SLIP SLIDIN’ AWAY: Global Climate Change
by Molly Regan

Although “Slip Slidin’ Away” is the title of a great song by one of my top three all-time favorite singers, Paul Simon, it also describes the current conditions of most glaciers.  Not necessarily directly related to IOWA now, it could be, someday soon.

This past Friday, February 10th, on Public Radio’s “Science Friday,” the discussion was about MARK BOWEN’s newest book.  It is called ‘THIN ICE: UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF CLIMATE IN THE WORLD’S HIGHEST MOUNTAINS.'

This writing is about what has been happening to the world’s glaciers.  It is an account of Bowen’s adventures in researching the ice of tropical mountains as he follows climber Lonnie Thompson.  The inside flap of the book states:

“While mainstream science has focused on polar ice to find clues about climate change, Lonnie Thompson has been risking his career and life on the highest and most remote ice caps along the equator.  In the process he has changed the science of climatology.

“The idea guiding Thompson’s research is deceptively simple: climate is about energy flow and because the sun’s heat enters the atmosphere at the lower latitudes of the tropics, it follows that the equator’s mountain glaciers are the ideal place from which to map the course of climate change. Layers of snow that have been laid down year by year can be read like tree rings, providing detailed information about climate history reaching back 750,000 years….

“Scientist and expert climber Mark Bowen joined Thompson’s crew on several expeditions, including an eye-opening ascent in East Africa that revealed why the snows of KILIMANJARO will be gone in fifteen years….

“Exciting and brilliantly detailed, THIN ICE explains what Thompson’s hard-won data tell us about climate systems that have long perplexed the scientific community.  Even more important, we learn what the equatorial ice reveals about global warming and the Earth’s probable future.” (Copyright 2005/Henry Holt and Company).  See also www.sciencefriday.com

Though I haven’t read this book yet, it sounds intriguing.  An adventure that I will never be able to go on, but I am glad others have. Global repercussions do seem to be at hand, and maybe this book will wake up those who can help stop the trend.

Please become involved in your local civic functions.  Now is the time.  We can all benefit from your ideas.

And, don’t forget to CPR… CONSERVE/PARTICIPATE/RECYCLE