In response to
this helpful diary by kosblt regarding CO2 pollution and whether or not it affects our hurricane seasons, I've decided to write my first one to see how it goes. My diary is in reference to
this AP News article, where the increasing frequency of glacier separation is beginning to worry the locals (mostly Inuit). From the article:
"In the past we could walk on the ice in the fjord between the icebergs for a six-month period during the winter, drill holes and fish," said Joern Kristensen, a fisherman and one of the indigenous Inuit who are most of Greenland's population of 56,000.
"We can only do that for a month or two now. It has become more difficult to drive dog sleds because the ice between the icebergs isn't solid anymore."
More behind "There's More..."
kosblt provides various charts related to CO2 production and water temperature that are consistent with the belief that man is in fact contributing, in large part, to the effects borne on our ecosystem. While business leaders and politicos, from
both sides will simply continue to provide lip service to global warming "theories", there is no better indicator than the melting of these ancient glaciers.
Although Greenland, three times the size of Texas, is the prime example, scientists say the effects of climate change are noticeable throughout the Arctic region, from the northward spread of spruce beetles in Canada to melting permafrost in Alaska and northern Russia.
Indigenous people, who for centuries have adapted their lives to the cold, fear that even small and gradual changes could have a profound impact.
...
In Sisimiut, Greenland's second largest town, lakes have doubled in size in the last decade.
"Greenland was perceived as this huge solid place that would never melt," said Robert Corell of the American Meteorological Society, a Boston-based scientific organization. "The evidence is now so strong that the scientific community is convinced that global warming is the cause."
So all bullpoop aside, there's a definite problem. This article reminded me of one I read about a month ago, that
explains the Pandora's box that could be unleashed if the permafrost in Siberia is allowed to melt:
Researchers found that an area of permafrost spanning a million square kilometres - the size of France and Germany combined - has started to melt for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.
The area, which covers the entire sub-Arctic region of western Siberia, is the world's largest frozen peat bog, and scientists fear that, as it thaws, it will release billions of tonnes of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.
It is a scenario climate scientists have feared since first identifying tipping points - delicate thresholds where a slight rise in the Earth's temperature can cause a big change in the environment that itself triggers a far greater rise in global temperatures.
We will not be provided with the luxury of small incidents, growing into medium incidents, growing into global catastrophes; rather, the same exponential increases that we're seeing in pollution and temperature increase will be our undoing once these "tipping points" begin to actually fall heavily on one side of the scale. The only question is, in light of ignorance paid to the subject by decision makers (spare those wonderful BP commercials that tell me how they're oh so helpful to the environment), what power do we as a
global people have?
One thing you can do is
join the virtual march on Washington against global warming, over at stopglobalwarming.org. It's a start, right?
Be kind, and thanks for reading. :-)