Ten thousand year old ice shelf faces rapid demise, NASA predicts.

We all know our planet is in trouble, but news like this should make us sit up and pay attention.

The Antarctic Peninsula is a vast mountain range, complete with 10 000 year old ice shelves, that has been facing rapid temperature increases in recent years. This is largely attributed to human activity—namely the use fossil fuels and the creation of greenhouse gas emissions.

This will cause swiftly rising sea levels.

Now, NASA has discovered that the last intact section of gigantic ice shelf, called Larsen B, will likely disintegrate completely in the next few years.

What does this mean to us in layman’s terms?

Glaciers held in place by the ice shelf will slip into the sea and contribute to climate change—rising sea levels, flooding, drought, heat waves. An ice shelf that has been in place for over 10 000 years will completely disappear, if NASA has estimated correctly, by 2020—largely due to us.

If there’s any doubt left, please let this eradicate it—we are killing our planet, dissolving pieces of it right into oblivion, in fact.

While close to 200 countries have agreed to work together and create a United Nations agreement by the end of 2015 to battle global climate change, we need to let this drastic news spur us to make changes in our own lives to avoid further losses like this.

References:

Washington Post

NDTV

Wikipedia

Relephant:

Adapting a Climate Change-Friendly Lifestyle: 4 Simple Steps.

Author: Keeley Milne

 Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: Christine Zenino, Wikipedia