Scary information for the day

[theatokos]

Two days ago I received a package from my father. It contained a letter in his typical form letter style and a book, The Weather Makers. My father is not a trendy man, nor one to get worked up over much. Yet, he wants me and everyone I know to read this book and to take global warming seriously. Eight years ago, when he began building his house out on Shelter Island, he began exploring alternative forms of energy. After all, Shelter Island is far away from standard amenities. One needs a generator, a water catchment system, etc. My dad rigged up a rainwater catchment system and installed a wind powered generator to take advantage of the strong winds blowing in off the channel. Once he began building in Australia, he set up a solar power system for the house there. It's all pretty neat and progressive. Now that he has become informed, he is especially concerned with global warming.

I called home to say I had received the book and my mother mentioned that the Mendenhall Glacier retreated 295 feet last year. I was shocked! While the glacier has been retreating for a long time (200 years?), its average retreat when I was growing up was 25-30 ft a year. In order to fact check this, I emailed Larry Musarra, director at the Mendhenall Glacier Visitor's Center. Here's his response:

"In 2004, the Mendenhall Glacier receded over 700 ft.

Here's the info from 2005 in meters:

Here is the update on this past year's retreat at Mendenhall Glacier.
Time span is from 8/25/04 to 8/23/05. Average retreat was 52 m
averaged across the width of the terminus. Greatest retreat occurred on
west side this year, 82 m.

Yes it is going fast."

Holy shit.

Comments

[erinya.livejournal.com]

Scary, scary stuff. I read somewhere that the Arctic might eventually be ice-free in the summer.

Your dad is cool. *adds book to reading list*

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my dad is pretty neat, when he's not being an asshole. I don't know if cool is ever a word that I'd apply to him. I remember reading about this book in an Economist book review. I don't normally read science books, but so far the book is easy to follow for an educated, but not science minded, person.

[erinya.livejournal.com]

my dad is pretty neat, when he's not being an asshole.

Hmm, sounds like my dad.

Whatever his other qualities and/or faults, I really respect your dad for doing all that work on alternative energy and educating others. That's cool in my book.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

I can pass the book along to you when I'm done. I'm sure I'll have it finished by the end of the month when we make our way down to sunny SD.

[erinya.livejournal.com]

That would be awesome! I'm sure I won't get to it on my own by then. And by the way, I'm not planning on going anywhere this month, so I'll be in SD when you come down.

[donkeyfly.livejournal.com]

that. is insane.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Our children, growing up in Juneau, will ask us to describe what it was like living near glaciers. The thought makes me want to weep.