via AlterNet:
Al Gore: A Billion People's Water at Risk From Melting Ice
AFP. Posted December 14, 2009.
At UN climate talks Monday, he warned that record melting of Polar and Himalayan ice could deprive deprive more than a billion people of access to clean water.Climate guru Al Gore warned UN climate talks Monday that record melting of Polar and Himalayan ice could deprive deprive more than a billion people's access to clean water.
Adding to an avalanche of bad scientific news over the last two years, the former US vice president cited new research showing that the Arctic ice cap may have shrunk to record-low levels last year.
"2008 had a smaller minimum, probably, than 2007," Gore said at the release of a report he co-sponsored with the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, called Melting Snow and Ice: A call for Action.
"These figures are fresh, I just got them yesterday," Gore said, alluding to work led by Wieslaw Maslowski of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
"Some of the models suggest to Dr. Maslowski that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire polar ice cap during some of summer months could be completely ice free within five to seven years," Gore said. .............(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.alternet.org/water/144556/al_gore%3A_a_billion_people%27s_water_at_risk_from_melting_ice