people live in the Yangtze River basin and 147 million in the yellow River basin.
About half of China’s rice production is cultivated in the two river basins (Bavaru
and Bercu 2014).
In the USA things are also not much better and will continue to decay. In the
West of Montana State there is a small reserve called “Glacier National Park”. In
this park there are approximately 100 glaciers protected by law. At the last
evaluation done in 2009, there were 27 glaciers left and after 1 year, in 2010, two
others disappeared. It is estimated that in a few years (by 2020) all of them will
disappear (Brown 2011a).
South America is also in the same situation, as approximately 80% of its glaciers
could disappear by the end of the next decade, seriously affecting the farming of
some countries such as Peru or Ecuador (Brown 2011b). Let us mention that Lima,
the capital of Peru, a town which currently has over eight million people get their
drinking water from rivers that come from the highlands of the Andes mountains,
fed by melting glaciers. If they disappear what will happen to this city whose
population is continuously growing?
5.3 Conclusion
As the planet warms up, the Earth icecaps and glaciers will melt and we will witness
a catastrophic rise of the sea and ocean water levels.
In addition, the melting of the mass of ice and its mixing with marine waters will
slowly deplete our drinking water supply that the polar caps and mountain glaciers
have always offered us and that we will increasingly need. Let’s remember one
known thing: life is not possible without water. Life was born in water and will
disappear without it.
References
Bavaru A, Bercu R (2014) Protejarea mediului, a resurselor sale – o s ¸ansa ˘ pentru viat ¸a ˘, Edit.
Arhiepiscopiei Tomisului, Constant ¸a, p 477
Brown LR (2006) Planul B 2.0, Salvarea unei planete sub presiune s ¸i a unei civilizat ¸ii ı
ˆn impas,
Edit. Tehnica ˘, Bucures ¸ti, p 372
Brown LR (2011a) Lumea pe marginea prapastirei. Cum sa ˘ prevenim colapsul economic s ¸i
ecologic, Edit. Tehnica ˘, Bucures ¸ti, p 191
Brown LR (2011b) Planul B. 4.0. Mobilizarea generala ˘ pentru salvarea civilizației, Academia
Rom^ ana ˘, Centrul Rom^ an de Economie comparata ˘ și Consens, București, p 364
Collins M, Tett SFB, Cooper C (2001) The internal climate variability of HadCM3, a version of
the Hadley Centre coupled model without flux adjustments. Clim Dyn 17:61–81
Fowler C, Emery W, Maslanik AJ (2004) Satellite-derived evolution of Arctic sea ice age: October
1978 to March 2003. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens Lett 1(2):71–74. doi:10.1109/LGRS.
2004.824741
5 The Global Warming and the Water Resources of the Earth
87
About half of China’s rice production is cultivated in the two river basins (Bavaru
and Bercu 2014).
In the USA things are also not much better and will continue to decay. In the
West of Montana State there is a small reserve called “Glacier National Park”. In
this park there are approximately 100 glaciers protected by law. At the last
evaluation done in 2009, there were 27 glaciers left and after 1 year, in 2010, two
others disappeared. It is estimated that in a few years (by 2020) all of them will
disappear (Brown 2011a).
South America is also in the same situation, as approximately 80% of its glaciers
could disappear by the end of the next decade, seriously affecting the farming of
some countries such as Peru or Ecuador (Brown 2011b). Let us mention that Lima,
the capital of Peru, a town which currently has over eight million people get their
drinking water from rivers that come from the highlands of the Andes mountains,
fed by melting glaciers. If they disappear what will happen to this city whose
population is continuously growing?
5.3 Conclusion
As the planet warms up, the Earth icecaps and glaciers will melt and we will witness
a catastrophic rise of the sea and ocean water levels.
In addition, the melting of the mass of ice and its mixing with marine waters will
slowly deplete our drinking water supply that the polar caps and mountain glaciers
have always offered us and that we will increasingly need. Let’s remember one
known thing: life is not possible without water. Life was born in water and will
disappear without it.
References
Bavaru A, Bercu R (2014) Protejarea mediului, a resurselor sale – o s ¸ansa ˘ pentru viat ¸a ˘, Edit.
Arhiepiscopiei Tomisului, Constant ¸a, p 477
Brown LR (2006) Planul B 2.0, Salvarea unei planete sub presiune s ¸i a unei civilizat ¸ii ı
ˆn impas,
Edit. Tehnica ˘, Bucures ¸ti, p 372
Brown LR (2011a) Lumea pe marginea prapastirei. Cum sa ˘ prevenim colapsul economic s ¸i
ecologic, Edit. Tehnica ˘, Bucures ¸ti, p 191
Brown LR (2011b) Planul B. 4.0. Mobilizarea generala ˘ pentru salvarea civilizației, Academia
Rom^ ana ˘, Centrul Rom^ an de Economie comparata ˘ și Consens, București, p 364
Collins M, Tett SFB, Cooper C (2001) The internal climate variability of HadCM3, a version of
the Hadley Centre coupled model without flux adjustments. Clim Dyn 17:61–81
Fowler C, Emery W, Maslanik AJ (2004) Satellite-derived evolution of Arctic sea ice age: October
1978 to March 2003. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens Lett 1(2):71–74. doi:10.1109/LGRS.
2004.824741
5 The Global Warming and the Water Resources of the Earth
87