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posted by martyb on Monday August 19 2019, @06:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the Ok-is-not-okay dept.

On Sunday a funeral was held in Iceland to commemorate Okjokull, what was once a vast glacier, reports the Associated Press. It was estimated to span 15 square miles (38 square kilometers) in 1901. It now takes up less than half a square mile (under 1 square kilometer), according to NASA's Earth Observatory.

Icelandic geologist Oddur Sigurðsson presented to the audience, which included Iceland's Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson and around 100 others, a death certificate for Okjokull. In a symbolic move, a plaque was planted with a message to future generations. It reads:

"Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it." 

The funeral is actually a few years late, as Okjokull lost its glacier status in 2014. Since jokull is Icelandic for volcano, the former glacier now just goes by Ok -- named after the volcano it rested atop.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @11:26PM (10 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @11:26PM (#882373)

    Its hilarious that you think:

    1) The tiny amoutns of CO2 humans may have added to the atmosphere could make the planet uninhabitable
    2) Humans won't need to adapt to abrupt climate change in the future (much worse than this slow change over centuries non-threat)

    There are ancient roman ruins completely underwater... You need to dive to look at where people used to live.

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday August 20 2019, @12:03AM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 20 2019, @12:03AM (#882385) Journal

    There are also drowned villages in the English channel. From memory, it seems that you could have walked from today's British Isles to the continent, all those years ago.

    https://www.livescience.com/1759-stone-age-settlement-english-channel.html [livescience.com]

    "This is the only site of its kind in the United Kingdom," said Garry Momber, director of the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology, which led the recent excavations. "It is important because this is the period when modern people were blossoming, just coming out of the end of the Ice Age, living more like we do today in the valleys and lowlands."

    That quote should be corrected to something like, "This is the only site of it's kind, that we are aware of." It's probably safe to say that there are other sites in the English Channel that were drowned. This particular site may be the most permanent settlement to have been drowned - or it may not.

    But, yeah - climate change is nothing new, nor is sea level rise.

  • (Score: 2) by etherscythe on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:01PM (6 children)

    by etherscythe (937) on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:01PM (#882701) Journal

    Right, right. You mean this slow change?
    https://xkcd.com/1732/ [xkcd.com]

    The earth is not infinitely large. CO2 we have produced is significant. Don't be part of the problem.

    --
    "Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:37PM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:37PM (#882741)

      Yes, I am concerned about the earths crust slipping on its axis moving Antarctica to the equator, the sun going micronova for 10 seconds and melting the near side of the moon while igniting fires all over the earth, an asteroid plummeting into the Pacific Ocean causing a tidal wave that circles the entire globe.

      Huge climate changes in a matter of minutes or hours scare me, not tiny changes over the course of decades or centuries.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:20PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:20PM (#882822)

        You must be Pepe the frog, not even aware you're being boiled yet.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 22 2019, @12:27AM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 22 2019, @12:27AM (#883371) Journal

          You must be Pepe the frog, not even aware you're being boiled yet.

          Boiled by slightly warmer water that one can easily hop away from, should they ever desire to do so? The frog in boiling water analogy is so broken here.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:37PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:37PM (#882832)
      • (Score: 2) by etherscythe on Wednesday August 21 2019, @12:28PM (1 child)

        by etherscythe (937) on Wednesday August 21 2019, @12:28PM (#883075) Journal

        OK, suit yourself. These changes are not tiny, just because our measurement scale reads it as "1 degree every few years." When the migrant caravans double and triple in size, boosted by people looking for stable food supplies because crops won't grow anymore, you might change your mind. Hopefully you have awesome things going on in your life that make your ignorance worthwhile.

        --
        "Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 22 2019, @12:33AM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 22 2019, @12:33AM (#883377) Journal

          just because our measurement scale reads it as "1 degree every few years."

          Note here that the first 1 degree took over 150 years and the logarithmic correlation of CO2 equivalent concentration with warming even in the face of accelerated growth rate of greenhouse gases emission, means the next one is going to take a bunch of decades too. That's what a very dishonest "few years" is.

          When the migrant caravans double and triple in size, boosted by people looking for stable food supplies because crops won't grow anymore

          Which will come from bad agricultural practices like pumping out the aquifers or destroying the top soil, not from climate change.

          you might change your mind.

          They would need to be wrong first. The hysterical bullshit surrounding climate change is a huge part of the reason we're not going along.

          Hopefully you have awesome things going on in your life that make your ignorance worthwhile.

          My money is on a developed world economy. It's the most awesome game in town even with climate change.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:29PM (#882827)

    1 - not tiny amounts
    2 - not a valid point here

    CO2 is only one of the problems. The insect population in North America has been hammered by widespread pesticide use, the oceans are warming and acidifying causing multitudes of problems, massive extinction of species, massive pollution of our environment across the board.

    Just the bees dying off could cause a massive ecological collapse, same for a lot of possible outcomes from our pollution. Not to mention the rapid pace of change makes it very difficult for species to adapt.

    I doubt the human race will go extinct from a truly uninhabitable planet, so I'll grant you I was a bit hyperbolic, but you're just being obtuse pretending it is not big deal. Never in recorded human history have we reached a point like today or caused as much destruction as we do now, so you're just making an ass out of u and me. At least climate scientists have data and models to explain their positions.