Wednesday, April 07, 2004
BBC NEWS | Greenland's ice cap under threat

"If the ice-sheet was removed Greenland would be a lot warmer because the land surface would be at a lower altitude and reflect less sunlight.

"Unlike the ice on the Arctic Ocean, much of which melts and reforms each year, the Greenland ice sheet might not re-grow even if the global climate were returned to pre-industrial conditions," he says.

Tentative evidence suggests the icesheet has already to started to melt"

As we all know, a slight increase in sea levels could erase major world cities like L.A., Rio de Janeiro, the pays-bas (Belgium, Netherlands, countries below sea level), among others...

This is a serious issue that not only pertaining to the third world, but to the world in general. Worse, it really pertains to the first world, but little is being done:

"The only international agreement on cutting greenhouse gases is the UN's Kyoto Protocol, which requires industrial countries to make a small cut in global emissions by a timeframe of 2008-12.

But the pact is in limbo. It still needs ratification by Russia to take effect and in any case has been abandoned by the United States, the world's biggest CO2 contributor."

Yet another Bush administration legacy -- the rejection of the Kyoto Protocol.

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