It seems that Newsweek's "science" editrix, Sharon Begley, wants you to make the leap that the Gangotri glacier, one of the largest in the Himalayas, has been shrinking for the last 25 years at three times the historical norm because of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW).

In the May 5, 2008, issue of Newsweek, in the article "Heat your vegetables," she begins her halfwitted rant with, "Whenever global warming began looking too bleak..."  She then takes a swipe at the coal industry, which no doubt generates the electricity to her power-sucking laptop, before rapping their knuckles for not noticing that a glacier is melting:

One of the Himalayas' largest, [Gangotri glacier] has been shrinking since the late 18th century. But over the last 25 years it has shrunk about half a mile, a rate three times the historical norm... "Without the ice melt, the Ganges and the Yellow rivers could dry up in the dry season, shrinking harvests," says Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute. "If the Ganges flows only part of the year, double cropping [in which farmers plant rice and wheat in back-to-back growing seasons, and which underlies India's green revolution] breaks down."

What Ms. Begley fails to mention, as eco-alarmists love to do, are the other, more likely, causes for the glacial retreat. Apparently quoting someone from an environmental group is the same as talking to actual experts. Gore used a strikingly similar storyline in his infamous movie to paint Mount Kilimanjaro as the victim du jour of AGW. Researchers now believe it is actually being caused by rampant deforestation in the mountain’s foothills.

But as with many of Begley's scare pieces, she fails once again to do a little fact checking (which took me all of ten minutes) her information and learn something about the Gangotri glacier and specifically the Gangotri-Gaumukh area it resides. Turns out, the same culprit behind Kilimanjaro's shrinking glacier are at work here as well.

According to Dr. Bisht of the Gangotri-Gaumukh Conservation, in the last 20-plus years, the surrounding geology of the region has become one of the "most exploited by senseless mass tourism...devouring the ecology of the region and ravaging the landscape." She should know. Dr. Bisht has spent the last 20 years conducting ecological research, restoration and awareness campaigns in the Gangotri-Gaumukh region, trying to restore the area to its pre-tourism state.

The "unavailability of any alternative fuel source" has led to the wholesale "destruction of Birch forests and Juniper bushes." According to her site and pictures to back up her claims, the "Gangotri itself has become yet another congested Himalayan town and Bhojbasa and Gaumukh into a cold desert."  It appears the same problems that deforestation created for Mount Kilimanjaro are the most likely culprits for the Gangotri glacier.

As Meteorologist Anthony Watts explained in describing the Kilimanjaro phenomenon, "Without the forests’ evapotranspiration of humidity into the air, previously moisture-laden winds blowing across those forests now blow drier. The summit, no longer replenished with water from those winds, started shrinking. Studies show the ice is evaporating through a process called sublimation. You can witness this effect at home, have you ever noticed that ice cubes left in your freezer tend to shrink with time?"

Dr. Bisht states, "Juniper and Bhojpatra have been and continue to be cut for fuel and energy, and garbage litters the path all the way to Gaumukh. Even the areas around the tea stalls are surrounded by rubbish heaps which create a distraction for the eye and soul. However most importantly, the destruction of the slow growing high altitude Birch forest and Juniper bushes in the Bhojbasa area is inflicting long term ecological damage..."

Until further research can be done on the Gangotri glacier, it is wholly irresponsible to link its shrinking to AGW as Begley has done. This is one of the worst examples of causality science, and just as a judge ruled Gore wrong on his Kilimanjaro proclamations, Begley appears to be ascending the throne of blatant, baseless fear mongering.

For the curious, this crops-not-growing essay makes numerous factual errors, the most obvious her statement that "the Dakotas will always have less daylight than Kansas, and thus be less hospitable to crops." Apparently Ms. Begley never learned that during North America's prime-time growing season, the further north you go, the longer the days are in summer. I suspect that giving her a lesson on the Earth's orbital eccentricities would fall on deaf ears, as do most facts that come in the way of her and a ripping good scare piece.

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