Watching Global Warming
Copyright 1998 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
September 7, 1998
Global warming trends occur on a scale so broad that naysayers - mostly officers of the
American Petroleum Institute and other fossil fuel profiteers - can challenge
their identification with relative impunity. But in parts of the world, the
effects of
climate change are stark and startling.
The shrinkage of permafrost and
Arctic and alpine glaciers in Alaska in recent years has been anything but
glacial and reflects the impact of
global warming in ways unmistakeable to scientists who study such matters. As reported
recently in The New York Times, researchers' methodical measurements of glacial
mass, amplified by the
syndrome called ''drunken forest,'' offer striking evidence of the validity of
the phenomenon of
climate change.
Unlike the ephemeral weather anomalies of El Nina, which inflict droughts on
Florida and tornadoes on the Midwest without leaving signatures of
global warming's possible influence, the shrinking footprints of glaciers leave lasting
impressions of change. Perhaps most striking is the retreat of the Columbia
Glacier eight miles
inland from Prince William Sound, where 15 years ago the calving of its
icebergs entertained cruise ship passengers.
Other symptoms visible throughout Alaska confirm the phenomenon.
''Drunken forest,'' for instance, results when the melting of permafrost
undermines trees, telephone poles and even buildings dependent for
stability on its frozen mass. Roads, bridges, potentially entire towns may have
to be relocated if the trend continues unabated. Spruce budworms and bark
beetles _ pests unable to survive Arctic winters _ are rapidly eliminating
entire forests from the Kenai Peninsula to near the Arctic Circle.
What these changes mean to Alaska and its
human and wildlife inhabitants over the long term are unclear. But in one of
the coldest environmental arenas on Earth, progress in the measurement and
observation of
global warming's impacts is proceeding at a pace that is anything but glacial and is difficult
to deny.
Comments on this posting?
Click here to post a public comment on the Trash Talk
Bulletin Board.
Click here to send a private comment to the Junkman.
Material presented on this home page constitutes opinion of Steven J. Milloy.
Copyright © 1998 Steven
J. Milloy. All rights reserved on original material. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair
use." Site developed and hosted by WestLake
Solutions, Inc.