The “sexy” topic in todays debates about
sustainability and environmental issues certainly is global warming. Much like
acid rain or overpopulation was in the past this is a topic that is based on
scientific facts but is hyped up by the media. CO2 emissions are causing
the greenhouse effect and are contributing to a constant increase in
temperature. While the earth has gone through different climates throughout its
existence many scientists argue that our CO2 emissions will cause a
more drastic climate change that our society may not be able to withstand, a
topic that has also been picked up by Hollywood and been turned into
blockbuster movies, which further fueled the hype surrounding global warming. It
seems that the current focus of the global warming debate is shifting towards
the effect that the climate change has on the ice caps. It is argued that the
average temperatures in the arctic are rising twice as fast as they are in
other areas of the world and that the Polar Ice cap is shrinking due to this
temperature increase. NASA satellite images have shown that the permanent ice
cap is contracting by 9% a year. The arctic ice melt is already having negative
impacts on its environment as the wildlife has to change their feeding and
migration patterns, which also hurts the local population that is dependent on
hunting and fishing. It is also being argued that the ice melt contributes to
further global warning because less snow and ice means the cooling and
protective impact it provides has less impact.
Sources: http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/qthinice.asp
