Compared to the resplendent Amazon rainforest, the Antarctic may seem bleak and lifeless. It’s winter there right now, and the weather is bleak, to be sure. The Interior is about minus 60 to 70, but if you’re not a cold-weather person, you can go to the coast where the temperature is a balmy 14 degrees, much warmer than it was even ten years ago when it was minus 10 on a good day.
Antarctica is not empty, having 18 species of wildlife. We usually think of the Emperor Penguin, but the continent also has at least two kinds of seals, several kinds of birds, and krill, a kind of small crustacean.
The sharp drop in the amount of sea ice this year is alarming scientists because less ice means warmer ocean water and fewer krill, which means that fewer krill-eaters can sustain themselves. In addition, penguins lay their eggs on sea ice (can you imagine that?), and less ice means fewer penguins of all kinds. And the oil and gas lobbies roll merrily along.
Prayer for the Day
Ever giving God, who loves us not because of our merits
But as a parent loves a child, shelter us within your heart;
Hold and encourage us to reach out to the world around,
The world of which we are caretakers, not owners.
Fill our minds with the light of truth, our hearts with the grace of love,
And our deeds with the power of your Spirit.
In the name of the One who shows us how to live with grace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
This year’s change within the context of several years in a row is very, very concerning. That is not within the natural variability.
- Marilyn Raphael, Institute of Environment and Sustainability, Univ. California
Forecasts of Antarctic sea ice are very much in demand not only for the potential importance of its effect on the global climate, but for the practical purpose of exploring the Antarctic continent.
- Xiaojuan Yuan, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there until they have watered the earth,
Making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
So shall my word be that goes ot form my mouth; it shall not return to me empty
Isaiah 55: 10-11