SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:29PM
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.