eli5: Why melting glaciers are existential problem to humanity? or are they?
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Glaciers formed in areas that are reliably cold enough for them to have formed and stayed as glaciers for a long time. If they’re melting it’s because those reliably cold enough places aren’t reliably cold enough anymore, which signals a shift in the Earth’s climate as a whole.
Melting glaciers are a symptom of the larger existential problems that are caused by human sourced climate change. If all that was happening was that glaciers were melting, it wouldn’t be existentially bad. It would be bad, but it’s everything else happening with it that makes it an existential problem.
But because it comes in tandem with extreme weather swings, stronger hurricanes, longer droughts, and changing natural climates as a result of those things, it is a much bigger issue.
It’s not an existential crisis–because it will not wipe humanity out of existence. However, about 80% of the population of the world lives on or near a coast and when these towns and cities all flood, the world will be a much less hospitable place for humanity.
Sea levels will rise affecting human habitation of costal areas. Billions of people live within 50mi of the sea.
The change in sea temperature & salinity will affect marine life , a major source of food for much of the planet.
Glaciers formed in areas that are reliably cold enough for them to have formed and stayed as glaciers for a long time. If they’re melting it’s because those reliably cold enough places aren’t reliably cold enough anymore, which signals a shift in the Earth’s climate as a whole.
It’s not an existential crisis–because it will not wipe humanity out of existence. However, about 80% of the population of the world lives on or near a coast and when these towns and cities all flood, the world will be a much less hospitable place for humanity.
Melting glaciers are a symptom of the larger existential problems that are caused by human sourced climate change. If all that was happening was that glaciers were melting, it wouldn’t be existentially bad. It would be bad, but it’s everything else happening with it that makes it an existential problem.
But because it comes in tandem with extreme weather swings, stronger hurricanes, longer droughts, and changing natural climates as a result of those things, it is a much bigger issue.
Glaciers are made from fresh water and they help maintain a temperature balance on our planet. Glaciers have a high albedo, or reflection, that helps reflect sunlight away from the planet and keep the planet cool.
As they melt, albedo drops meaning less sunlight is reflected, and the cold glacial freshwater is running into the oceans mixing with the multuple ocean gyres.
A gyre is a water current that moves around in a circle, our oceans have multiple and it helps Regulate the heat of our planet. They flow from the equator to our poles, bringing warm water to cool areas and cool water to warm.
All of our ecological systems, so algea, fish migration, turtle migration, bird migrations, etc, rely on these gyres to be as they have been in place for thousands and thousands of years. Our ecological systems evolved to make use of these ocean currents that are now being changes/destroyed by massive amounts of fresh cold water being introduced.
This means hotter summer seasons, and colder winter seasons with erratic weather patterns. This also means that all our ecological systems are changing in ways that are hard to predict. With so many of them being deeply interconnected, what first has to happen is most of our ecological systems collapsing, and then redeveloping to form news ones to match the condituons of the planet. That takes a lot of time, and in the mean time a lot of human civilization is gonna struggle.
Just as an example, forests hundreds of miles away from any source of salmon, have been tested to have salmon protein in their soil because of bear and bird fecal matter. This fecal matter keeps the forest fertilized and healthy. If say salmon population dies or stops spawning in the areas local to that forest, the forest stops getting a source of fertilizer that is has been getting for tens of thousands of years and it will start decaying.
Imagine getting a substantial check every week for years. Your lifestyle changes to adapt to this new income and so on. Then those checks suddenly stop but you still have bills you needed to pay.
Sea levels will rise affecting human habitation of costal areas. Billions of people live within 50mi of the sea.
The change in sea temperature & salinity will affect marine life , a major source of food for much of the planet.
Glaciers are made from fresh water and they help maintain a temperature balance on our planet. Glaciers have a high albedo, or reflection, that helps reflect sunlight away from the planet and keep the planet cool.
As they melt, albedo drops meaning less sunlight is reflected, and the cold glacial freshwater is running into the oceans mixing with the multuple ocean gyres.
A gyre is a water current that moves around in a circle, our oceans have multiple and it helps Regulate the heat of our planet. They flow from the equator to our poles, bringing warm water to cool areas and cool water to warm.
All of our ecological systems, so algea, fish migration, turtle migration, bird migrations, etc, rely on these gyres to be as they have been in place for thousands and thousands of years. Our ecological systems evolved to make use of these ocean currents that are now being changes/destroyed by massive amounts of fresh cold water being introduced.
This means hotter summer seasons, and colder winter seasons with erratic weather patterns. This also means that all our ecological systems are changing in ways that are hard to predict. With so many of them being deeply interconnected, what first has to happen is most of our ecological systems collapsing, and then redeveloping to form news ones to match the condituons of the planet. That takes a lot of time, and in the mean time a lot of human civilization is gonna struggle.
Just as an example, forests hundreds of miles away from any source of salmon, have been tested to have salmon protein in their soil because of bear and bird fecal matter. This fecal matter keeps the forest fertilized and healthy. If say salmon population dies or stops spawning in the areas local to that forest, the forest stops getting a source of fertilizer that is has been getting for tens of thousands of years and it will start decaying.
Imagine getting a substantial check every week for years. Your lifestyle changes to adapt to this new income and so on. Then those checks suddenly stop but you still have bills you needed to pay.
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