The Impacts Of Melting Glacier Environmental Sciences Essay

The Impacts Of Melting Glacier Environmental Sciences EssayIt is clear that the earth is acquiring hotter due to planetary warming. It was proved that the amount of CO2 in the standard pressure had increased from 316 ppm in 1958 to 385 ppm in 2008 (Kirkham 2011, p.370) leading to the Greenhouse outcomes and make many an(prenominal) an(prenominal) environmental issues as well as especi solelyy declination the issue of escapeing glaciers. Many re navalrches have showed that glaciers are melt quickly and it is unlikely to indisposeder down. Take Greenland as an example. On the eighth of July 2012, the share of glacier melt in this country was forty percent. However, four days later, this common fig tree had jumped to ninety-seven percent (Kerthan 2012) (see Appendix 1).As a pass on, a sound make full occurred in Greenland recently. This country contains ten percent of the worlds fresh pee yet, all the glaciers are resolve and it is expected that by the end of this degree centigrade, the ocean level lead have risen by eighteen to 59 centimeters (Miller and Spoolman 2011). The flood happened in Kangerlussuaq, has swept away an important bridge and the busiest mercenary oxygenizeports of the island (The Guardian 2012).Greenland is just one example out of lots of otherwise countries which are suffering from disasters because of glacier break up that threatens their forage source including snips and animals, and even worse, destroys their homes.In the following part, the effects of glacier melting on human life, particularly food sources depart be enlightened with supporting specific evidences and information.The violations of melting glacierToday, the change magnitude temperature is causing ice caps on Mount Kilimanjaro and ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland to melt (Lovgren 2004a) (see Appendix 2). This has resulted in the rise in sea level, causing many problems to the nature balance. Cold water fish cannot survive and even preci ous coral reefs are dying as the water is becoming too warm. This causes problems for tidy sum fishing them as a food source and influences the fisheries in general. Besides, Lovgren (2004b) verbalise that the rising sea level can have serious impacts on low-lying countries, near of which like Indian Oceans Maldives or Nile Delta could be submerged. non only will fishing be moved(p) but pack will overly have difficulties in finding higher filth for living.An imbalance in natures food chain would be caused by global warming. As ice sheets melt in the Antarctic, the opposite bears would be adversely affected since the temperature is too warm for them to live. Polar bears are entirely mutualist on sea ice, you lose sea ice, you lose polar bears (Malcolm 2004). Additionally, the legal tender and sea lion population that would otherwise be controlled by polar bears as part of their diet would multiply and overpopulation may occur, causing many fishes macrocosm eaten and deple ted. This depletion affects fisheries and mess living in the northern hemisphere because they must(prenominal) then find other food sources which would be difficult as their main source of protein and food are fish.It is interesting that the glacial melting is the reason of two opposite effects floods and drought (Mathias 2012). However, they are all connected.The fast glacier melting will lead to sudden increase in water input to rivers, causing flood all along the rivers (Mathias 2012). Floods could impact seriously on crops growing, it can have a negative effect on the financial performance of farming as a result of crop damage reduced crop and livestock yield and attribute/condition (Thorne et al. 2007, p.130). Therefore, our food sources are threatened seriously. For instance, a recent flooding this year in Burma has driven eighty-five thousands of people homeless and to a greater extent than two hundred thousand hectares of sieve field swamped (The Guardian 2012).In cont rast, drought is a big problem in other countries because glacier melting changes the currents of the oceans cold and warm water. It changes the wind patterns that move cloud and humidity with the air, causing the imbalance in water distribution (Britney 2012). Since May this year, northwestward Korea has been suffering the just about severe drought in 105 long time which threatened to damage this countrys breadbasket. The area was also notified an estimated amount of 3.5 million people are with the risk of malnutrition and famine (The Telegraph 2012).Furthermore, the rise in sea level caused by melting glacier also leads to the intrusion of sea water. This has affected the fresh water and land used for living and agriculture. For example, in Thatta, a major countrified area in Pakistan, the amount of land competent for agriculture has shown a significant decrease. Around one third of prolific land and cultivated areas there have been affected by the saltwater intrusion (Emer ton 2005). This causes losses for crops and serious damages to livestock due to the dearth of pasture, rangeland, and fresh water needed for cattle rearing.Impacts on rice civilisation may be the most noticeable. As rice is a salt-sensitive crop (Adger et al. 2001a, p.248), the increased table salt in soil can hinder rice growth and affect rice production. World Bank (2000) indicated that increased saltiness alone from a 0.3 meter sea level rise will cause a net decrease of 0.5 million metric haemorrhoid of rice production (cited in Sarwar 2005, p.19). For example, this salinity intrusion caused 50% to 90% drop in rice productivity over the past triad decades in Tra Vinh province of Vietnam (Hopkins 1995, cited in Adger et al. 2001b, p.248).Additionally, the rising sea level also influences fresh water fish. Liu and Esogbue (1999a, p.121) said that sea level rise will, in all likelihood, bring about a reduction in the freshwater habitat conditions particularly in the rivers. In the event of such a situation, production of fresh water fisheswhich cannot tolerate any level of salinity in the water is likely to suffer. In places where pond or lake fishery provides the major source of food and income, may face many difficulties if the sea level observes increasing. For instance, Liu and Esogbue(1999b) shown that in many coastal districts of Bangladesh, carps is a major agricultural product and pond culture of carps is widely practised. According to the authors, there were solely 105.5 thousand metric tons of carps produced in freshwater ponds of those districts between the days of 1995 and 1996. So, the rise in sea level may lead to these ponds being submerged, causing huge losses in carp production.Solutions for the issue of melting glacierThe only way to slow down glacial melting is to slow down global warming. There are many measures having been done.Humankind depends on burning fossil fuels for power, but it increases global warming. To restore the g laciers we should increase zilch efficiency and utilize alternative energy like wind power, solar energy, or biofuel (Leon 2008).Technology innovation like Chlorine-free paper and Greenfreeze solution which is adopted in refrigeration manufacturing to avoid CFCs a chemical affecting ozone floor (Rose 2010) also helps slow down global warming.Additionally, treaties like Global Black-Carbon or Global Carbon Tax are formed to engage countries in the emissions reduction (Dauncey 2009a). For example, Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement established in 1997, sets targets for 37 industrialized countries and European community to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions. (Leimkuhler 2010).Other solutions include protect the world forests and grasslands, establishing the global climate funds to assist poor countries in adopting climate-friendly technologies. In a national scope, governments encourage their citizens to use greener energy by establishing solar villages like those in B angladesh or ecological capitals like those in Colombia and Brazil (Dauncey 2009b).All the solutions need public support, so governments must acquire and convince their people to follow the climate-friendly strategies. Besides, they need to support citizens organizations that are victorious practical actions to promote and build a greener society (Dauncey 2009c).ConclusionTo conclude, problems of melting glacier will still happen in the future because continued increases in global temperature will accelerate the rate of glacier melt, sea ice retreat, and melting of the ice caps (Dawson and Spannagle 2009, p.334). Many studies have shown that the earths temperature will continue increasing for some reasons. Reducing greenhouse gases faces many difficulties as our modern society will still depend on fossil fuels for energy (Seeds and Backman 2010, Armstrong and Howarth 2005). Claussen (2001, pp.83-84) declared that the emissions growth in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, and Korea w ill increase by two-thirds by 2015 under the most optimistic scenarios. Based on analysis of gases emission, the Intergovernmental Panel on humour Change (2007) estimates that the global temperature may show a rise of 2C to 6C by the end of this 21st century (cited in Holt and West 2011, p.141).Besides, even if greenhouse gases are stabilized, global air temperature and sea level are expected to continue to rise for hundreds of years (Mooney et al. 2010a, p.481). The authors explanation for this is that the present global warming will lead to win warming of the earth. For instance, the melting of ice will expose land and ocean area below which normally captures more heat than the ice, causing a warmer planet (Mooney et al. 2010b).Global warming results in melting glacier. When the earths temperature continue rising in years to come, the glaciers will keep melting in a faster manner than it used to, just like what Meier and Dyurgerov (2005) stated glacier ice melt is accelerating i n recent years, and is likely to continue at a high rate into the future (cited in Braasch and McKibben 2009, p.40).