Is Global Warming Causing the Snows of Kilimanjaro to Melt?
Early in the film, Al Gore shows some powerful photographs of the diminishing snow-pack on Kenya’s Mount Kilimanjaro, implying that human-induced warming is the cause. The snows of Kilimanjaro are retreating, but according to studies in the International Journal of Climatology and the Journal of Geophysical Research, the retreat began in the late 19th century – before most human greenhouse gases were emitted. It is largely due to the decline in precipitation (snowfall) on the mountain as a result of the clearing and burning of the rainforests at its base for agriculture. Precipitation is also declining in parts of the Amazon as the rainforests are cleared. Thus, while humans are to blame for the retreat of Kilimanjaro’s glaciers, global warming is not. Will Melting Polar Ice Sheets Cause Flooding of Coastal Cities? Gore uses stunning computer-generated images to show what would happen to the world’s coastal areas if the Greenland and West Antarctica ice sheets melted. Sea levels would
