On a personal note, Mary Ann and I have just returned from one of the most beautiful places on earth, Glacier National Park.The wildlife was quite abundant. We saw black bears, moose, deer, mountain goats, bald eagles, osprey and those cute little mountain squirrels. We also hiked to glacial lakes and waterfalls so numerous that most of them had no names. The rivers and creeks were clear and swift and the cool weather was a major respite for us Arizonans in August. Mainly, we witnessed the most beautiful vistas created by mother nature using a carving tool so vast that it literally escapes the ability of the mind to understand.
I'm speaking about glaciers. Our guides would say that the Park is mis-named and should be called Glaciated National Park, because the 22 or 23 glaciers that still exist are small and receding and are expected to be completely gone in about 20 years. Yes, that is potentially in our lifetime.
When you question the guides as I do; (i.e., as an annoying analyst) one tends to get a little different perspective. Here is what I found. The beautiful vistas of the Park were carved by massive glaciers, but not by any of the glaciers that currently still exist in the Park. The glaciers that made the Park what it is today existed 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age and have long ago completely melted. Approximately 700 years ago there occurred a "mini ice age" that resulted in the glaciers in Glacier National Park that existed when the area was first seen by Americans and are now receding.
I am a believer in global warming. In fact, I believe Earth is continually in a state of warming or cooling and has been for hundreds of millions of years. I find those who attribute "climate change" to human activity arrogant and shallow. Human progress has been impressive and often has been damaging to the environment, but to raise human activity to a level high enough to compete with mother nature would be laughable if those that do so weren't so serious about it. My advice, go visit Glacier National Park.
Keep Calm and Carry On
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