I blog about environmental and social justice issues because I am very concerned about the health of the interdependent web of life of which we are a part.

Melting Arctic ice.......beautiful and frightening!

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A Surprising Effect of Global Warming - Toxic Fish

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/mackenzie-rivers-fish-contaminated-with-dangerous-toxins-scientists/article1462248/

Scientists studying burbot in the Mackenzie River, one of the country's most pristine rivers, have been surprised to discover that mercury, PCBs and DDT in the fish are rising rapidly, a finding they say is linked to climate change....Dr. Stern said researchers do not know whether contaminants are increasing in fish elsewhere. The burbot were caught near Fort Good Hope, where temperatures have risen an average of 1.9 degrees since the early 1970s. But he has been part of a wider research effort that has found strong hints that warming is driving a rapid increase in biological activity in the north, with the potential to increase harmful chemical residues in animals.
A commenter on the site had a question:
"I have a question to all the climate change deniers out there. What natural calamity\catastrophe would it take to convince you all that climate change is real? "    I hope whatever calamity convinces climate change deniers that they are wrong actually hits that portion of the world in denial - the Anglosphere.   Bangladeshis, Kenyans, those Indians building ice dams in Ladakh, Tibetans, Nepalese, the Inuit, et al are convinced and are working hard to cope.   How long will we live in denial?

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