When I first looked at these, I thought, "Well, maybe it's a different, hotter season in the picture where there's not any ice."
It's not.
Take a look at these four images and then choose your own adventure. Ready?
Scroll with me to the frontiers of...
...ALASKA!
Here is the Muir Glacier and Inlet in Alaska.
The black-and-white picture is from Sept. 2, 1892. Guess when the color photo is from.
Aug. 11, 2005.
Below, the black-and-white photo of the Muir Glacier and Inlet is from the 1880s to about 1890.
The color photo? Aug. 11, 2005.
Here's a slo-mo of another shot of the Muir Glacier from 1899 to 2003.
And again the Muir glacier from 1899 ...
... to 2003.
Don't these all now look like summery destinations!?!
Oh wait. These are GLACIERS? In Alaska?
Yeah. :(
So what are we gonna do? Are we gonna do something?
Let's play a little choose your own adventure.
Adventure A
What happens if we, the Earthlings of Earth, do nothing?
For the purposes of argument, and because you can never know anything 100%, let's suppose that climate change is either happening or not actually happening.
1. If climate change is not really happening ... we're fine. :)
2. If climate change is actually happening ... we have economic, social, political, environmental, and health catastrophes the likes of which have never been seen on Earth. :(
Adventure B
What happens if we, the Earthlings of Earth, take action?
1. If climate change is not really happening ... we'll have spent a lot of money. There's a possibility we'll have a global depression, not unlike what we saw in the 1930s, or possibly more similar to the when the sub-prime mortgate/ housing bubble burst. It will be a strain on our economy. :/
2. If climate change is actually happening ... we'll have spent a lot of money, and we'll be fine.
The way I see it, there's a choice to invest money in not having a catastrophe, or there's a choice to roll the dice on catastrophe.
What's your choice?
Images from the United States Geological Survey.
Thanks to this magical YouTube video by user wonderingmind42 for the action versus no action on global climate change.
