Not with a whimper

Greenland ice melting faster than predicted 6

Guess it ends with a bang after all:

The Greenland ice cap is melting so quickly that it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break off.

Scientists monitoring events this summer say the acceleration could be catastrophic in terms of sea-level rise and make predictions this February by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change far too low.

This, frankly, seems as good a response as any:

Yesterday Christian, Shia, Sunni, Hindu, Shinto, Buddhist and Jewish religious leaders took a boat to the tongue of the glacier for a silent prayer for the planet. They were invited by Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.

David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.

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  1. precipice Posted 2:40 am
    08 Sep 2007

    YikesIt seems like I've said "Yikes" every day this week. One would like to be an optimist, but when every optimistic estimate proves overly so, well, you might want to start making some preparations while you cut deeper into your carbon-slinging habits.

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  2. wildleaf Posted 5:27 am
    08 Sep 2007

    ice is melting, move!I agree that cutting into our carbon use might be less important than say moving to strategically better locations for weather and working on building quickly a green society there. In fact I'm of the argument that using the resources that we have tapped into we spend money heavily on new buildings and infrastructure that is built with no intention of recouping investment but made to withstand important weather phenomena and exist with little use of grid power and water. It doesn't mean living in the hills but it does mean implementing catastophic background precautions. A bio-diesel backup generator, a composting toilet or the option for quick implementation of a composting toilet. Water collection and filtration devices on the rooftop that may not be adequate for current water use, may be adequate for emergency use and adaptive use. PV shingles and daylighting. All these should be built into new buildings created that are placed in optimal physical positions out of the way of rising water and such. Expect 20 feet more ocean in our lifetime, so expect it by the middle of the lifetime of whatever building you are creating.

    The Black Car Project

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  3. Colin Wright Posted 5:28 am
    08 Sep 2007

    Whatever happened to the Enlightenment?In my opinion, political action will go a lot further than praying.

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  4. caniscandida Posted 6:32 pm
    08 Sep 2007

    the power of prayer?The ABC News reporter who was present at this conference said that the rapidly moving glacier at that site in Greenland is now being referred to as the Galloping Glacier.
    As for the prayer: Well, some might say that all those professional religious types should have stayed home and saved the jet fuel, and they would have a point.  But who knows?  My guess is that those silent prayers did not say, "O God, please stop global warming and its effects."  What they said was more like, "O God, please help the powerful people of the world understand that they must do something about global warming, and do it soon."
    In other words, Colin, those religious types are surely as interested in political action as you are.
    What God is supposed to do with these prayers now, of course, is up to God.
    For us friends of the Eastern Orthodox, it is nice to learn that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople was the leader here.  But I wonder what other Christian denominations were represented.  I am sorry to say that it does not seem to be the sort of event to which Pope Benedict would have likely sent a representative.

    Chickens are our cousins!

    So are other sensitive animals!

    Enough is enough!

    No more factory farms!

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  5. wildleaf Posted 12:34 am
    10 Sep 2007

    Beg the powerful? NEVER!My guess is that those silent prayers did not say, "O God, please stop global warming and its effects."  What they said was more like, "O God, please help the powerful people of the world understand that they must do something about global warming, and do it soon."
    I bet it was something along the lines instead of "O God, give the good people of all the religions of the world the strength to stand up together to overcome evil and recreate the garden of Eden." Why beg the powerful to change?
    And as far as prayer goes, their is more to it then we give it credit. I'm not saying that the glacier will reform but I am saying that it is worth the jet fuel.

    The Black Car Project

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  6. caniscandida Posted 7:29 am
    10 Sep 2007

    "beg"Right, Wildleaf, we should not beg the powerful.  But God would presumably not be begging.

    Chickens are our cousins!

    So are other sensitive animals!

    Enough is enough!

    No more factory farms!

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