author with 3 other researchers of 'Understanding Sea-level Rise and Variability' (Wiley, UK, 2010)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Church

Listen to a 2007 podcast on sea level rise by John Church: http://www.csiro.au/multimedia/Sea-level-Rising.html

Read more on sea level rise measurements and projections particularly as they relate to Australia at this CSIRO site: http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/

Takver you say see levels started rising in 1870, cars we invented in 1886 and planes in 1903 so what caused the sea to rise back then?
So are you saying the Medieval warm period did take place
http://www.research-in-germany.de/71948/2011-07-21-special-sea-levels-ri..
as per this web site you directed us to, and the IPCC is wrong?
Do you think it is good science to run a smear campaign against a scientist because he sticks by what he has found in his research.
Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner got his Ph.D in geology in 1969, and has worked with sea level problems for 40 years in areas scattered all over the globe. As the head of Paleogeophysics & Geodynamics at Stockholm University, he worked with many different geological & geophysical problems. He organized two major international conferences: one on Earth Rheology, Isostasy and Eustasy in 1977 and one on Climate Changes on a Yearly to Millennial Basis in 1983. He has run several international field excursions through Sweedon and was President of the INQUA Commission on Neotectonics (1981-1989). He was President of INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution from 1999-2003.

He headed the INTAS Project on Geomagnetism and Climate (1997-2003). In 2000, he launched an international sea level research project in the Maldives. Among his numerous publications, one may note the studies on: the interaction among isostasy and eustasy, the oscillating regional eustatic curve of NW Europe, the changing geoid concept, the redefinition of the concept of eustasy, the dynamic-rotational redistribution of oceanic water masses, the interchange of angular momentum between the hydrosphere and solid Earth, and finally the new sea level curve of the Maldives with an absence of signs of any on-going sea level rise.

In 2008 he was awarded The Golden Condrite of Merit from University of Algarve (at an international sea level meeting in Portugal).

Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner’s extensive hands-on experience and 40 years of mindful focus bring valuable context to the climate change debate.

Takver while Dr John Church has carried out sea level rise research you will find that no one in the world has the experience of Dr Nils-Axel Mörner to smear him because he gives his honest opinion is childish what did you want him to do change his opinion to contradict his 40 years of findings through research?

I also find it hard to believe the IPCC would ask Dr Nils-Axel Mörner to act as a expert reviewer and to be opointed president (1999-2003) of the INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution, and
leader of the Maldives Sea Level Project if most of his peer reviewed academic papers have been primarily in the area of paleoseismicity, not in climate change and sea level rise.Do you also find that funny Takver?Or are you just part of a smear campaign?

Takver can you please tell me a town where the sea level has risen in Australia because your answer is vague name the place in Australia and how much it has risen if you dare

Takver I can't wait to get those long dry summers you hockystick players have been predicting when do you think they will happen again because I love the hot weather?

Takver won't give you a town in Australia where sea levels are rising because his lies will be caught out by the locals.
For sea level to have started rising since 1870 we know it has nothing to do with carbon dioxide because the levels were low then Takver has caught him self out.
I also love how the Medieval warm period gets mentioned when it suits them, Takvers argument is like swiss cheese,holes in it every where
The IPCC is a Green Peace mouth piece,Green Piece writes it's own papers and reviews it them selves and they are not climate scientists,but that's O/K because they give the answer that the IPCC want to hear.
What a load of shit the Government Funded IPCC are!

Australia produces the least amount of carbon dioxide per square kilometre than any other country on the planet.Twist it as much as you like thats a fact.The Government need a Carbon Dioxide tax to fill the black hole in the budget and fools like Takver help push the bull shit for the Government Shame shame shame

It just has more space to disperse in.

Add to our own pollution, the massive pollution we export as the world's biggest coal exporter.

What more space than America,China and Canada I don't think so.Australia as a country emits less carbon dioxide than any other per square kilometre, don't blame Australia because we have a lot of land and not many people to pollute it.
You bring up a good point about coal export if Labor and the Greens really thought Man made climate change was real and the world was under threat they would stop coal export but we all know it's all about Tax and making money,If you don't know that can I sell you a bridge or may be a opera house? fools and their money are easily parted

Australia is the most carbon dioxide polluting industrialised country on a per capita basis, thanks to our reliance on coal fired electricity, particularly the brown coal mined and used in Victoria which is particularly CO2 pollution intensive.

According to US Dept of Energy statistics from 2008 Australia leads the industrialised world in per capita emissions with some 20.82 tons CO2 emitted per person per year. We surpass the per capita emissions of the USA which was at 19.18 tons per capita. In comparison China emits 4.91 tons per capita, and India just 1.31 tons per capita.
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/each-co...

Now I am not saying that USA, China and India shouldn't also be acting to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, but as Australia is the most polluting developed country on a per capita basis, we need to clean up our act and start reducing the amount of carbon dioxide being emitted to the atmosphere. Given our level of carbon dioxide pollution on a per capita basis it is an important example for other developed and developing countries for Australia to reduce it's per capita CO2 pollution.

Takver have you been to china? I have and the place is thick with pollution, if you think China is in a better state than Australia you live in fairy land.Australia has way less pollution than China our skys are clear our beaches and water ways are cleaner because we have less people and we emit less pollution per square kilometre than any other country on earth, because of this China has a bigger pollution problem than Australia, so stop twisting things to suit your pathetic argument,Australia is pollution free compared to China.Our part of the world is cleaner than any other part of the world because there are less people if every country could make their area as clean as ours there would be no problem!

If we look at places like Nauru it is the biggest polluter in the world the country is 21 sq km in size,with 10,000 residents the most populated country in the world, most people have cars their generators run day and night they have a airline and lots of fishing boats.The ocean is cristal clear the skys are clear and blue no sign of pollution but people like you Takver would say Nauru has a bigger problem than China because of the amount of pollution they emit per person but because they only have 21 sq km of land and are surrounded by ocean bigger than Australia's and China's land mass they are not worth worrying about because they do bugger all harm to their area of the world,Just the same as Australia has 7,617,930 sq km and 23,000,000 people we do bugger all harm to our area of the world but China has 9.6 million sq km of land and 1.339 billion people their area of the world is polluted to the shit house because of this. Takver things must be put in perspective Australia and Nauru are clean no matter what way we twist it, statistics can be made to say any thing you want them to, "proof is in the pudding" and China is more polluted than Australia just admit that Takver

Jason your right you can make the stats say what you want, the only way to get the truth is go look for your self, and China has got a big pollution problem compared to Australia, but they have to make up some sort of dribble to justify the biggest carbon tax in the world for one of the cleanest countries in the world.

It just has more space to disperse in.

Add to our own pollution, the massive pollution we export as the world's biggest coal exporter.

Where in Australia is sea level rising? Takver put up or shut up

Please refer to Australian Bureau of Meteorology Yearly Data Reports - Australian Baseline Sea Level Monitoring Project
http://www.bom.gov.au/oceanography/projects/abslmp/abslmp.shtml

Recent Sea Level trend to June 2011 based upon BOM tidal & Seaframe data gauges installed 1990-1993; and net sea level trend after vertical movements in the observing platform relative to a local land benchmark and the inverted barometric pressure effect are taken into account.

Cocos Islands - 8.1mm/year - Net sea level trend: 3.4mm/year
Groote Eylandt (NT) - 9.0mm/year - Net sea level trend: 8.9mm/year
Darwin (NT) - 8.6mm/year - Net sea level trend: 8.3mm/year
Broome (WA) - 9.1mm/year - Net sea level trend: 8.4mm/year
Hillarys (near Perth WA) - 9.1mm/year - Net sea level trend: 9.0mm/year
Esperance (WA)- 6.0mm/year - Net sea level trend: 5.5mm/year
Thevenard (SA) - 4.5mm/year - Net sea level trend: 4.3mm/year
Port Stanvac (near Adelaide SA) - 4.7mm/year - Net sea level trend: 4.3mm/year
Portland (Vic) - 3.2mm/year - Net sea level trend: 3.1mm/year
Lorne (Vic) - 2.7mm/year - Net sea level trend: 2.8mm/year
Stony Point (Vic) - 2.6mm/year - Net sea level trend: 2.6mm/year
Burnie (Tas) - 3.1mm/year - Net sea level trend: 2.9mm/year
Spring Bay (Tas) - 3.5mm/year - Net sea level trend: 3.7mm/year
Port Kembla (NSW) - 3.2mm/year - Net sea level trend: 2.6mm/year
Rosslyn Bay (Qld) - 3.8mm/year - Net sea level trend: 3.5mm/year
Cape Ferguson (Qld) - 4.8mm/year - Net sea level trend: 4.7mm/year

Source: National Tidal Centre, Australian Bureau of Meteorology June 2011 report
http://www.bom.gov.au/ntc/IDO60202/IDO60202.2011.pdf

For rise in global average sea level from satellite altimeter data for 1993–2009 and from coastal and island sea-level measurements from 1880 to 2009 please refer to:
'Sea-Level Rise from the Late 19th to the Early 21st Century' by John A. Church and Neil J. White, Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 32, Numbers 4-5, 585-602, DOI: 10.1007/s10712-011-9119-1, http://www.springerlink.com/content/h2575k28311g5146/ (open access article)

This article says the global average after correcting for glacial isostatic adjustment, the estimated rate of rise is 3.2 ± 0.4 mm year from the satellite data and 2.8 ± 0.8 mm year−1 from the in situ data.

Read more on sea level rise measurements and projections particularly as they relate to Australia at this CSIRO site: http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/

I have lived in Stony Point for 50 years If you say the sea level has risen here you are wrong.I launch my boat at least twice a week from the stony point boat ramp if there was a sea level rise here the boat ramp is the perfect marking spot to see it.I walked down to the boat ramp this morning and you can see where the water marks are on high and low tied for years,if this is what the experts say is sea level rise I think they need to go back to school.If there is sea level rise at stony Point you should also be able to see it at Phillip Island and French Island.Cowes in Phillip Island is directly opposite Stony Point less than 5km away I have been going there for fifty years I have photos of the Cows Jetty at different times over the past fifty years you can see photos of my boats next to the Jetty over that period and there is no sign of the water mark changing there either.There will be a lot of people out there that have sat on the beach at Cowes and will know from when they were Kids to now there has been no change in sea level the same will go for people that have visited Stony Point

It would be interesting to hear from people in the other areas listed to see if they too can or can not see any signs of sea level rise.

I think we are been taken as Fools to believe this Hog Wash go look for your self

Harry I have to agree with you, the sea level has not risen in this area,I am from Cribb point next door,We have a good marker off the Stony Point Road that has been here since the 1900's its called the Jack Brothers tanning pit see this web site.
http://www.discovermorningtonpeninsula.com.au/fascinatingfacts/jacks-tan...
If the sea level rises this is the first place you will see it but guess what it has not changed since my grand mother was a little girl and she is 92 years old.

Taver you need to work out the difference between sea level rise and land erosion

If you read that document by the National Tidal Centre, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the SEAFRAME is calibrated against an onshore survey marker. At Stony Point with a 2.6mm/year net sea level trend, over the last ten year period there may have been a 2.6cm mean sea level rise. This is far less than the tidal range so would be hard to discern from low and high water marks.

Stony Point sea level trend for the last 18 years or so appears to be slightly below the global average of 3.0mm per year. On the century time scale sea level rise at Stony Point is probably less than the 200mm global average rise for the period 1870-2009. That is less than a foot of rise in the last 140 years at this site - once again within the normal tidal range, but you might notice it over a long lifetime if you pay close attention to high water marks.

If you think these figures by the National Tidal Centre are wrong, I would urge you to contact the National Tidal Centre directly with full details of your own measurements so they can be adequately and scientifically investigated and if necessary used to correct or calibrate their own equipment and measurements. Certainly something like a long series of historical photos of a particular landmark at sea level over the last 100 years with details of exact time and date each photo was taken might prove invaluable scientific evidence of your case. Or perhaps you kept a diary containing accurate tidal measurements at a particular point for several years.

While anecdotes can provide interesting stories, unless you have the hard measurements or other evidence, I would be more inclined to believe the scientific assessment.

Takver can you tell me what caused a sea level rise in 1870? Australia was using candles for light there were no cars or planes because of this how can you blame carbon dioxide with the evidence you have provided it shows sea level rise is not man made but something that happens for another reason.

"I would be more inclined to believe the scientific assessment."Only if it says the sea level is rising if the scientific assessment says the sea level is not rising you will run a smear campaign on that scientist no matter how experienced they are just ask Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner
I have to say Darren has a point if sea levels started rising in 1870 you can hardly blame man for sea level rise

1870 is about the time when tidal gauge records started recording a change in sea level trend as stated in the scientific record.

"Changes in local sea level estimated from sediment cores collected in salt marshes reveal an increase in the rate of sea level rise in the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean during the 19th century and early 20th century,"
http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/sl_hist_few_hundred.html

Heavy Industrialisation started in the late Eighteenth Century with logging of forests and coal mining, steam power, the invention of railways. We may not have had the oil economy until the 1890s, but industrialisation had already rapidly started and we were pumping out the CO2 and increasing the atmospheric temperature.

The rate of increase in sea level rise escalated in the early 1990s, which has been attributed to thermal expansion, small glacier ice loss, and ice sheet mass loss due to global warming. "Global warming from increasing greenhouse gas concentrations is a significant driver of both increases in ocean mass and ocean thermal expansion as components of recent and future sea level rise. "
http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/sl_drives_recent.html

The other issue is that the rate of Sea level rise is connected to temperature rise. Temperatures started increasing in the mid 19th century. I have already given out the link to this study. Obviously you are not bothering to investigate my references.
"At least for the last one thousand years the ups and downs of global mean temperature can explain sea-level behaviour, says an international team of researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." (a peer reviewed scientific study)
http://www.research-in-germany.de/71948/2011-07-21-special-sea-levels-ri...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110620183242.htm