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NASA SAYS ICE CAPS MELTING FASTER THAN EVER; CLIMATE
CHANGE RESPONSIBLE
A report from NASA scientists at the National Snow and Ice
Data Center reveals that the Arctic ice cap has melted to a record low. The
Center, which has been tracking ice cap surface size since 1978, announced that
the ice cap has shrunk from a high of 2.70 million square miles to 2.05 million square
miles.
Experts affirmed that human pollution bears a great deal of
responsibility for the melting of the ice caps. If the ice continues to shrink
at the current rate, there will be no summertime Arctic ice in less than a
century.
Inuit hunters, who are most at risk from the melting of the ice cap, blame the
U.S. for intensifying the effects of climate change, citing its unwillingness to
act in the face of a serious, life-threatening challenge. The Inuit population,
spread out across regions of Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and Russia, is
approximately 155,000. The melting of the ice cap shrinks their hunting grounds
and also endangers wildlife, including seals and polar bears.
Melting ice will also cause sea levels to rise, which will put many coastal
areas underwater in a matter of decades. Scientists also project that climate
change will intensify extreme weather events like hurricanes, cause droughts in
agricultural areas, and make some areas more hospitable to deadly diseases.
Updated October 14, 2005
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