China warns of 'ecological catastrophe' from Tibet's melting glaciers

[Barrett808]

China warns of 'ecological catastrophe' from Tibet's melting glaciers
BEIJING (AFP) Oct 05, 2004

An "ecological catastrophe" is developing in Tibet because of global warming, and most glaciers in the region could have melted away by 2100 if no efficient measures are taken, state media said Tuesday.
The stark message is the result of surveys performed by a group of 20 scientists from China and the United States over a 40-month period, the China Daily reported.

"The full-scale glacier shrinkage in the plateau region will eventually lead to an ecological catastrophe," Yao Tangdong, China's foremost glaciologist, said according to the paper.

Tibet's glaciers have been receding over the past four decades due to global warming, but the alarming development has picked up rapidly especially since the early 1990s, the paper said.

(more)

http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/041005045836.bjkl5hah.html

[hatrack]

1. Yes, but John Kerry WINDSURFS! And he CHEATED during the debate!!

And John Edwards is a LAWYER!!!!

Let's have some perspective here, please! :evilgrin:

[Rose Siding]

2. Wasn't China anti-Kyoto during Clinton?

As I recall, they took the whole thing as an attack against them and their entry into world markets.

If this is on their state media, maybe they have reconsidered?

[Maple]

3. China has undertaken a massive cleanup

and has been keen on ecological change

[Gregorian]

4. Tell people to stop having kids, and stop driving.

There's your answer.
Where I live, it's nonstop breeding and driving. Oil addicts. There really aren't any other answers. By the time we develop new technologies, it will be even too too late.

Whatever. I'll just go ride my bike now. Forget I ever said this. Just stupid me, blabbing my foolishness again. Bla, bla, bla, I don't know what I'm talking about. Breeding? Driving? What? I can't hear you... Are you crazy? What are you- a dictator? We have to drive. We have to breed.

[phantom power]

5. but we're driven... to breed!

[Amigust]

23. Breed, breed: And afterall, that's what the purpose of marriage is, right?

and we're commanded to be fruitful and multiply.

GAWD, turn back this idiocy!

Well, Mother Nature will win in the end, she always does. But her solution will be broad and terrible.

[patricia92243]

6. Bush says we don't have global warming - so there! (sarcasm)

[Gman]

7. But aren't people want to change global warming called "Enviro-whackos"?

That's what Rush said so it must be true.

[sam sarrha]

8. they are saying they will have no FUCKING water..Period !! to bad for

India and all the other places that the glaciers feed..

There is going to be famine and war when 600 million Chinese head west with all the Indians and Packers too..

They will need to reduce their populations by about 80% to survive at all within 3 or 4 generations.

they are also losign the grassland Steps that catch and bleed of the seasonal rain water through out the year

piss poor bad karma....

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. I'm going to say something that no one has probably thought about...

We're just assuming that the world's waters will rise. But what about another scenario? What if our world, as temperatures drop, just becomes more humid? In other words, what if a good amount of that water remains in a vapor form, instead of a solid?

Well, I know what you're thinking. There goes Backlash with another hot air idea. :eyes:

[hatrack]

17. The geologic record shows that cooler = drier

Going back into the records of the ice ages, the rule of thumb is that glacial periods tend to be drier than interglacials. With cooler temperatures, less evaporation, both from oceans and freshwater sources, less heat energy in the atmosphere, hence less precipitation.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Actually, I made a physics error of galatical proportion.

I said when temperatures drop when I really meant when they rise as one would expect if snowcaps start to melt. heh.

[Character Assassin]

10. Mmm-hmm. China doesn't give a fuck about Tibet or it's ecology

other than in regards to stuffing it to the bursting point with ethnic Han Chinese.

And for China (well, Beijing, in any case) to get upset about ecological devastation after its record?

Yeah. Ok. Sure.

[sam sarrha]

16. Its rare for a chinese person to die of natural causes,over 80% die of

environmental polution.

35% of the polution in Los Angeles California is from China

[Bill McBlueState]

19. 35%

That's an incredible statistic! Can you post a link to a source? Not that I don't believe it, but I'd like to do better than "some guy on the internet said..." for something so unexpected.

[Carla in Ca]

11. Didn't I just read that China will or does dump their nuke waste there?

n/t

[GHOSTDANCER]

12. If Chinas telling us something bads gonna happen or has

We better listen cause they never tell the world shit untill it's out of control aka SARS ... AIDS

[pinniped]

13. Ya what about that Three Gorges Dam?

n/t

[Amigust]

14. Glaciers all over the globe are melting

Here in the US, too, it will affect everyone. The glaciers feed the rivers that eventually feed the irrigated fields. Figure what is going to happen when they're all used up. It's going on there, it's going on right here.

There will be unimaginable dislocations and migrations of people looking for places to survive. It's the worst scenario that could be imagined by a catastrophe movie writer.

Add to this the possibility that the additional melt into the North Atlantic will cause a salinity change great enough to move the Gulf Stream further south, leaving Europe more like Siberia. More dislocation because agriculture cannot be sustained as before to feed starving populations.

With all this going on, you would think good Christian folks who supposedly care for people (including their own children and grandchildren) would figure out that this is a more important issue to be screaming about than what unmarried people do with their privates.

[Eloriel]

22. Also feed ground water

and it's not irrigated fields that is the only worry -- what about water supplies?

And NOW remember that some of the (IMO) most evil corporations are buying up water rights/supplies and water delivery systems all over the world -- i.e., privatizing water.

[nirvana3240]

15. agh!

This sucks....if Kerry is elected, he HAS TO do somethin about the environment. Its been completely ignored for the past 4 years.

[Javaman]

20. If China really gave a damn...

They would stop burning coal at their current rate and find a cleaner alternative.

[Elginoid]

21. Beijing is going to be swallowed by the Gobi even faster

catastrophe for them, maybe...