Get out the rubber boots
Labels: environment, International, the North
While us southerners are all safe in the grips of an icy blast of winter weather, the National Centre for Scientific Research, based in Paris, has some troublesome findings on the polar front, saying, "The Arctic ice cap has shrunk by an area twice the size of France's land mass over the last two years."
Research director and coordinator of the European scientific mission Damocles, Jean-Claude Gascard said in a Wednesday press conference:Melting could result in the loss of another million in one (2008) summer... Summer 2007 was marked by a major retreat in the ice-cap, one we were not anticipating... The rate of decline is also two or three times faster than (observed) beforehand."
He added, "Over the last 20 years, 40 percent of the ice-cap has melted with the average thickness halved from three to 1.5 metres."
EXTRA: The results of the 2008 Environmental Performance Index, compiled by Yale and Columbia Universities, has been released. To spoil the surprise, Canada ranks 12th, behind Iceland and ahead of Germany.
posted by Ian at 9:24 AM - link ...
   



















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