Large sheets of ice that were previously thought to be unaffected by global warming are now shrinking.
Previously, only ice sheets along the Northern tip of Antarctica near South America had been observed to be melting. The latest findings are that ice sheets in Western Antarctica are now also melting causing scientists to rethink the rising sea-level models that they had up till now held.
This is occurring actually across the board where the melting of ice caps in mountainous regions is also accelerating faster than predicted as witnessed by Professor Lonnie Thompson and stated in his keynote lecture at Ohio State University:
"The information from Antarctica is consistent with what we are seeing in all other areas with glaciers -- a melting or retreat that is occurring faster than predicted," he said. "Glaciers, and especially the high-elevation tropical glaciers, are a real canary in the coal mine. They're telling us that major climatic changes are occurring."
The potential disaster: the ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica both melt at the same time which could raise sea levels by several meters. Even if one does not believe that man is causing global warming, one should be attuned to the fact that we may at least be contributing to it and we should therefore be doing everything to try and reduce that contribution by as much as possible.
The article in the Washington Post goes on:
Martinson said researchers do not have enough data to say for certain that the process was set in motion by global warming, but "that is clearly the most logical answer."
The difficulty is that logic doesn’t really count when you’re dealing with an administration who invaded Iraq as a retaliation for an attack originating in Afghanistan.
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I recall reading an anecdote from a WaPo pundit that illustrates the Administration's warped thinking. A Bush aide denounced the pundit as "part of the reality-based community", and then went on to inform the pundit that the Administration "creates its own reality". This is absolutely true, of course, but to hear them come out and say it, even brag about it, is surprising.
The Administration has created a parallel bubble world one can live in and never be exposed to the "reality-based community". In that bubble, all problems are caused by people who "hate America", when those problems cannot be banished from thought by pictures of flags and eagles, that is. The "faithful" really do live in a different world from the rest of us.
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