Published online 
 
by the journal Nature 
 
Geoscience, a study of 
 
more than 300 glaciers 
 
over a 40-year period 
 
by geophysicists at 
 
the University of Alaska 
 
in the USA has led 
 
to their forecast that 
 
mountain glaciers will 
 
shrink on average up to 
 
27% by century's end. 
 
Some glacial regions 
 
such as in New Zealand 
 
could lose up to 79% 
 
of their volume, while 
 
the European Alps 
 
could be diminished 
 
by an alarming 90%. 
 
The loss of these and 
 
other glacial areas across 
 
the globe would be 
 
devastating to
 
the hundreds of millions, 
 
even billions of people, 
 
who depend on them 
 
for fresh water. 
 
In a second study,
 
the same researchers 
 
showed through simulation 
 
that even if all carbon 
 
dioxide emissions 
 
were halted, 
 
the warming effect of 
 
atmospheric CO2 would 
 
continue for centuries, 
 
raising global 
 
temperatures beyond 
 
an already-dangerous 
 
3.4 degrees Celsius increase. 
 
 
The resulting warming 
 
of seas such as 
 
the Southern Ocean could 
 
also trigger widespread 
 
collapse of the West 
 
Antarctic Ice Sheet, 
 
which in turn would
 
raise sea levels by 
 
an estimated 5 to 7 meters, 
 
with obviously 
 
devastating effects. 
 
Our appreciation 
 
University of Alaska 
 
scientists for these 
 
findings that remind us of 
 
our precarious situation 
 
due to global warming. 
 
Let us work to cool 
 
the atmosphere and 
 
preserve the Earth's vital 
 
ice caps for the survival 
 
of all lives on the planet.
 
Supreme Master Ching Hai 
 
has often spoken 
 
about the troubled state 
 
of the glaciers and 
 
the key to stopping 
 
their disappearance as 
 
during a November 2009 
 
videoconference in 
 
Washington, DC, USA.
 
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Glaciers across the globe 
 
are shrinking 
 
more quickly than 
 
researchers ever expected, 
 
leaving rivers and lakes 
 
gone, disappearing
 
or drying, with no water 
 
for crops and billions 
 
who face food shortages 
 
due to water shortages, 
 
as well. 
 
In the state of Montana, 
 
the famous glaciers 
 
of Glacier National Park 
 
are now expected to 
 
disappear within a decade. 
 
You may ask, what is 
 
the main cause of this 
 
damage and destruction 
 
to the environment?  
It's methane, 
 
which is produced 
 
primarily 
 
by the livestock industry.
 
NASA announced that 
 
methane actually 
 
contributes much more 
 
to global warming than 
 
previously understood 
 
and it traps 100 times 
 
the atmospheric heat 
 
over 20 years. 
 
And the largest source 
 
of methane is? 
 
You know - livestock. 
 
So, to solve this, we 
 
do need to move quickly, 
 
and of course we know 
 
what to do, right? Yes? 
 
Be vegan.
http://www.france24.com/en/20110109-warming-devastate-glaciers-antarctic-icesheet-studies
 http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/8618018/warming-to-devastate-glaciers-antarctic/http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090205142132.htm