More Inconvenient Truths Abound
by Janki Shah
2006 ushered in the global warming documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” which features Al Gore and follows his campaign against the frightening issue and the problems that arise due to the consistent rise in temperature and drastic climate changes that are happening around the world. It’s tragic to hear the documentary’s shocking news about our future; and many of us ignore it. We don’t want to blame ourselves for the immense damage being done to our planet. We don’t want to admit that we cause harm to nature just to make our lives a little bit easier or our harvests a little bit bigger. As most know, though few admit, consumerism is one of the deadliest epidemics in our culture today, and we haven’t found a cure for it. One of its more pandemic, but less noticed, consequences has been global warming.
Many of us are able to ignore the threats of severe future climates as we have not had to experience the change for ourselves, but it won’t be too long before we too feel the burden of global warming. In fact we are already feeling some of the less harmful effects. As I write this article in late December, supposedly the quintessence of winter on the East Coast of the United States, a time when children should be playing in the snow and outrageous heating bills should be arriving in the mail, I instead look out my window to see kids riding their bikes in t-shirts and playing basketball in near 60 degree (Fahrenheit) weather. Everyday I come outside to bask in the sun’s warmth and wonder what season it is. I have not seen one snowflake or one patch of ice in New Jersey, a state which used to have harsh winters, record-breaking blizzards, and 12 feet high snowmen built on top of 6 ft high snow piles. My days of making snow angels have passed, but I fear children now will never get to create their own white faeries in the snow. But that will be the least of their worries, as further global warming will bring severe weather, such as floods, tornadoes, and maybe even a tsunami or two. These are only my personal observations of a small suburb in New Jersey, but what about the world on a larger scale?
How about the giant super-ancient ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields that has snapped free from Canada's Arctic? The heap of ice broke off 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 497 miles south of the North Pole, but no one was present to see it in Canada's remote north. Using U.S. and Canadian satellite images, as well as data from seismic monitors, scientists discovered that the ice shelf collapsed in the early afternoon of August 13, 2005. They later noticed that it became a newly formed ice island in just an hour and left a trail of icy boulders floating behind it, marking its short expedition. (Maybe children can travel to the ice island from NJ to make their snowmen, no?)
Many scientists who traveled to this remote location could not believe what they saw. "This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead," said scientist Warwick Vincent of Laval University.
The collapse was so powerful that earthquake monitors 155 miles away picked up tremors from it. The Ayles Ice Shelf, roughly 41 square miles in area, was one of six major ice shelves remaining in Canada's Arctic. Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in Canada in 30 years, primarily due to climate change. The remaining ice shelves are 90 percent smaller than when they were first discovered in 1906. Most surprising though, was the rate at which these events were happening. Even 10 years ago scientists thought that when global warming changes occurred, it would happen gradually and ice shelves would just melt away slowly. Instead, they are definitely disappearing quickly, and when they do, they go suddenly, all at once, and in a span of an hour. Within days, the floating ice shelf had drifted a few miles offshore. It traveled west for 31 miles until it finally froze into the sea ice in the early winter. This ice, which had remained a part of Canada’s land mass for over 3000 years, had finally broke off and gone to live on its own. (Imagine living with your parents for 3000 years!)
Derek Mueller, a polar researcher with Vincent's team, said the ice shelves get weaker and weaker as the temperature rises. He visited Ellesmere's Ward Hunt Ice Shelf in 2002 and noticed it had cracked in half. "We're losing our ice shelves, and this a feature of the landscape that is in danger of disappearing altogether from Canada," Mueller said. In the global perspective Antarctica has many ice shelves bigger than this one, but these are indicators of definite climate change.
So, in sum, I must say, I see no hope for future NJ children to play in snow, but only visions of being tossed in tornadoes and floods, or hiding half their lives in protected vehicles and underground shelters. Therefore, to be most careful, I advise all New Jerseyans to move and relocate in Beaconsfield, Iowa, which currently only has a population of 11. Sure, there won’t be malls and 90% off sales, but at least we’ll be safe from global warming. Besides, with so many of us, we can make some new malls, or restart the barter system. I have some yo-yo’s I don’t want. Any takers? Anyone? Anyone?
Sources:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a45f7ad5-3a51-4091-837f-b47d62769206&k=41037
