The Canary In The Coal Mine, or, “Birdie?... BIRDIE?!”

Lake Superior contains roughly ten percent of the world’s surface freshwater and is the habitat for 78 fish species. Lake Superior appears to be in great distress.

As reported by the Associated Press reporter John Flesher, efforts are underway to try to fully assess the damage done.

“Something seems amiss with mighty Superior, the deepest and coldest of the Great Lakes which together hold nearly 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water.”

“Superior’s surface area is roughly the same as South Carolina’s, the biggest of any freshwater lake on Earth. It’s deep enough to hold all the Great Lakes plus three additional Lake Eries. Yet over the past year, its level has ebbed to the lowest point in eight decades and will set a record this fall if, as expected, it dips three more inches.”

Some other worrisome observations:

Superior’s average temperature has increased 4.5 degrees since 1979. Think what it would take to change a mass like that, that much. And in a lake with an average temperature of 40 degrees, a recent weather buoy reading of 75 degrees was recorded on the western side.

Lake Superior has lost a foot of elevation in the past year, leaving many mooring sites and marinas unusable. Ferry service between Grand Portage, MN and Isle Royal National Park was scaled back because one of the company’s boats couldn’t dock.

Game fish have headed out and are harder to find – distressing the tourist industry (which is critical to the area).

Low water has cost the shipping industry millions of dollars since vessels have been forced to lighten their loads.


Much more about this can be found in the article: http://digital.ap.org/development/-national/lake-superior/


It seems to me that anyone who wastes time arguing that the climate isn’t changing – and fast, just isn’t paying attention. And maybe arguing that humans are or aren’t responsible is superfluous as well. What we should be arguing about is what to do about it.

The candidates for President, therefore, need to have a clear and detailed plan on how to address this potentially most serious of all problems. For me (and one third of MoveOn.org members) the candidate who best achieves this is John Edwards.

Full details of his proposal are available at:
http://johnedwards.com/issues/energy/new-energy-economy/index.html

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Don