Glacial recession
From Envirowiki
The issue of disappearing glaciers is becoming more and more controversial due to increased coverage of global climate change. Glaciers all over the world, including glaciers in Alaska, Argentina, Peru, Switzerland, and the Himalayas are feeling adverse consequences from global warming, some experts say. This issue is covered in Al Gore’s book and movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Gore claims that global warming is responsible for the recession of countless glaciers, many of which are dwindling and disappearing rapidly. This is a very large threat, for glaciers are very valuable in a variety of ways.
For one thing, glaciers have a very high aesthetic value. People travel far and wide to witness these massive sheets of ice. Glacier National Park, for example, is a large tourist attraction and brings in a good amount of economic profit for the area. Furthermore, glaciers have an extremely significant instrumental value. The Himalayan Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, for example, have been affected severely by global warming. This is an extremely massive expanse of land that houses an immense amount of ice. The Alps contain only 10% of the amount of ice that the Himalayan Glaciers do. Additionally, The Himalayan Glaciers provide nearly 40% of the world’s population with drinking water. If these glaciers were to melt, the consequences would be catastrophic. A serious shortage of fresh water would exist across Asia. Flooding would become a serious issue, and many would be left in a perilous situation.
[edit] 1 But Glaciers aren't retrerating!
Many refute this claim of the recession of glaciers due to global warming. One such person in disagreement is Senator James Inhofe (a serial denialist, see sw:James M. Inhofe). Although he acknowledges the recession of many such glaciers, he points out that several other glaciers, including glaciers in the same regions as some of the aforementioned glaciers, are actually growing larger and larger every year. If several glaciers in the same region are behaving in different ways, it makes claiming that global warming is responsible for the recession of glaciers everywhere a very disputable argument.
However, this argument has been refuted fairly conclusively a number of times: it is possible that SOME glaciers are growing, but not many are, and the overall global glacial mass is shrinking[1][2]
[edit] 2 conclusion
Glaciers are one of nature’s most awesome sights. Their value to the world is far from negligible. As providers of fresh drinking water to human beings and animals alike, glaciers dictate many creatures’ ways of life. Their recession and disappearance in the last century has been attributed to the adverse effects of global climate change by some scientists. Still, others seem to think that there is no empirical evidence that global climate change is the primary culprit in the case of dwindling glaciers. The future will be the true indicator of how long these glaciers are meant to last, and the end of many glaciers could be coming more quickly than we might think. The future is in our hands.
[edit] 3 references
- ↑ But The Glaciers Are Not Melting, A Few Things Ill Considered, Saturday, April 15, 2006. Retrieved 28 Dec 2007
- ↑ Crichton's Thriller State of Fear: Separating Fact from Fiction, Union of Concerned Scientists, Retrieved 28 Dec 2007
