What is Digg?108 Comments
- tomboy501, on 03/05/2008, -4/+27The Lake Chad photos are the most disturbing. In 15 years, one of the largest lakes in Africa is pretty much gone.
- JulyZerg, on 03/05/2008, -3/+19This is a very misleading title...
- inactive, on 03/05/2008, -5/+18who woke up and took a snapshot of the current state of everything and decided that if any deviation occurred it was "bad"? the ONLY consistent thing on this earth is change.. humans can't even fathom a million years, and the earth is over 4 BILLION years old. fragile earth?? haha.. fragile.. umm if something thats been around is 4 billion years old and its still considered fragile, then whats considered strong? don't be afraid of environmental change.. embrace it, adapt to it, and learn to overcome it because until we learn to control it, this earth will ALWAYS be changing.
- inactive, on 03/05/2008, -3/+14I have joked for years that the water tables are so high in florida and with all the people moving there that it would eventually sink. The last photo shows what could happen if they dont sink but the ocean levels rise slightly. Crazy stuff
- dinorama1234, on 03/05/2008, -3/+12Fragile? Hardly. The earth has been through ice ages, catastrophic meteor collisions, experienced mega-tsunamis, cataclysmic volcanic eruptions, and at one time almost the entire surface was covered in ice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodinia). In addition, the configuration of the continents has gone through several revisions, deserts have formed and flooded, seas have dried and turned to dust, and an entire continent, Antarctica, is currently a frozen wasteland - but was once fertile. I think you mean that the current ecological balance is fragile - which it is. Global warming and other forms of human devastation are indeed tragic - for us and the lifeforms with whom we currently share the planet - but just google "mass extinction" to see that global catastrophy is nothing new.
- beatphats, on 03/05/2008, -4/+12Alright somebody explain the extent to which humans are impacting the river negatively? I am not implying anything from my question, but just a mere explanation.
- Lutremi, on 03/05/2008, -3/+11You say crap like this when countless mathematicians have spend years, decades, CENTURIES building upon what previous generations have laid out just to have these formulas? And what gives you sudden authority to judge the credibility of all their work?
Of course there is some leeway - I refuse to be as closed minded as you appear to be - since they aren't perfect. But you have got to be naive to think humans did not play at least play a role here (look at #4, #5 and #6 especially). - dash1185, on 03/05/2008, -2/+9Except the last photo, which is a model prediction, all the other photos are real. Jimmy, I'm sure this thread will attract a bunch of man-made global warming deniers like you. But this is not the point here. This is NOT about global warming. There is a difference between being critical of the current theory of man-made global warming and being a stupid anti-environmentalist, who denies that mankind can be responsible for ANY change that occurs on the planet.
"Show me the evidence that humanity is responsible for the changes shown in these photos." First of all, mankind alone isn't responsible for anything most of the time. It's merely a trigger, but unfortunately many natural phenomenons are the results of powerful natural feedbacks. The guy walking on the snow isn't technically responsible for an avalanche; he is the trigger.
For most of the photos, it's pretty straight-forward (did you even look at them?) : pumping of water for irrigation + dams results in smaller river. Or deforestation destabilizes the soil, which cannot fight deseertification anymore because retaining of water becomes impossible.
There are some photos with which you could argue, but please, enough with this burying your head into the sand eevery time we talk about our responsabilities as a specie. - ZeroFive1, on 03/05/2008, -3/+9Yes sir.
- garfonzo, on 03/05/2008, -1/+6anyone else have to think a sec to figure out which is "before" and which is "after" ?
- makkaveli19, on 03/05/2008, -3/+7wtf does it have to do with being a liberal?
- inactive, on 03/05/2008, -1/+5Jimmy, just because you can't understand something doesn't make it wrong.
- Railz, on 03/05/2008, -5/+9So. Water disappears from a lake somewhere, and a river floods elsewhere. I'm sorry but the earth changes. Humans need to drop this high and mighty attitude that they think they can alter its existence forever.
- Maxmojo015, on 03/05/2008, -0/+4If you guys actually read the caption it says this is a river dumping sediment, creating more land. Not flooding
- EpicSelekta, on 03/05/2008, -2/+6Human responsibility for this is shown here in a simple cause and effect way. For example, the pictures from Turkey involve a dam placed on what is possibly the most important river in human history: the Euphrates. Similarly, although it doesn't explicitly say, it can be assumed that the Chinese examples (the first 2) are due to China's love for coal plants. They put a new one online every week, according to the last statistic I read on the matter. Similarly, the "theories of human beings" that we plug in to determine these things are the best we have to go on. The Bible doesn't exactly include instructions for slowing down climate change. Not to mention that only one of these (the last one) is a computer model. We have satellites now.
- EpicSelekta, on 03/05/2008, -1/+4It works both ways. As things get warmer, ice melts and water rises. However, water is also known to undergo this little process called "evaporation" (maybe you were sick the day they taught this in 1st grade). In places like deserts, if the whole planet is getting a bit hotter, a ton of the water will evaporate. Then, when the climate balances out (this is one of Newton's laws), we end up with frigid testicle-freezing whether in other areas. There was a foot of snow in San Diego a few weeks ago! This seems like nothing until you consider that San Diego very rarely gets snow.
- ebcreasoner, on 03/05/2008, -1/+4Damn you, River. Damn you!!
- elementop, on 03/05/2008, -0/+3Lots of answers already and most are essentially right, but I didn't think they made it quite clear enough, so let me give it a try :)
Ice floats right? And there's lots of ice on land that isn't evaporating because it's, well, ice, right? What happens when all that ice that is currently above water level because it is either floating on *top* of the water or is locked away on the land melts and starts draining into the ocean? - TobiasParker, on 03/05/2008, -7/+10Possibly the most misleading article title ever:
"Turkey: Euphrates river, September 1976 and September 1999, after construction of the Atatürk Dam. Prior to the construction of the dam this was an arid and agriculturally poor region, as illustrated by the browness and small number of fields evident in the picture of the left. By 1999 the landscape had been transformed(into livable land...omg!?!)"
Maybe climate change would be taken more seriously if every single attempt to make it more public wasn't over-hyped and sensationalized. While some of these pictures are relevant, turning a desert into anything other than desert doesn't seem like a problem. Also, oh no, a flood caused erosion! no ***** sherlock, that is what water does. I definitely think that Global Climate Change is happening, i just wish everyone who supported it were not total *****. - TheBuzzKiller, on 03/05/2008, -3/+6you're more likely to get dugg down for swearing for no reason and being rude to a large portion of people
- variant5, on 03/05/2008, -1/+4Water is unique in that it actually expands when it freezes, dropping its density and leading it to float in water. So, when all that glacier water melts, it will ultimately produce a lower volume of liquid water.
As DCstewieG said, though, a melting glacier will increase the amount of water in the sea, thereby causing a rise in sea levels, because what's frozen is not IN the water in its current state. - Jibberwalk, on 03/05/2008, -0/+3Hahah... good catch. Man, that's embarrassing.
- inactive, on 03/05/2008, -2/+4yawn yawn yawn
- garfonzo, on 03/05/2008, -1/+3so random
- DCstewieG, on 03/05/2008, -1/+3The ice outside of the water does not contribute to sea level until it melts.
- Maxmojo015, on 03/05/2008, -2/+4Precisely, not everything can be attributed to global warming unless you are a dunderhead that is absorbed by political views.
However I dont believe wikipedia is the best information source : / - vwerf, on 03/05/2008, -2/+4Honestly I totally agree with Jimmys comment, and that is after years of studying biology, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Just cause Al Gore ***** out the concept of global warming doesn't mean that it's GOLD. The Earth always changes, look at our great desserts, they weren't caused by humans. All that oil we pump came from formerly lush vegetation. The point is we never know how much the earths climate will change, Mount St. Hellens was a small eruption that put more pollutants in the air in one day then all of America could in 100 years. So if the everglades get submerged its because the earth travels in cycles, thats just the nature of the beast.
- obxjdt, on 03/05/2008, -1/+3I live on the Outer Banks of North Carolina "Kill Devil Hills". I see the beach come and go, just like the tide.
There's a place about 100 miles north from here called "Wallaby's Spit" in Virginia that was formed from a hurricane. It's home to about 10,000 people now. Mother nature is going to do what she wants, and there is no way to stop her. I saw her cut a new inlet with hurricane Isabel that we filled back in. But we all realize that the next big storm will take it again. - Fragowell, on 03/05/2008, -1/+3I don't know why you're getting dugg down. You're right. A lot of these are just changes in what the surface of earth looks like, neither good nor bad. The earth changes constantly. The title and way it's presented seem to make the assertion that these are all evidence of man made crimes against mother earth.
Let's have satellite images of the U.S. at 1600 and 2000 and see how much "devastation" we've caused. - dinorama1234, on 03/05/2008, -0/+2...that's why I was careful to qualify that the current ecosystems are fragile. Of course, human alteration of the planet will have widespread consequences for current living systems - it already has. The title suggested that the earth itself is somehow fragile. It isn't. Nor is life, itself, fragile. Living systems die out. Life goes on until the planet dies - and even then who's to say some isolated pockets of bacteria won't continue to survive?
- Swarms, on 03/05/2008, -0/+2. , ' " ! ?
Here, Ms. South Carolina, take some of my punctuation, I have extras. - dove316, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea." - Revelation 21:1
- dove316, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1I agree the earth is always - and will always - change. What I really want to see is all the Global Warming enthusiasts to agree on a definition of what the earth SHOULD look and act like. That way, we know when we see the earth at that state, all the Global Warming organizations can fold up their tents and go home. For some reason, the debate of the enthusiasts trying to define the "perfect" earth is likely to be as entertaining as the Democratic National Convention in a few months!
- inactive, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1Sorry, I didn't actually read JimmySpaza's comment.
- inactive, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1Can I see the pixelz?
- mt4055, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1Buried for using the term "generations "Z" plus.
- freedomkeeper, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1The glaciers are generally sitting up on a land mass. When they melt, the water flows into the ocean, thus raising the level. That is, of course, if it's really happening. ;)
- mt4055, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1@Railz
Generally I agree with you. Unfortunately, Lake Chad is drying up because short sighted people are sucking the water out of it way faster than it can ever be replaced. Eventually it will almost completely dry out. When this happens all the people in the area will either die or move on. Then the lake will begin to fill again and encourage people to move in and start draining the lake again.
I think I see a pattern here. - variant5, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1Poor you. Go sit in a corner and sulk about your insecurity.
Human activity is destructive to ecosystems. There's absolutely no way to argue around this. To deny that our activity is harming the rest of the world is just ignorant. Instead of denying everything indiscriminately, try reading up a bit on the resources required to sustain you in your selfish existence. Of course, nobody expects you to do that, because that would require you to THINK about how you're living and maybe even consider change.
If you don't agree with climate change, then look at the extinction patterns over the last 100 years and compare them to historical records. Read up on the north pacific gyre. Learn a little about glacial melt, about overfishing. Read.
And bloody hell, learn the difference between a colon and a semi-colon. - mt4055, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1@mnocket
"- Since everything man does is bad, the only solution is to eliminate man and return the earth to its perfect form."
This is going to happen, just like it has alway happened to the dominant species. The earth is always in it's perfect form and that form is always changing, no matter what we want to believe or how "green" out grocery sacks are. - ziprocom, on 03/05/2008, -1/+2The air inside of the ice does not contribute to the sea level either. so...
- SheaGK, on 03/05/2008, -1/+2"Let's have satellite images of the U.S. at 1600..."
Umm... - variant5, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1I think it's pretty safe to say that nearly every glacier under observation is melting.
Check out the world glacier monitoring service at http://www.geo.unizh.ch/wgms/ if you think you know better than those actually measuring glacial melt. - heystoopid, on 03/05/2008, -1/+2Surely you jest , you obviously misunderstand the word volume , and underestimate by numerous orders of magnitude of the mass and volume of water held within the permanent northern polar ice caps !
Many good reference books will supply all the figures you need , as for your analogy to work , you need to replace one ice cube with a full tray unloaded into the glass at the same time quite literally ! - bgmowen, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1I can see the pixels.
- ebcreasoner, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1Yes, but sad in a hopeful sort of way.
- variant5, on 03/05/2008, -1/+2Earth, yes. The ecosystems, no. Organisms that have been around for thousands of years have not had the time to adapt to how human activity is changing the landscape.
So long as you're content with the notion of a planet of concrete, and water that needs to be highly processed before being swam in or ingested, then continue believing that the aggregate effect of our activity has no effect. I, for one, happen to like walking in a forest or swimming in the ocean. When's the last time you were in either of those? - TobiasParker, on 03/05/2008, -0/+1I believe he was being rhetorical.
- Sefus, on 03/05/2008, -2/+3I just want to agree here.
All of this stuff just seems like nature or a dam doing it's job to me.
Hell one of the photos wasn't even a photo.
buried. - mnchrist, on 03/06/2008, -0/+1I got a great idea. Why dont we vote on politicians who will ban all private business in the U.S., consolidate all private property-businesses, homes, etc into government control, put a ban on free speech, outlaw the press, shut down churches, take away individuals firearms, and put people into prisons without a court case or a through a kangaroo court trial. Last but not least lets force family members apart from each other and re-settle them in certain parts of the world that are "underdeveloped." It will only be then that we will have a truly humane, globally conscious, people's paradise. Oh wait-I think theres a world for all that stuff-communism. It only killed 100,000,000 people so far maybe we should give it another chance. Socialism sucks-liberty rules!!!
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