Antarctic Peninsula ice sheets melting at worrying rate

US Geological Survey (USGS) researchers who have been conducting a first ever survey of Antarctica’s entire coastline coasts are now reporting that the southern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is its coldest, has been retreating for sixty years, with the biggest changes occurring since 1990.

The scientists report that this condition is likely suggestive of the situation across all of Antarctica, whose ice sheet contains 91% of the world’s glacial water and could cause a 60 to 73 meter sea level rise if all the land-based ice were to melt.

As noted by environmental experts, even one meter of sea level rise would jeopardize food supplies across the world. USGS scientist Jane Ferrigno stated, “The loss of ice shelves is evidence of the effects of global warming.

We need to be alert and continually understand and observe how our climate system is changing." We thank Dr. Ferrigno and associate scientists at the US Geological Survey for your careful monitoring of the Antarctic.

Let us act now to restore the planet-cooling balance of our world’s ice caps by choosing lifestyles in greater harmony with nature.

As mentioned on previous occasions, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke again during a November 2009 videoconference in Washington, DC, USA of the most direct way to avert the potentially catastrophic consequences of global warming.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Greenland is shedding 85 million tons of icebergs each day due to warming, and at a rate that is increasing by 7 percent each year. The West Antarctic Ice Shelf is also melting, with 3.3 meter sea level rises forecast that would threaten cities like New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

And if all of Antarctica and Greenland were to melt – meaning the ice – then the sea levels could rise to as much as 70 meters, which would be deadly or disastrous to most lives on Earth.

You may ask, what is the main cause of this damage and destruction to the environment?

It’s methane, which is produced primarily by the livestock industry.

NASA announced that methane actually contributes much more to global warming than previously understood and it traps 100 times the atmospheric heat over 20 years. And the largest source of methane is? You know - livestock.

So, to solve this, we do need to move quickly, and of course we know what to do, right?

Yes? Be vegan.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0223-hance_antpen.html
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/ice-shelves-on-antarctic-peninsula...
http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/books/pb4
http://www.springerlink.com/content/h28l707685463333/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/31/cattle-trade-brazil-greenpeace...

Dislodged Antarctic iceberg causes scientists concern.

An iceberg the size of the country Luxembourg was recently knocked loose from the Antarctic continent by an older iceberg known as B9B, which had split off in 1987. The new iceberg contains approximately one-fifth the total water used worldwide.

Climate experts are now concerned for the ice-free area that used to be protected by the now-displaced ice. As this area provides 25% of the Antarctic’s bottom water, changes in its environment could impact ocean currents that distribute heat and oxygen to waters around the globe.

Such disruption could be devastating, as noted by German oceanographer Dr. Mario Hoppema, who said, “There may be regions of the world’s oceans that lose oxygen, and then of course most of the life there will die.”

We are grateful Dr. Hoppema and all scientists for your comprehensive assessment of these unsettling and large-scale changes in the Antarctic.

May we all foster lifestyles that restore harmony to our shared ecosphere. In a July 2008 videoconference with Supreme Master Television staff in California, USA, Supreme Master Ching Hai emphasized once more our need to act in ways that enhance the survival of all life on Earth.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: If people change to a more benevolent lifestyle that is respecting all lives, then we will beget life and our lives be spared. And nature will restore the balance and repair all damages.

I wish to see that day soon, in my lifetime. It’s still repairable. But people have to realize this, and they have to know it’s urgent and they have to cooperate. The more vegan people join the circle, the more chance we have to save the planet.

http://www.france24.com/en/20100225-mammoth-iceberg-could-alter-ocean-circulation-study
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/27/stories/2010022757422000.htm
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124105970