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Greenland is a fantastic country, with fantastic people and a lot of ice. But
traveling round Greenland can also be an eye-opener! Like everybody else, you’ve
already heard a lot about the global warming by now. And like most of us, you've
probably thought it was something that would happen some years into the future.
But in Greenland, this future is now! A place near the town Kangerlussuaq, where
you could drive right out on the ice cap 6 years ago, you now have to climb down
a steep slope and walk a bit before you come to the ice.
Also the Kangia ice fjord, near the town Ilulissat (a UNESCO World Heritage Site
in western Greenland) shows signs of an accelerating global warming these years,
with the fast decrease of the glacier in the bottom of the ice fjord.
I was in Ilulissat in 2006 when Republican US Senator John McCain visited the place in
connection with a climate debate. It was a new attempt to get the Americans to
wake up and think about environmental issues and maybe even ratify the
Kyoto Protocol. One can only hope!
The official USA still takes the stand, that they want to pollute
all they want, and just gives a f… about environmental problems. But
more and more people over there actually realize the link between
global warming and the increased number of hurricanes and changes to
the climate.
Short time ago, I saw 'An
Inconvenient Truth' with Al Gore’s crusade to halt global
warming’s deadly progress by exposing the myths and misconceptions
that surround it.
I have seen the effect of global warming in Greenland. I have
seen an American film about the problem. Now I really want to see
some politicians do something about it!
Just a few words about global warming and ice age!
Here’s one of the problems with global warming: Imagine that the
nice warm weather just keep on coming – with temperatures rising each
year.
First we notice the warmer seawater. As most people know, hurricanes
grow over the sea; and the warmer the water is, the bigger the
hurricane gets.
Then the ice at Greenland and the Poles start to melt faster. The
water level rises, floods a lot of land all over the World and
create millions of refugees.
The cold water from the melting ice suddenly makes an end to the
Gulf Stream because the difference in temperatures, that makes the
stream work, has been leveled out.
After the Gulf Stream stops, it’ll only take few years - some say 10
years, others think it’ll only take 2 or 3 years – before large
parts of the world once more gets an ice age!
Luckily a lot of people won’t have to go through this. I’m talking
about all the people who, before that, has drowned in the floods, or
died from the hunger or war resulting from millions of people
without food or shelter.
Now you might have an idea why some of us think that global warming
is a bad thing. And why a lot of politicians don’t want to talk
about it. And why I don’t like to keep on writing about this topic.
I prefer to write about fun stuff. I know, writing about it
doesn’t make the problem go away – just as ignoring the problem
won’t solve it either. |
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