New Report: Glaciers Vanishing Faster Than Ever

More unsettling news on the climate front this week, as scientists say glaciers are now melting nearly twice as fast as they did just a decade ago:

Scientists measuring the health of almost 30 glaciers around the world found that ice loss reached record levels in 2006, the U.N. agency said.

[The U.N. Environment Program] warned that further ice loss could have dramatic consequences particularly in India, whose rivers are fed by Himalayan glaciers.

The west coast of North America, which gets much of its water from
glaciers in mountain ranges such as the Rockies and Sierra Nevada, also
would be affected, it said.

“There are many canaries emerging in the climate change coal mine,” UNEP’s executive director Achim Steiner said in a statement. “The glaciers are perhaps among those making the most noise and it is absolutely essential that everyone sits up and
takes notice.”