Catastrophy Tightens Grip As 100 Children Melts !!

Greenpeace put ice sculptures of 100 children -- made with glacial melt water -- at the Temple of Earth in Beijing.

100 child-sized ice sculptures sit in Beijing’s Temple of Earth to represent the 1 billion lives that will be lost in Asia due to water shortages caused by climate change. The art installation marks the launch of the TckTckTck Campaign, a campaign that works to raise awareness of the importance of a fair and ambitious agreement at the upcoming United Nations Copenhagen Climate Summit, taking place from December 7 to 18, 2009, where world leaders will gather to establish a plan to protect the world’s population from climate change.

The Temple of Earth was chosen because Chinese emperors used the temple to pray for the good harvests and the well-being of Earth.

Greenpeace China Climate and Energy Campaign Manager, Yang Ailun says, “We are here today to highlight the catastrophic danger faced by our planet. The disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers threatens the fresh water supply of the one fifth of the world’s population who live in their watershed. If world leaders don’t agree to stop runaway climate change, children of today will grow up facing a constant struggle to secure reliable access to drinking water.”

TckTckTck is a global alliance that is using an open campaign model to empower others to educate others to demand a fair agreement at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, more information can be found here. A week-long campaign will take place from September 20 to September 26, 2009 in New York City, residents can find out what is going on during Climate Week NYC here.

Why 100? The United Nations Copenhagen Climate Summit — when world leaders will put together the successor to the Kyoto Treaty — happens this December, 100 days from today. That’s why today also marks the launch of the TckTckTck campaign, which urges governments “to agree a fair, binding and ambitious deal at the Summit.” If our governments fail to set serious goals, we could be saying bye-bye to a lot more than “just” glaciers.

The sculptures in China were made from glacial melt water from the source of Yangtze, Yellow and Ganges rivers — and judging from the photos, didn’t last too long under the sun. Save the glaciers from a similar fate by joining up with other TckTckTck activists. Time’s running out!

The sculptures were made from glacial melt water from the Ganges, Yangtze and Yellow rivers in Asia as a warning to the one billion people in Asia threatened by global warming. The melting Himalayan glaciers threatens the water supply of one fifth of the worlds population, say Greenpeace.

If world leaders don't agree to stop runaway climate change, children of today will grow up facing a constant struggle to secure reliable access to drinking water," said Greenpeace China Climate and Energy Campaign Manager Yang Ailun.

TckTckTck’s a project of the Global Campaign for Climate Action, an initiative that brings together a number of national and global organizations to mobilize people toward “rapid action to save the planet from dangerous levels of climate change.”

"The future prosperity of India and China is literally melting away," Yang Ailun added. "With only 100 days to go before the Copenhagen Climate Summit, leaders around the world must take personal responsibility for averting climate chaos and stop the greatest threat to all of humanity."

"It's real concern about climate change impacts like the threat to our water supply that is driving China and India to pursue a low-carbon development path that balances development and environmental protection," said Greenpeace India Climate and Energy Manager Vinuta Gopal. "If the developed world doesn't take the opportunity to support developing countries to both adapt to and mitigate climate change, then that balance won't hold and we will suffer an environmental catastrophe."





Source: clickgreen,mnn,Telegraph

The Dawn Of Blue Lagoon In Iceland

These pictures show how global warming is affecting a glacier in Iceland...

The Breidamerkurjokull glacier in Iceland has raced in from the mountains, smothering a shimmering lagoon that sits at the edge of the Atlantic on the country's south coast

Pictured above is the glacier and lagoon in 2002

.here's the lagoon in 2008, before it became filled with glacial ice...

..and here it is in June 2009, filled with icebergs.

The worrying change in conditions means the lagoon is now full of melting glacial ice that is causing gallons of additional fresh water to flow into the sea

The glacier measures a staggering 60 miles long. Its surge into the nearby lagoon has now been ongoing for two months and is showing no signs of stopping as gigantic blocks of ice back up and fill the water basin.

For 30 years professional photographer Ragnar Sigurdsson has been taking pictures of the stunning area of natural beauty which has been given national park status

"I have never seen anything like it since I started coming here," he said. "It is perfectly natural for a glacier to move. They tend to recede or advance in cycles but this time the tongue of the Breidamerkurjokull has come all the way down into the lagoon"

Ragnar, 51, from Reykjavik, said: "There is no threat of a disaster. The rate that the water rises, it would take more than 50 years for it to take the bridge but people in the area still feel it's global warming that's doing it. The end result is this extra freshwater is pouring into the sea at an alarming rate"

Despite the frozen look of the pool from afar, the ice is gradually melting - increasing the overflow of the lagoon into the sea.

Dooms Day Near ? Shattered Antarctic Ice Bridge Fuels Global Warming

An ice bridge which held a vast Antarctic ice shelf in place shattered on Saturday, raising fears about global warming.

Scientists are concerned that greater collapses will now occur in the Antarctic Peninsula.

Satellite images from the European Space Agency show that a 25-mile-long strip of ice believed to pin the Wilkins Ice Shelf in place had splintered at its narrowest point, about 500 metres wide.

The Wilkins ice shelf has snapped for the first time, causing consternation at the state of the environment

This may now allow ocean currents to wash away far more of the Wilkins shelf.

David Vaughan, a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, said: 'We've waited a long time to see this. My feeling is that we will lose more of the ice, but there will be a remnant to the south.'

The Wilkins, now the size of Jamaica, is one of ten shelves to have shrunk or collapsed in recent decades on the peninsula.

Cores of sediments on the seabed indicate that some of these ice shelves had been in place for at least 10,000 years

Since 1950, the ice bridge that cracked apart on Saturday had more than halved in length.

Temperatures in the Antarctic have risen by up to about 5.4f (3c) in the past 50 years, the fastest rate of warming in the Southern Hemisphere.

Antarctica's response to warming will go a long way to deciding the pace of global sea level rise.

Imaging of the ice shelf and the change seen since 2008

The loss of ice shelves does not affect sea levels - floating ice contracts as it melts and so does not raise ocean levels.

But their loss can allow glaciers on land to slide more rapidly towards the sea, adding water to the oceans.

About 175 nations have been meeting in Bonn, Germany, since March 29 as part of a push to agree by the end of 2009 a new U.N. treaty to combat climate change.

Scientists say change in the Antarctic is rarely as dramatic as it has been in recent times

The U.S. is also pushing to protect Antarctica's fragile environment by imposing mandatory limits on the size of cruise ships sailing there and the number of passengers they bring ashore, minimising the likelihood of oil spills.

At a conference starting today in Baltimore, U.S. diplomats will propose amending the 50-year-old international Antarctic Treaty.

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