Save for a freak May snowstorm, the other day started off normally. I
woke up, made a giant mug of coffee and walked to work. But May 12 was
no ordinary Monday. “Today,” said Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at the
University of California, Irvine, “we present observational evidence
that a large sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has gone into
irreversible retreat. It has passed the point of no return.”
Language that strong isn’t often tossed about at NASA news
conferences, and the world took notice. Climate change advocate Protect
Our Winters called it “the day that all climate scientists feared.” Mother Jones
coined it a “holy shit moment for global warming.” The well-known
Canadian environmental writer Chris Turner tweeted that it’s “the most
important news story you'll see this week, by a wide margin.”
So what’s all the fuss
about – and why should you care? In the most basic terms, two separate
scientific studies, using two different models and released by two
reputable scientific journals,
both came to the same conclusion: Glaciers on the West Antarctic Ice
Sheet are melting more rapidly than expected and have begun a domino
effect that’s virtually unstoppable,
even if we cut off greenhouse gas emissions today. Over the course of
hundreds of years, the melting glaciers will boost ocean levels by 4 to
16 feet, changing the geography of the world as we know it. ...
Read the rest of the story and see super cool images of what it all means for coastal cities here.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)