The future of Pakistan's water supply is a growing concern, as is the long-term future of the entire region if all the rivers run dry.
There is an overwhelming consensus among climate scientists that we must do what we can to reduce greenhouse emissions from industry to mitigate the effects of global climate change, however there seems to be a crop of glacier-melt-deniers in the choir with the climate change deniers. Here's a brief list of the self-discrediting glacier-melt-deniers:
Glaciers are not melting | Glaciers are melting |
---|---|
CNSNews.com | TIME.com |
TheRegister.co.uk | NATURE.com |
ndtv.com | ft.com (Financial Times) |
rtcc.org | blog.telegraph.co.uk |
theguardian.com | blogs.scientificamerican.com |
livescience.com | thehindu.com |
dailymail.co.uk | enn.com |
The list is based on a Google search of "Himalayan Glacier Melting" and continues for over 37000 results. Unsurprisingly, many main-stream media outlets don't take a stand on either side of any issue because doing so would end the debate and effectively end a news story. Take NPR for example: "Melt Or Grow? Fate Of Himalayan Glaciers Unknown"
The soundbites of obfuscation are music to the ears of main-stream media outlets that fear the shrinking lists of conflict-rich topics upon which they can continue to report.
News reports shift importance of issues from what should be done to prevent glaciers from disappearing, or what should be done to prepare the billion or so people for a future with a lot less water, to trivial news reports about whether or not the glaciers are disappearing or not and who is right or wrong about it.
China has has already begun a massive water diversion project. Unencumbered by critics or the machinations of low-information voter manipulation in democratic societies, they are well on their way to preparing themselves for a much changed climate.
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