Why Are Glaciers Receding and What Is the Human Impact?

Why are glaciers receding and what is the human impact?
Glaciers although very impressive to look at, actually do have a purpose within our environment. Although many people believe that glaciers are not necessary, they already have been formed and without them it will have a serious impact on environment. Many people fear that without glaciers sea levels will rise, ultimately drowning various land masses and consuming certain areas all over the globe. Within my paper I will be discussing what a glacier is, why they are receding, the direct affect they have on humans and what we can do to prevent this from further happening.
Glaciers are made up of fallen snow that, over many years, has compressed into large, thickened ice masses. When snow remains in one location long enough it will transform into ice. The most unique quality of glaciers is their ability to move and store large amounts of water. Due to their mass, glaciers flow very slowly like rivers. Some glaciers are as small as football fields, while others grow to be over a hundred kilometers long. Glaciers currently occupy about 10 percent of the world 's total land area, mostly located in Polar Regions like Antarctica and Greenland (Kevin Mathias).
Glaciers are thought to be remnants from the last Ice Age, when ice covered nearly 32 percent of the land, and 30 percent of the oceans. However; over the last century most of Earth 's 160,000 glaciers have been slowly shrinking as the climate warms up from both natural causes and human activity. Although it may be a mute point among most humans’ glaciers are an essential for our existence on earth. Glacial melting over the past century can be traced to global warming. Global warming is the rise in average global temperature caused by the recent industrialization of the world which was made possible by fossil fuels which emit greenhouse gasses. These greenhouse gasses over time have burned holes in the ozone allowing more ultraviolent rays into the earth’s atmosphere thus increasing the earth’s temperature (Kevin Mathias).
There are two essential reasons for why glaciers melting present a major problem for human beings. The first reason being that excess water from glacial melting can cause flooding on a global scale eventually leading in drought, but most importantly glaciers provide over 70% of freshwater in the world. If global warming continues to melt the glaciers in the polar caps the excess water will flood into the oceans which in turn would cause an overall rise in sea level. This increase in sea level will eventually swallow up the earth’s beaches and ultimately endanger many animals (Stephan Faris).
Recently people in China have feared the receding of glaciers will cause a major food shortage. Global warming is melting the glaciers that feed Asia 's biggest rivers, the irrigation water vital for the grain crops that feed China and India is at risk of drying up. "The world has never faced such a predictably massive threat to food production as that posed by the melting mountain glaciers of Asia," says Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute. The Gangotri Glacier in the Himalayas supplies 70% of the flow of the Ganges in the dry season, during this dry season the people in surrounding areas heavily depend on the water that has melted from the glaciers. This water from the glaciers irrigates the rice and wheat crops on while many people depend. “China and India together produce more than half the world 's wheat and rice, and the three river basins supply much of it.” (Brown).
Although we as human beings cannot control the weather we can make an impact in the effects of global warming. There are many things we can do to ensure that global warming does not further effect our environments. One easily obtainable suggestion is “going green” by recycling we are saving energy and resources that can easily be used in another form. Recycling is an easy simple effort that does not cost us anything but does a great deal for the environment. Another solution is getting educated, the more people who recognize the effects of global warming, the more people can spread the word, and word of mouth is a very powerful source.
In conclusion, although glaciers have not been around forever they definitely have an impact now and are considered a necessity. Everyone can do something to prevent global warming which undoubtedly has a direct effect on our glaciers. Every year more and more people are being informed about global warming and glaciers, hopefully in the future we will be able to preserve what we have left.

Bibliography
Mathias, Kevin. "The Effects Of Melting Ice Glaciers." 19 June 2007: n. pag. Web. 26 Feb 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-effects-of-melting-ice-glaciers.html>.
Mathias, Kevin. "Why are glaciers melting?." 08 02 2007: n. pag. Web. 26 Feb 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/why-are-glaciers-melting.html>.
Faris, Stephan. "The Glaciers Are Still Melting." 02 11 2011: n. pag. Web. 26 Feb 2010. <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/11/the_glaciers_are_still_melting>.
Brown, Lester. "Earth 's Ice Melting Faster Than Projected." 12 Mar 2002: n. pag. Web. 26 Feb 2010. <http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/plan_b_updates/2002/update8>.

Bibliography: Mathias, Kevin. "The Effects Of Melting Ice Glaciers." 19 June 2007: n. pag. Web. 26 Feb 2010. &lt;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-effects-of-melting-ice-glaciers.html&gt;. Mathias, Kevin. "Why are glaciers melting?." 08 02 2007: n. pag. Web. 26 Feb 2010. &lt;http://www.buzzle.com/articles/why-are-glaciers-melting.html&gt;. Faris, Stephan. "The Glaciers Are Still Melting." 02 11 2011: n. pag. Web. 26 Feb 2010. &lt;http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/11/the_glaciers_are_still_melting&gt;. Brown, Lester. "Earth 's Ice Melting Faster Than Projected." 12 Mar 2002: n. pag. Web. 26 Feb 2010. &lt;http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/plan_b_updates/2002/update8&gt;.