Millions face glacier catastrophe (Global warming hits Himalayas)

The Observer via Guardian Unlimited ^ | November 20, 2005 | Robin McKie, science editor

[cloud8]

Nawa Jigtar was working in the village of Ghat, in Nepal, when the sound of crashing sent him rushing out of his home. He emerged to see his herd of cattle being swept away by a wall of water.[snip]

When Ghat was destroyed, in 1985, such incidents were rare - but not any more. Last week, scientists revealed that there has been a tenfold jump in such catastrophes in the past two decades, the result of global warming. Himalayan glacier lakes are filling up with more and more melted ice and 24 of them are now poised to burst their banks in Bhutan, with a similar number at risk in Nepal.

But that is just the beginning, a report in Nature said last week. Future disasters around the Himalayas will include 'floods, droughts, land erosion, biodiversity loss and changes in rainfall and the monsoon'.

The roof of the world is changing, as can be seen by Nepal's Khumbu glacier, where Hillary and Tenzing began their 1953 Everest expedition. It has retreated three miles since their ascent. Almost 95 per cent of Himalayan glaciers are also shrinking - and that kind of ice loss has profound implications, not just for Nepal and Bhutan, but for surrounding nations, including China, India and Pakistan.

[carumba]

The roof of the world is changing, as can be seen by Nepal's Khumbu glacier, where Hillary and Tenzing began their 1953 Everest expedition. It has retreated three miles since their ascent. Almost 95 per cent of Himalayan glaciers are also shrinking...

Industrialized Nepal has got to go. No freeways, no cellphones, no TV sets, just trot about in your yak carts.

[nmh]

I don't know ... a report from "Nature" hints of being VERY LEFT WING.

[kanawa]

We've reached the peak ice point with the remaining, dwindling reserves of ice becoming harder to extract.

[CarrotAndStick]

Whoda thunk?

[Sender]

I think they have ice up in ANWR don't they? Or maybe we can pump freezing water into Canadian ice sands.

[CarrotAndStick]

The glaciers are melting, but where's the after-melt? Are there any reports of glacial rivers like the Ganges and Yamuna rising?

[Piquaboy]

We are all doomed, doomed I tell you. Put your head between your legs and kiss your butt goodby.

[pleikumud]

There is no scientific support for global warming. It is just politicized speculation about what will happen decades or more from now. In 1900 people were worried about a shortage of horses, and about having too much horse manure in a few decades. No basis in fact, just uninformed nonsense.

[Just mythoughts]

These "dirt-worshipers" are morphing into "ice-worshipers"!!!

[kanawa]

We should threaten to cut off ice supplies to Chavez.

[GBA]

I don't believe in "Global Warming". A couple of decades ago fear mongers were warning of the coming ice age. Now it's global warming.

We have not been collecting accurate data long enough from enough points on the planet to say for sure what the earth's temperature cycles are or what, if anything, humans have to do with them. Are they influenced more by human activity or volcanic activity or solar activity or cow flatulence or something else? If there is global warming, what, if anything, can humans do about it?

Flawed science creates fear and flawed policy.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

No doubt. Nature used to be a decent magazine, now its science editors publish mostly junk science and hype. Same goes for Discover magazine. If there is an article on black holes in outer space, they'll find a way to make a global warming reference. Bunch of idiots.

[ConsentofGoverned]

"No basis in fact, just uninformed nonsense."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..........
Facts we don't need no stinking Facts..It is warmer but until someone figgers out how to cool down the SUN which is in a very active period (funny how that fact is never talked about in leftist eco rants) the Heat is ON.
The benefit of this warming is less use of the Hated Oil products for heating,which will result in less green house gases which will result in Global cooling then an ICE AGE.
or not.

[nmh]

I was just guessing about Nature magazine.

I remember Discover. I used to get that. Too bad it's no longer credible.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Future disasters around the Himalayas will include 'floods, droughts, land erosion, biodiversity loss and changes in rainfall and the monsoon'.

Oh no, I expected the weather patterns to be completely static forever and ever. And I like their injection of floods and droughts. So anything and everything is a result of global warming, right?

[nmh]

I just wish they'd do it quietly and not publish nonsense. God only knows people are too eager to believe it and be emotional about it.

[wtc911]

My wife is a rock solid Republican (I am the conservative). She is also an Environmental Scientist. She spends her days reading the data. There is no doubt in her mind that global warming is real and it is a problem. What is not clear to her and her colleagues is the cause.

[JustDoItAlways]

ALL reports from Nepal and the Himalayas have increased in recent decades.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Nature is total garbage. Your guess that it's been taken over by left-wingers is a good one. Check out the cover of the latest issue: