People who like to vacation in the snowy mountains and enjoy skiing better start transitioning to surfing and waterboarding in the near future, because long cold, heavy winters are just about over. Who do you have to thank for this? The human race.
The effects of Global warming may be easy to miss for the majority of the population. However, ski resort owners who rely on natural snow for their slopes find it impossible to ignore. The investments into artificial snowmachines have seen a dramatic increase due to the lack of natural snow – the changing Global temperatures should not be ignored.
A new report from geosciences journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences may increase some resort’s fears of a shrinking ski season suggesting that by 2050, mountains in the Upper Colorado River Basin (which stretches across Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, U.S.A) could cause the spring thaw to occur as many as 6 weeks earlier than usual because of global warming and the occurrence of extreme dust events in the region.
The NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) had this to say about climate change. “Without intervention, winter temperatures are projected to warm an additional 4 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, with subsequent decreases in snow cover area, snowfall, and shorter snow season,” the NRDC reported. “Snow depths could decline in the west by 25 to 100 percent. The length of the snow season in the northeast will be cut in half…All of this translates into less snow and fewer people on the slopes.”
If you’re thinking to yourself “well I’m fine I don’t even like skiing” think again. All that disappearing snow doesn’t literally just disappear, it melts and has to end up somewhere. The majority of the melting snow is going into rivers which flow to the lakes which flow to the Oceans. All in all you can expect your favourite low-lying island nations to be consumed into the Ocean. Islands at severe risk are as follows.
Republic of Kiribati
The Pacific Ocean holds the nation of Kiribati, a 266-square-mile republic on 32 atolls and one island. With a population of about 103,000, this archipelago of coral atolls covers an oceanic expanse equal to the size of the United States. Most of the island nation does not lie more than 3 meters above sea level. For this reason, its residents are greatly concerned about the impact of warming seas. Recently, President Anote Tong revealed that his Cabinet had endorsed a plan to buy nearly 6,000 acres on Viti Levu, Fiji’s main island. The plan is to potentially move the entire population off of Kiribati.
Republic of Maldives
The Maldives are a picturesque chain comprising more than 1,100 islands and atolls in the Indian Ocean. However, this paradise may soon be lost to rising sea levels. The highest parts of the Maldives rise to no more than 8 feet. This leaves its nearly 400,000 residents at great risk of storm surges and rising seas. The island received considerable damage in the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which decimated fresh water supplies and damaged homes. Further, extreme mining of the protective sand and coral around the islands has made them even more vulnerable to rising waters. In 2009, then-President Mohamed Nasheed emerged during the Copenhagen Summit as the face of this issue on a planetary scale. As Salon noted, “if his country cannot be saved from rising sea levels, then there may be no saving Tokyo or Mumbai or New Orleans or New York.”
Republic of Fiji
The people of Kiribati may want to rethink their plans to relocate to Fiji, as this 7,056-square-mile island nation in the South Pacific is pondering its own ways to face the challenges of climate change. While its larger islands contain mountains as high as 4,000 feet above sea level, Fiji is still concerned about the effects of climate change. As the World Health Organization reports, climate change is expected to influence extremes of too little and too much water in the form of severe storms and droughts. Further, such extreme weather is expected to make the island’s population of 909,000 more sensitive to climate-sensitive diseases, such as water-borne illnesses.
So next time, think about taking your bike to work for once or carpool with some friends. don’t throw that garbage in the ditch even though it may seem easier. As a race we need to work together and find a real logical solution to our pollution and climate change problems.. before it’s too late.
Travel Life 