Disappearing Glaciers Threaten Water Supply, Says UNESCO
(Daily360.com) – Glaciers across the Earth developed over thousands of years and are referred to as “sentinels of climate change.” They represent an early warning system telling scientists the state of global warming. Melting glaciers not only change the level and composition of the world’s oceans, but the loss affects temperatures across the globe.
On November 3, UNESCO released a report stating one-third of the glaciers in World Heritage sites will be gone by 2050. But all is not lost. According to the document, there is still time to save the rest, but only if people on the planet can make changes to prevent the Earth from heating up more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
A major source of freshwater supply, glaciers are melting at an alarming rate because of the #ClimateCrisis. We have to #ActOnClimate now before it is too late.https://t.co/WV6mvUadRJ
— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) November 3, 2022
The study, conducted by UNESCO and UICN, revealed the structures have been quickly melting since the turn of the century because of carbon dioxide emissions. The excess gas is warming the planet, resulting in the loss of 58 billion tons of ice each year. Sadly, there is nothing humans can do to save the 6,200-ish glaciers on track for extinction.
Glaciologist Matthias Huss reported 6% of Swiss glaciers lost their ice so far in 2022, calling the summer heat in the European nation a “hurricane.” Some of the melting is just due to natural Earth cycles, but humans have definitely contributed to the problem.
Some people wonder if we’re too late to save the ice structures at all, while others believe preservation, at least in part, is possible.
Copyright 2022, Daily360.com
