RELEASE: With Sudden Greenland Ice Melt, Reiterating Declaration of Planetary Ecological Emergency

Given dramatic Greenland ice sheet melt and historic U.S. drought’s threat to global food supply, Ecological Internet renews calls for urgent measures to avoid global ecosystem collapse, achieve sustainable development, and sustain global ecosystems and the biosphere

By Ecological Internet, http://www.climateark.org/
Contact: Dr. Glen Barry, glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org

(Madison, WI) – Nearly the entire massive ice sheet that blankets Greenland suddenly started melting this month, even its coldest places. In just a few days, the amount of thawed ice sheet surface skyrocketed from 40 percent to 97 percent. This continues the shocking heating and melting of the Arctic, which is severely impacting the Northern hemisphere’s weather – including contributing to America’s dramatic drought and heat wave – through changes in the jet and gulf streams.

According to a NASA press release [1] – which includes a stunning satellite interpretation of the melt –about half of Greenland’s surface ice sheet naturally melts during an average summer. But data from three independent satellites this July showed that in that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet had undergone thawing at or near the surface. In just a few days, the melting dramatically accelerated and an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface had thawed by July 12. Carbon pollution thresholds appear to have been reached whereby the Greenland ice sheet will begin to fully melt, raising sea levels by as much as 7 meters.