Skip to main content

What Goes Around

March 5, 2012 - I want to share information with you that I gleaned from an article about how climate change is affecting seismic activity.  It's really pretty fascinating.

For instance, did you know that permafrost acts as the glue that holds mountains together?  Not all mountains, obviously, but in northern Europe and North America, that's how it works.  I never knew they needed holding together, but then again, I'm no geologist.  The permafrost in some areas of Alaska and Canada (and probably northern Europe) is melting, and that's why we're hearing more about avalanches on the news these days.  Rockslides, landslides, and snowslides are all on the increase, in mountainous areas throughout the world.

Then there's the earth's crust.  During the Earth's Ice Ages, the crust was pinned down by the weight of ice and snow.  Seismic activity was, for this reason, reduced, because crust movement is necessary for the triggering of earthquakes.  As ice and snow melt, which they are without question doing today, the crust is described as "popping" back up.  This bouncing action can create major fault lines, cracks in the earth which then serve as precursors to earthquakes.  Rising of the earth's crust is an ongoing event in Greenland.  In fact, the gradual disappearance of Greenland's ice sheet could eventually lead to underwater landslides, which might in turn spawn tsunamis capable of threatening the east coast of North America.

Not only are an increased number of earthquakes predicted.  A "lively response from volcanoes" is anticipated as well.  Anyone acquainted with the lay of the land which makes up the Pacific Ring of Fire knows that tremendous numbers of people could ultimately be affected by crust movement initiated by the melting of ice and permafrost in Alaska.  As for the rise in sea level, island nations making up a portion of the western side of the Ring (Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines) may well have very little to look forward to in the way of a future.  Then again, should both the Greenland ice sheet and the West Antarctica ice sheet melt, the oceans will end up rising 33 feet or more.  Who knows which of us would be around to tell that story?

Isn't it astonishing that we are behaving like disinterested observers, knowing what we know?  It's hard to decide which is the more lurid - our insistence on business as usual, or our ability to distance ourselves from our collective death, even as it continues to unfold.  There is such a big part of me that wants to believe that if any one of us came upon someone inflicting themselves with a mortal injury, we would do everything in our power to stop them.  Over the weekend, I heard a news story on WGN about a woman who had hit a light pole, causing her SUV to burst into flames.  Not only did the police make every effort to extract her from her vehicle, but other drivers stopped to assist them.  Complete strangers, who had no idea who the person was they were helping (this happened in Chicago).  Ironically, the woman in the SUV was so drunk, she didn't even realize she'd been in an accident, though she did survive.  While I know more than one person who would speak of this woman disparagingly, they would see no comparison between themselves (turning a blind eye to climate change evidence) and her.  Yet our collective refusal to cut back on our high standard of living, which endangers the rest of the world, is every bit as criminal.

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.  Thomas Jefferson.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Time to be Scared

November 26, 2018 You've heard by now that the US Global Change Research Program released its Fourth National Climate Assessment last Friday. Scientists are, at last, confident enough to say that climate change is the new reality. How very much I wish they had published this bold assertion many years ago, rather than always being hesitant (" . . . we're 73% sure this could happen . . ."). While I know the politics involved cannot be allowed to sway them, and that scientists are unaccustomed to speaking for the masses, their inability to convince the scientifically uneducated of the value in climate change hypotheses has hurt us all. In any event, they have now spoken up loudly and clearly. According to NOAA, one of the 13 government agencies responsible for the Assessment, we can expect the following, should mitigating actions not be taken immediately: - Human health and safety, quality of life, and economic growth will all suffer.        The 2014 Assessment c...

The Land of the Rising Sea

Sept. 26, 2015 -  Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, pushed a bill through the lower house of   Parliament last week which authorizes expansion of the military in Japan.   Japan was shorn of its military subsequent to World War II and today, the move is not a popular one amongst the Japanese.   They have grown unaccustomed to bearing responsibility for a well-armed military.   It will cost Japan a lot of money, for one thing.   In addition, the island nation is not well known for friendly relations with its neighbors.   The United States, however, supports the move, since it can ill afford to continue in its post-war role as world policeman.   Help from an ally would be very welcome. Japan’s primary motivation is China’s growing military.  The actual building of islands in the South China Sea has disturbed all of China’s neighbors, with good reason.  It would appear their purpose in creating the islands could w...