Equator's glaciers slipping away (AP/CNN) {rivers drying up, animals dying}

[eppur_se_muova]

NARO MORU, Kenya (AP)
***
He worries that the water loss may unravel a unique ecosystem that surrounds him -- of high-altitude trees and bamboo groves, blue monkeys and giant forest hogs. "The lobelia trees might die," he said.

Animals are already dying in the foothills and plains below.

Glaciologists say "terminal" glaciers often discharge -- and waste -- large amounts of water in the early years, followed by declining runoff from shrunken ice fields. Villagers here seem to confirm that: The Naro Moru River and other streams off Mount Kenya ran very high some years back, they say, but are now growing thin. A years-long drought magnifies the problem.

"The more the snow goes down, the lower the rivers," said Roy Mwangi, area water officer here.

The trouble has already begun, he said. Miles downstream on the Naro Moru, where the river now vanishes in the dry season, livestock are dying of thirst. Desperate nomadic herdsmen have raided points upriver, blocking intakes for farm irrigation systems, he said.
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/12/18/african.glaciers.ap/index.html

For CNN, this is a surprisingly long and detailed article. The coming crisis in water supplies is not news to those who frequent the E/E board. This is one article in the Money$treamMedia that might help draw a little wider attention to this looming disaster.

[MasonJar]

1. Farm irrigation will have to go.

[Gregorian]

2. I had a dream last night.

It seemed trivial. The realization that the pyramids were built without a single gallon of gasoline.

Our productivity is nearly all accomplished through fossil fuels.

But the real realization was that in order to accomplish large productions before gasoline we used slaves.

And this leads to the conclusion that, short of a massive new technology such as fusion, we either alter our lives to accomplish less, or we start using slaves.

This was not a realization about energy conversion techniques. But the realization of just what we are accomplishing. What the real price has been. And a fear of what could come if we decide we want to continue.

[Tin Man]

3. False dichotomy: the solution isn't limited to either "fossil fuels OR slaves"

...there ARE other, non-carbon based energy technologies - already available.

[Gregorian]

4. Huh. Really.

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. The pyramids were not built without the use of machines, however.

I agree with the poster above. It isnt an either/or extreme situation as in your example. The problem isnt resources, it is how those resources are distributed and utilized. Granted, less fresh water from snowpack is a major problem around the world but it isnt the only source of fresh water. It is just the cheapest.


BTW, in case you were wondering what "Machines" the ancient Egyptians used and have forgotten your Elementary School science, a Lever, Wheel and an Inclined Plane are all machines

[eppur_se_muova]

7. But they had no ENGINES ... the consumer society is going to have to change ...

as we are forced to make less use of artificial engines.

[OneBlueSky]

6. anyone who's following the environmental news knows that the situation . . .

we are facing is a crisis of the historic proportions . . . melting glaciers, dying oceans, lifeless rivers, shrinking lakes, atmospheric pollutants, species extinctions, crop failures due to climate change, etc. add up to the most disastrous crisis that humankind has faced since the dawn of civilization . . . and it's being complicated by things like genetically modified crops and the dumping of new and toxic chemical compounds across the globe . . .

saving our environment -- our home, our life-giver -- must become THE top priority for all governments and all citizens . . . and since the worst offenders are corporations, immediate steps must be taken to reclaim authority over these monsters and to strictly regulate their activities -- particularly as they relate to their "environmental footprints" . . . the goal must be a zero environmental footprint for all corporations by a date certain -- with severe financial penalties for those unable or unwilling to comply . . . in some cases, the worst offenders may have to have their charters revoked and be put out of business . . .

if we can't find ways to reverse the environmental disaster that's getting worse by the day, nothing else will much matter . . . once the earth's systems start failing, it will be too late to save most life on the planet -- including homo sapiens . . .

I don't know what it will take to convince people and their leaders that saving the planet is more important than corporate profits -- probably some disaster of unimaginable proportions . . . it's just a matter of time before something cataclysmic happens -- but by then it may be too late . . .