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CRUMBLING CANADIAN ICE SHELF SIGNALS ARCTIC CLIMATE IN DISTRESS
HIGH SUMMER TEMPERATURES REPORTEDLY CONTRIBUTED TO REDUCTION IN ICE MASS, WEAKENING OF ANCIENT FORMATION
17 January 2007 :: Lainey Johr

Less than 500 miles from Canada’s north pole, ice shelves continue to show increasing signs of distress.  A 41 square mile ice shelf, the largest to fracture in almost 30 years, broke free without notice last summer from the coast of Ellesmere Island.

Recently discovered by Laurie Weir of the Canadian Ice Service via satellite, the sheer size of the new ice island has alarmed the scientific community and carries potentially serious consequences for westward shipping routes.

Luke Copland, who studies glaciers and ice masses at the University of Ottawa, says effects of global warming and turbulent waters are partly to blame for the breaking Ayles Ice Shelf that cast an ice floe of 25 square miles in its wake.

The threat posed by the floating ice shelf increases this spring, when the waters warm and it can break free from its frozen position, already 31 miles westward of its origin.  The speed and distance that the ice shelf traveled before freezing into sea ice has astonished scientists.

Popular shipping routes for oil and gas are nearby, and floating ice boulders and the ice shelf itself could wreak havoc on these ships, threatening an environmental disaster should cargo such as oil spill into the ocean. 

The loss of the ice shelf, one of only six remaining in the Canadian Arctic, also means the loss of ancient ice, dating back to almost 3,000 years. 

These ice sheets are land-locked, jutting outward off the island coast, floating above the water.  They are often older and much thicker than Antarctic ice shelves.  The Ayles Ice Shelf is 100 ft thick, registering on earthquake monitors 155 miles away when it broke off.

When discovered in 1906, the icy coast off of Ellesmere Island was covered with ice shelves.  Now they are 10% of their original size. 

Warwick Vincent of Laval University traveled to the broken ice shelf and claimed that ‘…we are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead.’  Speaking about climate change, Vincent warns with alarm of dramatic shifts in our climate.

The Arctic region warming over recent years has been linked to an increase in temperatures, shrinking the ice dramatically.   Scientists note that it is too early to blame human-induced global warming as the lone culprit.

RELATED:
'AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH' BRINGS SCIENCE TO THE FORE IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS

CENTERING ON DECADES OF ADVANCEMENT IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, DOCUMENTARY HAS REACHED MASS AUDIENCE BY PUTTING POLITICS ASIDE
25 July 2006

For a long time, conventional wisdom dictated that environmental issues were political in nature, and a matter of preference or opinion. The landmark documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' demonstrates conscientiously that the issue is beyond politics. The film takes pains to show that while priorities —and opinions about them— are at issue, not making ecological sustainability a top priority is not only foolish, but morally unjustifiable. [Full Story]

BACKGROUND:
WIND ENERGY DEMAND BOOMING
COST DROPPING BELOW CONVENTIONAL SOURCES MARKS KEY MILESTONE IN U.S. SHIFT TO RENEWABLE ENERGY
22 March 2006 :: Lester R. Brown

When Austin Energy, the publicly owned utility in Austin, Texas, launched its GreenChoice program in 2000, customers opting for green electricity paid a premium. During the fall of 2005, climbing natural gas prices pulled conventional electricity costs above those of wind-generated electricity, the source of most green power. This crossing of the cost lines in Austin and several other communities is a milestone in the U.S. shift to a renewable energy economy. [Full Story]

GREEN LIGHT FOR RENEWABLE FUELS
NEW TECHNOLOGY MAKES SOLAR END-USER FRIENDLY
15 December 2005

Renewable fuels have enjoyed a lot of attention in recent months, in a market driven by escalating oil costs, strained fuel stocks, worsening environmental degradation, and promises by the G8 to reduce carbon emissions. Revelations about the vulnerabilities inherent in the fossil fuel infrastructure, together with new technological advances in wind- and solar-based power generation mean renewables are now directly competitive with traditional fuel sources. [Full Story]

WIND POWER SET TO BECOME WORLD'S LEADING ENERGY SOURCE
Lester R. Brown :: 25 June 2003

In 1991, a national wind resource inventory taken by the U.S. Department of Energy startled the world when it reported that the three most wind-rich
states —North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas— had enough harnessable wind energy to satisfy national electricity needs. Now a new study by a team of
engineers at Stanford reports that the wind energy potential is actually substantially greater than that estimated in 1991. [Full Story]

ESTALLA LA DEMANDA POR LA ENERGÍA EÓLICA
PRECIOS MÁS BAJOS QUE POR FUENTES TRADICIONALES AYUDAN A ADOPTAR LA ENERGÍA RENOVABLE
22 marzo 2006 :: Lester R. Brown

Cuando Austin Energy, agencia pública de la ciudad de Austin, Texas, lanzó su campaña GreenChoice en el año 2000, el cliente que quería adoptar fuentes energéticas "verdes" tenía que pagar más. Durante el otoño, la persistente subida de los precios por el gas natural hizo que superaran los precios de la energía eólica, un momento clave para el proceso de mudar economía energética del país hacia las fuentes renovables. [Texto completo]

WHY WIND IS SMARTER
21 November 2005

Wind energy offers something no carbon-based fuel can offer: zero emissions, zero cleanup, local control and reasonable local supply everywhere on Earth, and it is 100% non-climate disruptive and essentially infinitely renewable. In fact, the overall global wind resource far exceeds our capacity even to harness or to use it. As of 2003, Pentagon-commissioned research had found that just 3 wind-rich midwestern states possess sufficient wind resources to power the entire US economy with existing wind-turbine technology. [Full Story]

LA ENERGÍA EÓLICA SERÁ EL PRIMER RECURSO ENÉRGICO MUNDIAL
Lester R. Brown :: 25 junio 2003

En 1991, un estudio del Departamento de Energía de Estados Unidos para medir los recursos eólicos nacionales sorprendió al mundo cuando demostró que los tres estados más ricos en viento —North Dakota, Kansas y Texas— poseían un recurso bastante como para satisfacer la demanda nacional para electricidad. Ahora un estudio nuevo, hecho por un equipo de ingenieros de Stanford, reporta que la energía eólica potencial supera por mucho los cálculos de 1991. [Texto completo]

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