Melting, And Drying Up

THE GREAT SALT LAKE in Utah is drying up. In less than a decade, it has been reduced to about half its original size. I heard this on a report on National Public Radio, which is among the most reliable sources of information in the entire media universe. NPR said that part of the problem is that too many people are sucking water out of the lake, for use. That confused me. It still confuses me. How can people suck water out of the saltiest body of water on the planet, for use in anything? Agriculture? No. Human consumption? No, not unless the water is going to be used for toliets and sewage, or for industry, or for salt water swimming pools. Certainly not for human consumption, unless it is first desalinated. Problem is, desalination is so inefficient and expensive that it isn't worth it, correct? Then, precisely what is it being used for? As I recall, NPR did not say. It just mentioned that human use was the main reason for the incredibly rapid incredibly extreme shrinkage of the lake. Another factor is of course the prolonged, seemingly endless drought which has plagued the western United States over the past couple of decades, causing most bodies of water to shrink, as climate change increases, and becomes more and more evident. Apparently, the newly exposed dry lake bed is a huge problem, and emits a huge amount of heat capturing gases into the atmosphere, perhaps methane and other gases, along with the usual carbon dioxide. The dried out, newly exposed lake bed is evidently a monstrous source of climate change causing emitted gases all by itself, rather akin to the exposed Siberian tundra as the ice melts and exposes the soggy, mossy peat below,full of evaporating methane gas. Wouldn't you know it...Speaking of melting ice and thawing tundra, somebody on Facebook reported that today, the temperature in the Arctic is fifty degrees above normal. Of course, consider the source: Facebook. On Facbook, all things are possible,and anyting which can possibly happen happens. So, it may be a fake post, false information. But it really does not matter. Everyone knows, because it has been so widely reported in the media by so many reliable sources which cooberate each other, that indeed the polar ice caps are warming up much faster than the rest of the planet, as climate change hits especially hard at both poles. The Arctic ice cap now vanishes entirely each summer, having done so for the first time ever several years ago. Even in the middle of winter it is far smaller than before, and shrinking, bringing apparent inevitable doom to polar bears. And at the south pole, Antarctica, which actually has a land mass,a contiment beneath the ice, huge icebergs are melting off and breaking away from the main ice mass, and floating up and out into the ocean, where they slowly shrink and melt, helping the world's sea level rise. All this is well known, well documented. I remember several years ago several people, among them my sister, said that there is no way to know whether climate change is real, because there are so many people saying so many different things about it. True enough. But one must consider the source. Climate change scientists are better sources of information about climate change than corporations or evangelical Christian ministers. Not all information sources are created equal. And also, it matters not who tells the truth, but rather, what the truth actully is. Ultimately, each person is responsible for using his or her own faculties of reason to discern between charlatans and experts. I can see climate change with my own eyes, therefore I believe in it. These facts should be sufficient to cause fear and misgivings in everyone. But, as they say, its the only game in town.