ANTARCTICA- Today’s worlds moves and evolves in tremendously fast rates. Alternative energy sources have started to be more and more on the centre of research but quite possibly not fast enough.
Fossil fuels are a crucial part of the global economy and find appliance on the movement of vehicles, heat, nuclear processes and a vast variety of other industries that go as far as the manufacturers of clothes using oil derivatives.
Based on the above facts, a new study was conducted to point to the lurking damage that could be inflicted to the whole planet in case all the fossil fuels are burnt.
The conclusion of this study shows that over the court of centuries, during which humanity consumes fossil fuels under similar rates, whole continents with billions of people inhabiting them, could actually go poof – or be wiped from the face of Earth.
Ricarda Winkelmann who led the research published to the journal Science Advances said at the Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany:
“For the first time we have shown there is sufficient fossil fuel to melt all of Antarctica. This would not happen overnight, but the mind-boggling point is that our actions today are changing the face of planet Earth as we know it, and will continue to do so for tens of thousands of years to come. If we want to avoid Antarctica to become ice-free, we need to keep coal, gas and oil in the ground.”
Gives you the creeps huh? While the Antarctic ice cap is the largest one on earth, it only contributes about 10% of the sea level rise being driven by climate change and the recent study mentioned that eventually all of the Antarctic ice sheet will melt down if all of the fossil fuels are burnt.
The work is based on detailed computer models that account for warming air and ocean temperatures, ice flow and potential changes in snowfall.
Anders Levermann, another member of the research team, said at the Potsdam Institute:
“By using more and more fossil fuel energy, we increase the risk of triggering changes that we may not be able to stop or reverse in the future. The west Antarctic ice sheet may already have tipped into a state of unstoppable ice loss, whether as a result of human activity or not. But if we want to pass on cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Calcutta, Hamburg or New York as our future heritage, we need to avoid a tipping in east Antarctica.”
While this study does not give any direct solution to each one of us individually, it is made clear that it’s a concern on a global scale that might require one or two measures to be taken if we don’t want to add planet of birth on our IDs.
