When we use the word heritage, sometimes we think of our personal or national history; we may even think of the “World Heritage Sites” named by UNESCO, but ice cores? What is an ice core, anyway? A cylinder of ice drilled from a glacier or ice sheet.
Since the 1970s, scientist have been drilling into glaciers and pulling out ice cores and storing them in Antarctica for research purposes, to better understand where we have been in order to figure out where we are going. One of the drilling sites is Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park, but the ice this past year was only 9 inches thick instead of 10 to 20 inches, and the outside temperature was only 20 when it should have been 0.
Scientists study the layers of ice in the core, telling us what gases were trapped, how much carbon dioxide was present millennia ago, but this past year researchers wrote that they were unable to study the ice because it was so thin. Something to consider as we move into summer heat and storms; something to consider in this election season.
Prayer for the Day
How is it, O God, that we have destroyed so much,
And your creation cries out to us: Stop!
Are we so focused only on our immediate desires,
Forgetting the future of your earth?
Awaken us, O God, so we examine candidates for office
In terms of their commitment to our world.
In the name of the One who is our guide,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
In most places, nobody will know what was there before unless some scientists were taking pictures and measuring what it used to be like. We all kick ourselves, [asking] why weren't we describing things better in the '70s and '80s?
John Bruno, marine ecologist, University of North Carolina
Without data from the glacier, we lose this information about past air pollution, past climate, and past environmental conditions in this region.
Margit Schwikowski, chemist at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in their hearts;
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
That their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
They have ceased to act wisely and do good.
Psalm 36: 1-3