Another of the 'glaciers are melting' stories that are cropping up
with disturbing regularity while governments twiddle their thumbs and
build more roads.
New research suggests that glaciers on Kilimanjaro, Africa's
highest peak and in the Peruvian Andes are retreating even more
rapidly than previously thought and may disappear within 10 to 20
years. The
Guardian quotes Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University as
saying that the Quelcayya glacier in Peru has retreated 32-times
faster in the past two years than in the 20 years between 1963 and
1983. Similarly on Kilimanjaro, glaciers have retreated by at least
80 per-cent since 1912
Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report
published yesterday predicts
that the impacts of climate change will be far worse than
previously thought and, unless action is taken immediately to curb
the release of greenhouse gases, will have massive consequences.
Melting ice caps, and disappearing glaciers will lead to flooding and
disappearing fresh water supplies respectively and increased rainfall
in Europe will cause regular flooding.
As my mum would have said, you won't be happy till you've broken
it will you? Ever had the feeling that no-one's listening?
