Tibetan Glaciers Shrinking Faster Than Expected

Tibetan glaciers are melting faster than predicted. Nearly a sixth of the world’s population, one billion people, directly depend on the glaciers for survival.

The Tibetan plateau has an average height of 14,000 feet above sea level. It is also home to over ten thousand glaciers. This gargantuan network of ice feeds some of the longest rivers in the world: Salween (2820 km) Mekong (4880 km) Yellow (3180 km) Yangtze (6380 km) Indus (3180 km) and Brahmaputra (2900 km).

Seasonal glacial melting provides vast quantities of water to these rivers and their watersheds. It is critical to all life there. An Ohio State University researcher named Lonnie Thompson, who has studied the region, is very concerned global warming could cause the glaciers to shrink below levels that currently support the local ecosystems, and human communities.

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In the affected area, the human population numbers about one billion, and it depends upon glacial waters for survival. The World Wildlife Fund has estimated there are 10,000 plant species, 240 mammal species, and 750 bird species in the Eastern Himalayas alone. A dwindling water supply would most likely have a catastrophic impact on animal and human communities.

The glaciers’ shrinking has had an impact as far away as China. A report states that due to decreased rains there have been more droughts and an increase in dust storms.

“In the worst storm on April 17, an estimated 336,000 tons of dust fell on Beijing, leaving the air quality in the capital at hazardous levels.”

When one encounters news of a huge potential environmental disaster in a far-off land, initial reactions often range from feelings of helplessness to despair. However, in this case, there are many immediate positive solutions you can pursue which can make a significant impact. One is to reduce consumption of beef. Cows generate a tremendous output of methane which reportedly contributes to global warming 23 times more than carbon dioxide (CO2). Cow manure also produces the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, which has been said to potentially contribute 296 times more to global warming than carbon dioxide. For those of us who can’t afford a hybrid vehicle we can reduce our beef consumption which could lessen global warming, and help save the Tibetan glaciers.

Image Source: Dbachmann via Wikipedia, as public domain via NASA

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