Thinning Ice
Everest may be the world's highest peak, but the summit of Ecuador's Chimbarazo has the distinction of being the farthest point from the center of the Earth. That's because the 20,560-foot volcano is just a degree removed from the planet's bulging waistline. From Kilimanjaro to the Himalayas, tropical glaciers around the world are fast disappearing, and Andean volcanoes like Chimborazo are no exception. The melting trend has dire implications for many population centers located in arid regions -- such as Lima, Peru and La Paz, Bolivia -- that depend on glacial run-off for both hydroelectric power and a year-round water supply.
To learn more on the subject, see Mark Bowen's highly recommended new book, Thin Ice, which follows Ohio State climatologist Lonnie Thompson in his urgent quest to unlock the climate secrets of tropical glaciers. It's a story that combines far-flung, high-altitude adventures with complex, high-stakes science. At one point in his book, Bowen muses that Thompson's cold room in Ohio may soon be the last repository of tropical mountain ice on Earth.
2 Comments:
Hey Compass: If you had to pick what you felt was the single scariest aspect of global warming, what would you pick? Today, maybe you'd feel differently next week. Tropical glaciers disappearing? Boggy tundra? Those Micronesian islands going under? Gulf stream rearrangement?
All of the above, and more. Or does that sound like a cop-out? I think it's a great question, but I don't quite know how else to answer.
The scariest thing about global warming, it seems to me, is the possibility that all these changes will occur too quickly for humanity and the natural world to adapt to them; that we will tip the balance too far. That said, perhaps the scariest things are potential feedbacks that could accelerate climate change -- things like huge releases of methane from the world's bog lands.
Then again, if I were living on the coast of Peru, where most Peruvians live and which is driest desert, I'd be preoccupied with the loss of Andean glaciers. Likewise, if I lived on a Pacific atoll, I'd be most concerned with rising sea levels. Not facing that kind of direct and urgent threat, my worrying is more generalized. I worry what it all means for my one-year-old daughter.
So, how about you? What do you think?
Post a Comment
<< Compass Main