In our blog's last post, Rebecca looked at some of the physical and environmental actions and consequences of the worldwide trend of melting glacial pack. Her piece intrigued me, and it reminded me of some of Dr. Pena's lectures regarding the influence of the glacier at his acequia farming institute. He tells of how the glacier near San Luis (which has an aviary-themed name I am presently forgetting) is a device for the famers to judge their potential growing seasons, and is also the source of their irrigation systems. I was curious about other impacts of glaciers on the livelihoods of people across the world.
I looked up these two articles:
http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=9698
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS105071633920101116
Glaciers have huge implications! They provide water to the some of the most important rivers in the world - the Ganges, the Indus, The Yellow, not only do millions rely on these rivers today, but they have arguably the most historic significance of any rivers - literally the cradles of civilization.
The effect of climate change on glaciers will directly and negatively influence the lives of the people that have depended on them for centuries. People will could see (and have seen) their drinking water flood up and destroy their livelihoods, know as Glacial Lake Outburst Floods. Tragically, this is noted in some of the most impoverished and vulnerable places in the world. One of the tenants of Environmental Justice is to rectify the unfair disproportion of degradation on the underrepresented people of the world. The ethically correct choice is for nations to investigate climate change as a real and dangerous force. The climate change argument is highly politicized, but is the responsibility of the empowered to take on the challenge of climate change immediately.
--Danny Gibson
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