No, not the kind that happens in local cattle barns..... It was a some years ago now that Mrs. T. and I, along with our good friends Gary & Rosie, were doing a "whale watching and glacier" tour out of Seward Alaska. It was a balmy 72 degrees that mid June day. The water, though, was extremely cold and when the cruise boat picked up speed and you went onto the outside deck it was downright cold.
We approached the face of the glacier carefully as big chunks of ice floated by us. Finally, we stopped and as I leaned on the railing, camera at the ready, I figured we were at least a safe several city blocks distance away.
I saw the ice chunk fall as I clicked my camera. Then there was an astonishingly loud "BOOM." People literaly jumped back. The captain then told us that the piece of ice was about the "size of a skyscraper," and we were a safe "half a mile away." It was some minutes before a wave splashed against the side of the boat.
How could I have been so mistaken, thinking we were much closer to the glacier than we actually were? The reason is simple. It was so huge.
The size and power of Mother Nature's forces seem much of the time as overwhelming. Think hurricanes like Katerina, the flooding in the Red River Valley on the North Dakota - Minnesota border or the unbelievable amounts of snow burying the city of Boston that year.
And yet. And yet for thousands of years the activites of humankind have changed and in some cases overpowered Nature itself. Take, for example, the disasterous agricultural practices in the ancient Mediteranean world. Those practices enhanced a major climate change in the area. The result was that a fertile agricultural area became far less so. And the world's greatest desert drastically expanded north - the Sahara.
Much closer to home, Glacier National Park might soon need a new name.
The Montana park had 26 named glaciers fifteen years ago , down from 150 in 1850. Those few that remain are typically mere remnants of their former frozen selves. Just one of many, this one photographed in 1911 and 2005.
The Montana park had 26 named glaciers fifteen years ago , down from 150 in 1850. Those few that remain are typically mere remnants of their former frozen selves. Just one of many, this one photographed in 1911 and 2005.
and in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence the well bribed charlatans and flim flam con artists of the carbon lobby keep up their propaganda campaign of denial.....
I've always thought that people that don't believe things are heating up never get OUT and SEE things.
ReplyDeleteAs a gardener, I know first hand how "wonky" the weather is getting.
No "Commander-in ......Denial" is going to tell ME it's all in my head!
I, who knows nothing, can see the change in weather patterns.
ReplyDeleteGlaciers are wondrous and beautiful to see. I didn't go to Alaska but I saw similar sights from the safety of a huge ship which appeared minute as it sailed by.
As a person who lives on a small, flat island in Atlantic Canada, to deny climate change is to do so at one's peril. The permaforst in this country is disappearing at an alarming rate as is the sea ice. We are pumping more carbon into the atmosphere even if the remainder of our emissions were zero. How long before we and other islands are below water?
ReplyDeleteOh, just don't get me started. Just don't.
ReplyDeleteThere are many obvious examples of global warming and all kinds of scientific evidence to back it up.
ReplyDeleteAmen. I fear all must be gone before they believe and then the fools will think it is only temporary. Mercy on all of us.
ReplyDeleteSad to be part of an era where the ice is leaving, better than being at the formation.I noticed a dry forest after 2 inches of rain. It has been a dry winter and it soaked it all up.
ReplyDeleteIsn't nature grand??!!
ReplyDeleteMother Nature is a powerful creature. Our weather is so out of control, how can people still deny change?
ReplyDeleteI tend to believe that the earth warms and cools in cycles, but I am not a scientist. Sorry to hear about your trigger thumb, I had one and splinted it so it wouldn't hurt so much when it got stuck. I bet they can fix you right up at Mayo :)
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing, and frightening, that man has had such an impact on his environment. Since the yahoos in charge aren't going to do anything to mediate man's impact, we can only hope that someone finds another habitable planet before this one becomes uninhabitable.
ReplyDeleteI visited Glacier National back when I was and kid and my brother was station out in Washington State. I was in high school at the time. I do remember how cold the trip is when you are up in mountains.
ReplyDeleteDH and I are going on an Alaskan cruise in June and I wonder if we will see the same kind of event of calving that you saw! As I understand it, Glacier Bay is pretty restricted to boats right now. Guess I will have to google that and get more information.
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