The recent article in The Cyrosphere detailing the shrinking of the Andrian Glaciers and the resulting loss of fresh water storage reminds me of how kind nature has been to us. Nature stores frest water in the ice and snow that builds up in the mountains in the winter and then slowly releases it for our use during the year. All this for free.
With a warming planet this free storage will continue shrinking. One solution is to build more dams to catch and hold the water falling as rain instead of snow. Of course this is expensive and difficult as dams also have environmental impact.
As humans we have a tendency to take gifts nature gives us and spoil them one way or another---but----when someone has trouble feeding their family the longer term hardly matters. Is there any hope for us?
Well said, John. But why do we people who don't have trouble feeding their families also have such difficulty with long term thinking?
Good leaders are the key---they can bring out our best unselfish nature (help for those devistated by Sandy)----or our worst selfish nature ( my way, or nothing).