The fallout from Mount Rainier's shrinking glaciers is beginning to roll downhill, and nowhere is the impact more striking than on the volcano's west side. Inside park boundaries, rivers choked with gravel are threatening to spill across roads, bump up against the bottom of bridges and flood the historic complex at Longmire. Downstream, communities in King and Pierce counties are casting a wary eye at the volcano in their backyard. There are already signs that riverbeds near Auburn and Puyallup are rising. As glaciers continue to pull back, the result could be increased flood danger across the Puget Sound lowlands for decades. Climate experts blame global warming, triggered by emissions from industries and cars, for much of the ongoing retreat of glaciers worldwide. North Cascades National Park has lost half of its ice area in the past century. Mount Rainier's glaciers have shrunk by more than a quarter.
Why is this good news from my twisted perspective? Firstly , because the problems are in North American territory - right in our back yards. In my opinion, it gets harder to deny the reality of climate change when glacial till released by climate change is flooding your home. And I am very happy that the Seattle Times names global warming as the culprit for the same reason. I hope this will motivate people to press their Senator, their Congressperson, thier MLA, or their MP to take action on climate change.
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