6,500-year-old plants exposed as global warming melts glacier

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1127256540214460.xml&storylist=cleveland

9/20/2005, 6:43 p.m. ET
By CARRIE SPENCER
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — ...

"It's amazing how quickly the change has come," Thompson told The Associated Press on Tuesday.


Some of his ice samples, kept in a Columbus freezer, within the next decade could become all that's left of glaciers that help prevent flooding and provide a steady water supply and hydroelectric power during the dry season for many mountain and riverside communities worldwide.

"There are (South American) villages that the only source of water are the glaciers," he said. Glaciers also form the headwaters of many great rivers — the Amazon, the Ganges, the Yangtze.

"If you have a disruption in a climate system you will displace people, and those people will have to go somewhere," Thompson said. "As our numbers increase, we become more vulnerable to abrupt changes."...

[opihimoimoi]

1. A Virus on a cell called Earth

[knitter4democracy]

2. That could be an even bigger problem.

Do we want all those released? Frozen doesn't mean not viable, so do we want those to thaw? We're in for some horrible times, it seems.