Glaciers

In 2007, John and I girded our loins, packed the fifth wheel and took off for Alaska. There are tons of things I could write about that trip! The frigid cold weather this week reminds me that even though we are cold, the overall climate is warming quickly.

We drove past a lot of glacial valleys, but most of them no longer had glaciers. In Jasper National Park in British Columbia, we actually went out on a glacier that has shrunk considerably since the first explorers reported on it in the 1800's. The picture is from a glacier in Alaska.

Glaciers are astounding in terms of the amount of water that are stored in them. Few people realize that much of the world's fresh water is stored in glaciers. As they melt, the water goes into the ocean and you have probably heard the estimates of how fast the coastlines are raising, which cities will be under the ocean and when, etc. As we walked on the glaciers, the amount of dirt on them was also astounding. Some glaciers we saw only from the ocean looked blue and pristine, but up close layers of dirt were obvious. These glaciers were far from the nearest roads or other civilization, yet evidence of human interference was obvious.

As you are turning up the heat to battle the cold this week, don't forget where it is coming from. Is your energy heating the planet or contributing to the dirt?