Climate Change

Atlanta is almost out of water; California is burning; the West is in perpetual drought; the Great Lakes are losing water levels; across the world glaciers are disappearing at a rapid rate. Over at Minnesota Monitor, Jeff Flecke has this to say about it:

The problem of global climate change does not lie simply in warmer temperatures. It also lies in the way that the world's biomes will be reshuffled. Richard Seager, a scientist at Columbia University, put it bluntly when asked about the west. In an interview with the New York Times, he said, "You can't call it a drought anymore, because it's going over to a drier climate. No one says the Sahara is in drought."

We have reached a point where the impact of global warming is undeniable to any but the most determined skeptic. Some of the impact is inevitable; I fear that within our lifetimes, we'll see the states in the mountain west facing severe water shortages, and demand for states like Minnesota, where we have a great deal of fresh water available, to share the wealth. We must begin immediately to plan for that future, to ensure that we can help our fellow Americans without destroying our own state's environment. And humans must immediately begin to work to curb global carbon emissions. We are already seeing negative effects from our previous lackadaisical attitude, and I fear that we are already too late to avoid catastrophe. We must act soon to avoid apocalypse.

I think he is absolutely right. This water crisis is unfolding at an amazing rate. We need to be ready.