A Sacred River Endangered by Global Warming

The Washington Post reports today

The Gangotri glacier, which provides up to 70 percent of the water of the Ganges during the dry summer months, is shrinking at a rate of 40 yards a year, nearly twice as fast as two decades ago, scientists say.

What is the impact?

“This may be the first place on Earth where global warming could hurt our very religion. We are becoming an endangered species of Hindus,” said Veer Bhadra Mishra, an engineer and director of the Varanasi-based Sankat Mochan Foundation, an organization that advocates for the preservation of the Ganges. “The melting glaciers are a terrible thing. We have to ask ourselves, who are the custodians of our culture if we can’t even help our beloved Ganga?”

The first of what may be many such impacts if we continue on our current path.