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| Anymore louder and the World would go deaf: Shoes symbolizing the walk and stepping up for the climate and with Mother Nature in Paris, France during the Paris Climate Agreement |
By now the whole world has heard that the United States, a country that has long billed itself as "the leader of the world" has refused to accept the Paris Climate Agreement. The Paris Climate Agreement is one of the largest signed environmental documents in recent years. Every country in the world including China and North Korea has committed themselves to reducing CO2 emissions, promoting and expanding on clean energy from solar power, hydropower, wind and thermal as well as reducing 1.5 degree rise in sea levels that is the breaking point for irrevisaible climate change including sea level rise. The U.S. along side Syria and Nicaragua didn't ratify the Paris Agreement. Nicaragua's reasoning for not acception was it didn't go far enough in covering every part of the environment. Syria's absence is self explanatory: it's warzone. Even ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson's recent employer agrees with helping to reduce climate change and have been investing in cleaning energy for a few years now. Other Petroleum giants of the world have been slowly but surely turning to solar power as one of many solutions for electricity and infrastructure. Everyone knows that petroleum can't last forever, even as the oil prices dip and that coal has been dying as an energy source for decades.
It should come as no surprise. Considering Trump's anti-environment and climate denying statements, attitudes and policies. At least he heard the argument on behalf of protecting the environment. This is not the first time the United States has refused to ratify international environmental agreements at the expense of Mother Earth. The United States famously refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. It went into affect in 2005. Like its current counterpart, the Kyoto Protocol emphasized the importance and urgency for the world to work together to halt the rise and spread of rising sea levels, coastal erosions, Co2 emissions and international cooperation in reducing waste. The U.S. is quick to point a finger at China for environmental damages and contamination. However, the U.S. still comes in second for pollution and exporting electronic waste to Ghana and Pakistan, sea pollution and wasting millions of pound in food and oil which again leads to pollution. The United States itself has witnessed unusual environmental destruction and temperatures ranging from early hurricane seasons, annual forest fires across the West Coast, Southern states, mountain top removal in West Virginia, coastal erosion in Florida and New York City and State with Hurricane Sandy, Mathew and others. Despite having a strong environmental movement, the U.S. presidents have a history of turning their backs and middle fingers to Mother Nature. Trump is no different. Coincidentally, while Trump was on his overseas visit last week in the Middle East and Vatician City, a small but noticable sinkhole appeared in front of his Mar a Lago estate in Palm Beach, FL. It was quickly taken care of by maintaince workers. It is a lesson in not messing with or trying to overpower Mother Nature. She has her own unique and ironic way of delivering karmic warnings to climate disbelievers and anti-environmental people.
Antarctica's ancient ice is breaking up
Adelie Penguins, the playful joksters of Antarctica
Early this week as if on cue, Antarctica's Larsen C Ice shelf further cracked on the verge of becoming the largest iceberg recorded. The crack has been growing 11 miles in less than 6 days. Antarctica (Antartida), long stereotyped as the coldest place on Earth alongside the Artic Circle has itself been melting gradually and getting warm. Especially East Antarctica's coast and its surrounding islands have broken up into chunks. It still has its ancient and beautiful icebergs, random waterfalls, subturrean ice caves, nunataqs, and sea life as well as its penguin population. But the seventh continent's ice continues to collapse at Antarctic Peninsula where Argentina has claimed as part of Tierra del Fuego province and has its scientific bases. Greenland has been experiencing similar climate events where it has lost more of its famed ice covered landscape than in previous years. The "indigenous population" of Antarctic are mostly penguins: Adelies are one of the largest at 2 million around the continent, Emperor, King Penguins (cousins to the Emperors) Macaroni, Gentoos (related to Adelie and from Falkland Islands), Chinstaps and Rockhoppers. The rest are skuas (predator), leopard seals, elephant seals, albatrosses, krills and other sea mammals. The warm climate is great for breeding for most of the peguins particulary the Chinstraps, Adelies and the King penguins who can withstand and are now used to warm climates. The Chinstraps have their own special colony for breeding the volcanic Zavodovski Island in the South Sandwich and Georgia Islands, East of Argentina.
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| All the Scientific Bases on Antarctica: Most of the bases appear to be on the Western coast. Russia long side the U.S. has the most. |
Most tragically, Antarctica's Adelie Penguin Colony in Cape Denison first filmed and photographed in 1912 nearly lost its entiry population in 2016 when an iceberg the size of Rome crushed and blocked its only access to water and food. The 160,000 penguins had to walk or woddle 120 kilometers to find a new source of food and water. Out of the population only 10,000 survive. Unless the iceberg is dislodge, the Adelie penguins on Cape Denison might not survive in the next two decades. It's not only people being affected by costal erosion or environmental destruction. Most Antarctica and Patagonian penguins like many people around the world are coastal and rely on immediate access to nearby open water to survive. Being flightless birds on an icesheet they have no other options. Antarctica is famous for being the only continent that isn't claimed by any country. It is also a declared scientific study area and now a case study for environmental studies and survival in harsh climates. It is one of the few continents that doesn't have a permanent human population but many countries do have scientists working there seasonally including Argentina, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, U.S., UK, Russia, China, France and South Africa
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