The article I read described how the climate has been changing rapidly over the past few years, and tells about a recently discovered island called Uunartoq Qeqertaq, or Warming Island. The island is located off of the east coast of Greenland, and is considered permanent enough that it will be added to a new edition of the most comprehensive atlas in the world. Over the past few years, Greenland has lost about 15 percent of its ice cover and as a result uncovered this small island. The article also talks about rivers, including the Rio Grande, Yellow, Colorado and Tigris, in which certain sections are drying out some each summer. The biggest physical changes in the world over the past few years have been located near the poles, including Antarctica going down in size.
The concerning part about this article is how the climate is constantly changing, which some attribute to the release of greenhouse gases into the environment. The maps pictured of Greenland (see link) show the change, and since 1999, the edges appear quite differently. One way this problem may can be helped, is by watching ones energy usage and by industries and factories to try to take on a more environmentally friendly approach, such as Google seems to be doing by using more renewable sources of energy, as well as cloud services. From a personal standpoint there is only so much we can do but if enough people join in, the accelerated environmental change can hopefully be slowed down. This is a problem because it is not an isolated incident, and could affect the way we live if temperatures continue to rise.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/15/new-atlas-climate-change
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