One final post on 'climate change' as represented by the BBC: simplified, uncritical and sentimentalised. The latest human interest story, dated the 25th August, comes from Peru where climate change (ie. global warming trends) has caused the retreat of tropical glaciation. It is claimed that this will have catastrophic conseqences for Peruvians since they depend upon the glaciers for all of their water!
The majority of its population lives in a narrow strip of land between the Andes mountains and the sea.
This area is mainly desert and the people who live here receive their water from the mountains. Melting glaciers also provide water for hydroelectricity, industry and farming.
There is even a resident quote, edited for sentiment, from one farmer who will suffer the consequences outlined:
Emilio Himenez has farmed land in the shadow of the Llanganuco lakes for almost four decades. He irrigates his land with water from the glaciers that supply the lakes and grows a variety of fruit and vegetables which he sells at market.
"I can see the snow caps aren't like they were before," says Mr Himenez.
As he works in the fields with his wife and daughters, one of his grandchildren, four-year-old Frank Michael looks on.
"Perhaps in 20 more years, there won't be water if the snow caps go," Mr Himenez adds.
"It will be very sad because when there is water there
is life and when there is no water, there is no life, not for the
animals, or the humans, or for the agriculture. And, I don't know what
situation our grandchildren will be in."
Yet, the inspiration for this article may lie with Reuters, who also produced a survey of the problems Peru faced, on August 3rd. Their article was more wide-ranging, and included the problems of landslides as well as water. Notice however that both invoke the mystic priesthood of 'experts' to support their assertion that glaciers will disappear due to global warming.
Reuters quoted Mario Aguirre, the head of glaciation studies at INRENA, Peru's Institute for Natural Resources, on this subject. The BBC, possibly to avoid accusations of overt Reuterism, spoke to Marco Zapata, who works at INRENA, presumably on glaciation.
You would think that there would be enough stories in Peru without two appearing on glaciers in the same month.