More Good News...

Water is scarce in Peru - and getting scarcer.  Climate change is melting glaciers in the Andes and therefore, worsening water woes.  

 

Like the poles, the Andes are unusually sensitive to climate change, with areas above 12,000 feet expected to experience particularly strong rises in the mercury. In the last 25 years, average recorded temperatures on Antisana have already jumped by 1 degree Fahrenheit.     http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/120716/the-vanishing-andean-glaciers   

 

This isn't the good news:  please watch the video below.



 

 

Isn't that an innovative solution to water shortages?

Moreover, the Nature Conservancy is working to mitigate water shortages in the Andes. It

is supporting the creation of Aquafondo, the Lima Water Fund, together with Grupo GEA and the Fondo de Las Américas (FONDAM). Similar to the Quito and Bogotá water funds the Conservancy has helped establish in Ecuador and Colombia, the Lima Water Fund will use contributions from major water users in Lima to finance conservation projects  that protect and restore the rivers and watersheds that the city depends on.
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/southamerica/peru/placesweprotect/limas-watersheds.xml
 

One could donate to the Nature Conservancy to aid this work - no?
 And we , especially in Kamloops, could use less water here at home.
 Kamloopsians are the most profligate water uses in BC : reducing consumption would reduce pressure on our ecosystems.  Just a thought ......

If humans consume more water than is
naturally replenished in our ecosystem,
we are behaving unethically.  What makes us the most
important species on the planet - except hubris?

What we do to others, we do to ourselves.

Climate CHange

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/13/peru-glacier-ice-lake-tsunami

A massive ice block broke from a glacier and crashed into a lake in the Peruvian Andes, unleashing a 23-metre tsunami and sending muddy torrents through nearby towns, killing at least one person.....César Álvarez, governor of Ancash region, which includes the affected area, blamed climate change. "Because of global warming the glaciers are going to detach and fall on these overflowing lakes. This is what happened,"...It was the latest evidence that glaciers are vanishing from Peru, which has 70% of the world's tropical icefields. They have retreated by 22% since 1975, according to a World Bank report, and warmer temperatures are expected to erase them entirely within 20 years.  The same phenomenon is under way in neighbouring Bolivia, where the Chacaltaya glacier, 5,000 metres (17,400ft) up in the Andes, used to be the world's highest ski run. Predictions that it would survive until 2015 seem to be optimistic: according to recent pictures a few lumps of ice near the summit are all that remains.  The World Bank report warned that the disappearance of Andean ice sheets would threaten hydro-electric power and the water supplies of nearly 80 million people.

More evidence - are we going to do something? 

Write the Prime Minister a letter instructing him to meet the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil.
Ditto your Premier.   Explore starting or getting involved in a Transition Town at your local level.
Belonging to a community that shares your concerns  about the effects of climate change is very empowering. The last is probably the most important step you can take for two reasons.  It is realatively easy to influence local politics - and you won't feel  insignicant , alone, and powerless.  Your community will create the velvet climate revolution!