This century is an alarmist one. And we just have to take heed. Trillion tons of ice have already melted in Greenland, Antarctica, and Alaska. The melting rate has been alarmingly accelerated. Scientists say these are clear signs of the effects of global warming. The planet has simply been hot enough that these solid boulders of ice and ice sheets have been thawed. Melted ice, of course, turns to water. The result is the rising of sea levels and changing of ocean currents. More concretely, that’s inundation or flooding and storm damage for us weather laymen.

Glaciers and ice sheets have another use – reflection of sunlight. With these gone, nothing replaces their former reflective power. This results in the oceans and land absorbing the sun’s heat instead. Ocean waters become hotter, the atmosphere warms faster, and marine resources have ceased to be the way we’ve known them. Agriculture is a direct victim of climate change. Because of global warming, animal species have been altering their natural habitats. Animal migration has already become unpredictable. Also, some harmful insects are not killed by the winter that is no longer cold enough. These insects thrive well into the succeeding summers and infest farmlands.

We have already heard that glaciers and ice sheets are the measuring factors in global warming. Because they are located so far off from our ordinary lives, we tend to ignore news about them that generally fall under science news which some find boring. Little do each and everyone of us know that they have been melting, leading us into an uncertain future and some certain environmental doom.

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Via CNN