Today's Washington Post includes a story with the headline:
"Warming Arctic Is Taking a Toll: Peril to Walrus Young Seen as Result of Melting Ice Shelf"
The story is interesting, but it comes from an article in Aquatic Mammals that is based on a two-month cruise by a Coast Guard icebreaker -- with scientists on board -- in 2004. The scientists also measured that the water temperature in the area was six degrees warmer than the water temperature in the same spot two years earlier. That would be 2002.
Reading a newspaper should be enlightening, rather than leaving readers with questions. This article leaves questions. Although the Post article does mention other possible reasons for abandoned walrus calves, it presumes that Arctic warming and melting sea ice are the culprits.
People I talk to, even some smart ones, don't want to believe that global warming is real. One suggests this is just part of a general weather pattern that has been going on for centuries. Sometimes it gets warmer, he says, sometimes it gets colder. He's no expert on meteorology or climate, but reads the anti-global warming rhetoric.
I don't know if global warming is real. I suspect it is. But articles like this one from the Post don't provide answers because the reporter didn't follow up with good questions. That leaves the readers with questions of their own.
More later,
Russ
No comments:
Post a Comment