Spring Break
Global Meltdown
Glaciers, Sea Ice Melting Faster Than Previously Thought
Jaime Willie
Issue date: 3/17/06 Section: News
It's mid-March and while students should be buttoning up their winter jackets, many are taking them off. Climate changes are real and accelerating at an alarming pace - as evidenced by melting glaciers worldwide, glacier experts say.
Scientists have long warned society about global warming and the effects it may have on the world. It is now a reality that melting ice sheets and glaciers, caused by global warming, could eventually increase sea levels to a dangerous point, scientists contend. U.S. scientists have found that Alaskan glaciers are melting at a faster rate than originally thought. As the Earth is covered by more than 160,000 glaciers, numbers are dwindling due to warmer temperatures. Scientists say the melt rate has accelerated dramatically since the mid-1990s from factors including global warming.
Global warming refers to heat-trapping gases that force atmospheric temperatures to increase. The proccess is heavily influenced by how humasn are living life.
"Our use of fossil fuels-coal, oil, and natural gas-together with deforestation have increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping 'green-house' gas, by about 32 percent and thus begun the process of manmade climate change," according to James Gustave Speth, author of "Red Sky at Morning" and a professor of environmental policy and sustainable development at Yale University.
Speth, with his extensive understanding of the relationship among environmental, economic and developmental concerns, said he believes the United States should be doing more to stop a rise in temperature, to limit global warming.
According to Speth, the United States is emitting the same amount of greenhouse gases as 2.6 billion people living in 151 developing nations.
Speth said that if the trend continues the consequences could be devastating.
"In 50 years, the sea ice could disappear entirely during summers, possibly wiping out ice algae and most other organisms farther up the food chain, including polar bears," he said.
Scientists have long warned society about global warming and the effects it may have on the world. It is now a reality that melting ice sheets and glaciers, caused by global warming, could eventually increase sea levels to a dangerous point, scientists contend. U.S. scientists have found that Alaskan glaciers are melting at a faster rate than originally thought. As the Earth is covered by more than 160,000 glaciers, numbers are dwindling due to warmer temperatures. Scientists say the melt rate has accelerated dramatically since the mid-1990s from factors including global warming.
Global warming refers to heat-trapping gases that force atmospheric temperatures to increase. The proccess is heavily influenced by how humasn are living life.
"Our use of fossil fuels-coal, oil, and natural gas-together with deforestation have increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping 'green-house' gas, by about 32 percent and thus begun the process of manmade climate change," according to James Gustave Speth, author of "Red Sky at Morning" and a professor of environmental policy and sustainable development at Yale University.
Speth, with his extensive understanding of the relationship among environmental, economic and developmental concerns, said he believes the United States should be doing more to stop a rise in temperature, to limit global warming.
According to Speth, the United States is emitting the same amount of greenhouse gases as 2.6 billion people living in 151 developing nations.
Speth said that if the trend continues the consequences could be devastating.
"In 50 years, the sea ice could disappear entirely during summers, possibly wiping out ice algae and most other organisms farther up the food chain, including polar bears," he said.