Melting ice makes for cold showers

There are days, that's today for me, when one's got to feel depressed by the avalanche of bad news on the environmental front. First, it seems that the largest pools of ice around the world are melting at an unprecedented rate. The Arctic Ocean is taking a big hit (see previous posts), and glaciers all around the world are melting like never before, including the ones in the Alps and the Pyrenees (so much for global warming being a developing countries' problem). Suzanne Goldenberg, environmental journalist for the Guardian, is reporting that there is growing evidence that ice is melting on Mount Everest, potentially allowing an ice-free ascent in a few decades. However, what's happening on Mount Everest is only a tiny part of a much larger issue : the warming of the Himalayas. Leaving aside the uproar over the false claim by the IPCC that Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035, there is a clear scientific consensus over the fact that these are melting fast. Though the consequences of this are difficult to predict (especially when you're not a scientist, which is my case), one should remember that about one billion people rely on Himalayan ice for their drinking water, and that rivers like the Ganges would become seasonal were the ice to disappear. That's cold shower number 1.

Cold shower number 2 comes from the US. I guess it's not really a cold shower because there's nothing new about it. Republican candidates for the Presidency of the USA have made it a point to deny the reality of climate change, despite a growing scientific consensus and, well, melting ice everywhere and the State of Texas literally on fire. I have to disagree with Bill Clinton when  he says that these people are making the US look like a joke. To me, and I think to a growing number of people, the USA has stopped being a joke a long time ago. By refusing to engage in an agressive policy of emissions reduction, the US has become a real threat to international security and well-being. I know it sounds strong, and probably outrageous, but I do believe that inaction of the US Congress on climate change is one of the main reasons why international climate negotiations are basically going nowhere and provides great political cover to India and China. 


Edit 26/9 : It now seems that the US House of Representatives has also decided to actively attack the well-being of its citizens.