The modern thinking Indian

In the last few years, there have been a spate of reports on how global warming is continuing to march ahead, irrespective of the debate among countries and politicians about the steps needed to stop the emissions that contribute to global warming. Global warming is supposed to have a horrific impact on the ice levels of the polar regions and Greenland, with large scale reduction of the Artic and Antartic ice shelfs, along with melting of the huge amount of ice present in Greenland. This melting will release enough water to increase sea water levels, in turn devastating many low lying islands and low lying coastal regions. Scientists further fear that we are moving to an accelerated level of changes due to global warming, where global warming will become unsustainable (as an example, less ice covering the water means that the blue dark water will absorb more energy rather than the light reflected by white ice).
Global warming is already devastating the habitat of animals in the colder regions in the extreme North. The impact on polar bears is already pretty well known, but there are a whole range of animals that are affected (link to article):

The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past. That's the message from Eric Post, lead scientist of a new report into the effects of climate change on life in the Arctic. "It seems no matter where you look -- on the ground, in the air, or in the water -- we're seeing signs of rapid change," said Post in a press statement.
With the decline in sea ice and snow, animals usually seen at lower latitudes are being found in more northerly regions, including red foxes that have been displacing native Arctic foxes. Migratory caribou in low Arctic Greenland and elsewhere are declining in number as they have not been able to keep their calving season in synch with changes in plant growth. With the decline in caribou comes a knock-on effect to native Inuit hunters, according to the report's authors. Hotter summers could result in more insects and parasites that prey on the caribou, which could then also reduce the annual caribou harvest by local indigenous peoples.

This impact on animals and the native human populations is different from 'Survival of the fittest' since these are changes made by humans. Unfortunately, these are just an indicator of the impact of global warming, the changes are happening all around us.

Labels: Artic Ice, Caribou, Climate, Emissions, Environment, Global Warming, Ice, Ice Shelf, Native populations, Ocean, Polar Bear, Sea, Water Level, Weather

Amid all the gloom of the world economic downturn, the entire discussion about climate change seems to have retreated into the background. It has been suggested in some new reports that maybe with the drop in economic growth, the growth in emissions will come down; and anyhow, with companies and governments running into monetary problems, how will they be able to spend the kind of money required to address climate change ? Well, except for a few skeptics, the theory of an accelerating climate change has been accepted as a reality that is affecting our world.
From time to time, we hear that global warming is actually happening faster than many scientists had predicted. The predictions of melting of polar ice are coming true, and these will spell doom for coastal regions (it is predicted that Greenland itself has enough land ice to cause a raise in global water levels, and Antarctica has significantly higher ice levels). Consider this case of ice levels in Antartica (link to article):

One Antarctic ice shelf has quickly vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change, U.S. and British government researchers reported on Friday. They said the Wordie Ice Shelf, which had been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. More than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) have broken off from the Larsen shelf since 1986.
"The rapid retreat of glaciers there demonstrates once again the profound effects our planet is already experiencing -- more rapidly than previously known -- as a consequence of climate change," U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. "This continued and often significant glacier retreat is a wakeup call that change is happening ... and we need to be prepared," USGS glaciologist Jane Ferrigno, who led the Antarctica study, said in a statement.

The US was a laggard in acknowledging climate change, and taking steps to counter it. In addition, climate change has so many politics involved in it that it is difficult to get agreements. Poorer nations argue (with some logic, but still hurting the campaign against climate change) that they have contributed significantly lower to current emissions and hence should bear less of the liability, while developed nations claim that developing nations are also potentially huge contributors and should pony up their part of the effort. And in all this, global warming marches on.

Labels: Earth, Environment, Global Warming, Ice Shelf, Melt, Politics, Sea Levels, US, Weather