Cartographers: man is altering the map
Thanks to Magellan and Google Earth, there aren't as many unexplored regions on the earth's surface as there used to be. That being the case, you might think that cartographers would get sick of drawing the same old maps all the time. Not true, due to man's constant tinkering with land and water, geographic features that were at one time considered static are being to change dramatically. Some of the biggest changes fall under the category of diverting water for agriculture -- i.e. consuming a seemingly unsustainable amount. Rising seas are also beginning to show an effect on areas of Alaska and low-lying islands in the Indian Ocean. Here are the top 4 drastic changes:
- Lake Chad in N. Africa is 95% smaller than in 1963
- The Aral Sea has shrunk by 75% since 1967
- The Dead Sea is 50 feet lower than in 1957
- The Rio Grande & the Colorado Rivers sometimes dry out and don't reach the ocean
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-02-2008 @ 11:49AM
Sergio Ferreira said...
Many thanks for raising this issue, indeed a concern for our times. However this is quite a fundamentalist view if put into perspective with what is happening in the world , say for the last few million years...
We actually had just one continent... species were led to compete extinction (and not by us) ocean literally moved place, mountains were built, rain forests were destroyed and transformed in what we call coal and oil... and nothing of this was done by us...
I agree that the rate things are happening is greater than ever (or is it?) but life has demonstrated that the best characteristic of human beings is ADAPTATION... derived from INTELLIGENCE...
Therefore, and taking into account that climate will not stop, glaciers will melt, lakes will dry out... we will just have to be smart and adapt... what we do best, not spending our great resources in trying to mitigate this... it simply doesn't work...
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