[Global Warming]

Celebrating the Winter Olympics: Global Warming Week

I knew introducing my new plan of discussing a new topic each week would be fraught with difficulties. Little did I imagine that, barely a week after initial implementation, Veep Cheney would shoot his hunting partner in the face. Or that there would be an apparent White House coverup. Come on--shooting-in-the-face-gate? How can a respectable blogger ignore that? I mean, come on--the irony could carry me for a week. Nevertheless, I soldier on in the face of adversity. Hog may be tested by distraction, but it will not stop to wallow in the mire.

So anyway, on to the more subtle irony I planned to lead the week with. As the Winter Olympic games kick off in (your choice) Turin/Torino, it emerges that Italians have been having to wrap their glaciers in vast fleece vests to keep them from melting. Seriously:

The glaciers, some warn, will all but disappear in 50 years. Already, melting permafrost threatens glacier ski stations and lifts, leaving resort officials in a critical race against the elements....

So, over the summer, something revolutionary was rolled out — giant strips of white fleece the size of football fields. It’s an Austrian and Swiss experiment. The polyethelene foil acts like a giant picnic cooler, keeping the sun out and the cold in. And, it works.

Of course, the effects of global warming will have consequences more dire than the loss of alpine ski resorts. Several major medium-term possibilities emerge: rising oceans that threaten large coastal populations; weather patterns become more volatile, making Katrina-like disasters common; geopolitical turmoil over decreasing food and water supplies. Long-term possibilities? Hard to contemplate.

So, at this moment of winter sports celebration let us stop to ponder how many more downhill races we have left.