The third pole
Speaking of Himalayan glaciers…CNBC reported a year ago:
Glaciers in the Himalayas are melting at an “exceptional” rate, according to new research that shows the massive ice sheets in the region have shrunk 10 times faster in the past four decades than during the previous seven centuries.
The research, published Monday in the journal Scientific Reports, found that mass ice loss from nearly 15,000 ice sheets in the Himalayas is especially rapid compared with other parts of the world.
The Himalayan mountains are also referred to as the third pole because they hold the world’s third-largest amount of glacier ice, following Antarctica and the Arctic. The ice melt threatens agriculture and water supply for millions of people in South Asia, the report said, and will contribute to rising sea levels that threaten coastal communities across the world.
Oh well, it’s only the disappearance of food and water, accompanied by floods.
The predicted floods are already happening: just ask Pakistan.
There is scientific consensus that human-caused climate change has resulted in accelerated ice melt from glaciers and polar ice sheets, as well as higher ocean temperatures across the globe.
And there is no political consensus that we should do anything about it.
FTFY.
China, India and Pakistan all have nuclear weapons. This is not a good mix. Desperate people do desperate things; not having enough water is a pretty good reason for desperation. Most countries that have ever gone to war have done so for, comparatively speaking, much less. I don’t hold a lot of hope for Canadian sovereignty standing for long against a thirsty America.
I wondered about that millions but it’s a scientific report so I figured they know what they’re talking about. The people whose agriculture and water supply are threatened aren’t necessarily all the people in South Asia are they? Plus South Asia doesn’t include China.
But anyway it’s a horrifically large number.
World Bank data indicates 1.9 billion people in the entirety of South Asia. That’s pretty close to, but not quite, “billions”, so I think either “millions” or “billions” could be justified.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=8S
Ok! You squeaked in under the wire.