Great visual imagery in this piece, well done. However, I think the attribution to climate change is misleading. I am not a climate change denier, but National Geographic published an article on this in February and interviewed an actual scientist. The main cause is that this lake gets its water from Lake Titicaca and its flow from the lake is controlled by man. The Bolivian government is only releasing a trickle of water from Titicaca, and what little water is being released is being diverted for quinoa farming and mining activity is causing the tributaries to silt up. So if you were to look at the causes according to a scientist that actually studies it, the causes (in order of impact) are the government cutting the flow of water into the lake, quinoa farming using source water, mining activity, drought, and then possibly climate change.
2
the climaet is going to change drastically, and for the worst, over the next few years and into coming centuries...we might as well get used to these devastating scenes, like at Lake Poopo, it's coming to your town soon. the funny thing is....there is nothing we can do to stop it.
1
Denying climate change when there are proven accounts of things like this happening is absurd. An entire culture depended and relied on the lake for employment and food, and now they are forced to find jobs elsewhere due to the lake drying out. Most are left with having to move far away from where they have probably lived their entire lives because they are not able to survive there any longer. Their people are known as 'people of the lake' and now that the lake is nonexistent, who are they? The Uru have been people of culture and tradition and are now trying to figure out what to do when there is not much one can do. I suspect that thing like this are going to happen more frequently if us as human beings don't do something about climate change. Everyone needs to make a difference in protecting Earth to prevent tragedies like this from happening.
4
Sad, sad story.
Climate change was going to have a devastating impact on the lake, but you have to wonder how much longer it might have lasted without the quinoa boom.
When the caption says: "with hay for hat-making" I think you mean "straw".
It's called "hay" when its use is as animal feed
Climate change was going to have a devastating impact on the lake, but you have to wonder how much longer it might have lasted without the quinoa boom.
When the caption says: "with hay for hat-making" I think you mean "straw".
It's called "hay" when its use is as animal feed
3
The Climate Change industry is the greatest conspiracy ever against the taxpayer.
The Climate Change business journal reports the $1.5 trillion is spent in the environmental industry each year. Taxpayer money.
Have a look at the windmill farms as part of the German Energiewende. In 2004 the German minister of energy promised that renewable energy would hardly affect energy bills. In 2013, 345,000 German households could not pay their electricity bills.
Bjorn Lomborg calculated that if all countries do what they have promised at the Paris climate summit warming would be reduced by the year 2100 to 0.170 degrees Celsius. Do the math..,,
The Climate Change business journal reports the $1.5 trillion is spent in the environmental industry each year. Taxpayer money.
Have a look at the windmill farms as part of the German Energiewende. In 2004 the German minister of energy promised that renewable energy would hardly affect energy bills. In 2013, 345,000 German households could not pay their electricity bills.
Bjorn Lomborg calculated that if all countries do what they have promised at the Paris climate summit warming would be reduced by the year 2100 to 0.170 degrees Celsius. Do the math..,,
2
Such nonsense! Exactly opposite from the truth.
No person substituting politically biased material like this will be able to continue to deny the truth much longer. Two decades, and you will be regretting damaging our once hospitable earth at the behest of the wealthiest industry on earth and the politicians whose campaigns they support. Earnings on lobbying 100:1; nice work if you can get it.
http://priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-industry-influence-in-the-u-s/
Money spent on influence peddling is not the same as money spent on development and research.
No person substituting politically biased material like this will be able to continue to deny the truth much longer. Two decades, and you will be regretting damaging our once hospitable earth at the behest of the wealthiest industry on earth and the politicians whose campaigns they support. Earnings on lobbying 100:1; nice work if you can get it.
http://priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-industry-influence-in-the-u-s/
Money spent on influence peddling is not the same as money spent on development and research.
5
As a Bolivian, I can't express how happy I am that the NYTimes has covered one of last year's greatest national disasters with such detail. It was a compelling read. However, climate change has been given more credit for this disaster than the national press in Bolivia has. The way we see it in Bolivia, this was mainly due to the irresponsible water diversion that was caused by the Government owned mines.
To make things worse, the government took months to actually acknowledge that the lake had disappeared and they never mentioned it as being a disaster. Also, there was a recently a study conducted that shed light into the extreme levels of contamination that were brought upon the lake by the mining done nearby. This water was extremely unhealthy for the population that depended on it.
Climate change might have been a factor. But Bolivia's main problem right now is its disguised dictatorship that takes no responsibility for its self-interest actions, among which is the disappearance of our second largest lake and the consequential displacement of the people that lived around it.
To make things worse, the government took months to actually acknowledge that the lake had disappeared and they never mentioned it as being a disaster. Also, there was a recently a study conducted that shed light into the extreme levels of contamination that were brought upon the lake by the mining done nearby. This water was extremely unhealthy for the population that depended on it.
Climate change might have been a factor. But Bolivia's main problem right now is its disguised dictatorship that takes no responsibility for its self-interest actions, among which is the disappearance of our second largest lake and the consequential displacement of the people that lived around it.
5
When I read this article, I have awareness of climate changes 'cause I take it seriously. Human beings can't live if there is no water in earth. So I think we should take some measures.
4
Climate change happens rapidly enough that those experiencing it are surprised that the world they knew has suddenly disappeared. One generation.
The Syrian farmers started moving after years of drought took their living from them and a war broke out. One generation.
There is now an oceanic waterway between Europe and Asia through
northern North America. One generation.
Is it just white Europeans who are so blind? We are losing our world and doing nothing about it. Soon it will be Florida. It is too late now. What will we say when we realize it is too late?
The Syrian farmers started moving after years of drought took their living from them and a war broke out. One generation.
There is now an oceanic waterway between Europe and Asia through
northern North America. One generation.
Is it just white Europeans who are so blind? We are losing our world and doing nothing about it. Soon it will be Florida. It is too late now. What will we say when we realize it is too late?
3
AHA! Here indeed is mankind's signature:
After surviving decades of water diversion and cyclical El Niño droughts in the Andes, Lake Poopó basically disappeared in December.
Oh, well at least the water diversions were done by man.
After surviving decades of water diversion and cyclical El Niño droughts in the Andes, Lake Poopó basically disappeared in December.
Oh, well at least the water diversions were done by man.
1
That lake used to be part of a larger inland lake that has been drying up for 40,000 years. According to the somewhat reliable wikipedia, the lake is essentially a discharge area for lake Titicaca.
So, if enough water is diverted for, say, farmland, the lake will vanish...which it is.
This is a prime example of narrative trumping facts.
So, if enough water is diverted for, say, farmland, the lake will vanish...which it is.
This is a prime example of narrative trumping facts.
3
While I totally believe climate change is real and a very big problem, my guess is the lake drying up has more to do with water mis-management than climate change; certainly, the article is not convincing. Out west in the US (at Walker Lake, for instance, which I have studied), the lake is shrinking due to water "diversions" much more than (if at all due to) climate change.
2
Thank you for beginning to cover climate change more regularly, on the front page. It is critical that the public understands what is going on in our world, particularly in this election year.
"A March Gallup poll, for instance, found more Americans worried either a “great deal” or a “fair amount” about global warming than at any time since 2008 — at 64 percent. It also found that a record 65 percent believe that rising temperatures are being caused by humans, and that all three major political groups in the U.S. show an upswing in concern. 84 percent of Democrats, 64 percent of Independents, and 40 percent of Republicans told Gallup that they “worry a great deal or fair amount” about the issue."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/09/why...
"A March Gallup poll, for instance, found more Americans worried either a “great deal” or a “fair amount” about global warming than at any time since 2008 — at 64 percent. It also found that a record 65 percent believe that rising temperatures are being caused by humans, and that all three major political groups in the U.S. show an upswing in concern. 84 percent of Democrats, 64 percent of Independents, and 40 percent of Republicans told Gallup that they “worry a great deal or fair amount” about the issue."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/09/why...
2
The same poll showed 100% of those surveyed worried a "great deal" about having a job and a "great deal" about all these quacks that keep shutting down our competitive power sources. 100% also worried a "great deal" about going broke and being homeless when their power bill increases by 4x for a 'chasing your tail' hope of 1/2 of 1 degree. Fools.
On the upside, it's likely that someone north of the 'wall' will make millions off these people's misery, selling affluent Westerners the cache of 'Andean Salt' for a discriminating palate.
1
The Earth is full of dead lakes
and people leaving
to find their fortunes elsewhere
or staying by their dead lakes
while remembering the way it used to be once
when it was alive,
the fish in schools,
the whirlpools,
the gentle blue waters
and the vast sky
Now--all dry.
and people leaving
to find their fortunes elsewhere
or staying by their dead lakes
while remembering the way it used to be once
when it was alive,
the fish in schools,
the whirlpools,
the gentle blue waters
and the vast sky
Now--all dry.
2
i am no climate change denier. but the causes enumerated for the loss of the lake - including water diversion for quinoa production and inflow of mining sediment - do not support the exclusive attribution of it in the headline to climate change.
3
So much for the benefits of quinoa. Another item I willingly take off my list of non-local foods that I don’t need to eat.
2
Hopefully Hillary Clinton was using an energy star certified rated mail server so there wasn't that much of an environmental impact operating her home server rather than just utilizing the State Dept's server....
1
This is some of the most beautiful, informative, and haunting reporting I've come across. Bravo to the NYT. I really stopped, reflected, and imagined if this was my home and my family. Oh boy, we're in trouble, as the level of cluelessness and recklessness about the future in my own home state of CT, where many people are quote educated unquote. And yet we all fuss about our children and worry about which sport they play and all that, while I see so many sitting in their running automobiles texting in the parking lot of Whole Foods, completely oblivious. Yup, we're in trouble.
2
This was a wonderful article about Bolivia. But for this kind of journalism to have social impact upon its readers (mainly US I'm guessing) I would have liked to have seen this done close to home. The Colorado river's demise or another like topic. This way I could refer to it and invite them to read for themselves. Skeptics won't put in the effort and probably couldn't guess where Bolivia is located on a map anyway.
2
Wikipedia listed the average depth at over one meter, that is really shallow. They didn't even indicate a maximum depth. Shallow lakes in hot places are extremely vulnerable.
1
Sad. Yet this story will be repeating itself again and again and again all over the world. Mostly it will be in 3rd and 2nd world nations, but it will also impact 1st world nations like the US and Western Europe.
And you know what? There are only two actions that may address the problem:
1. Experience a massive upheaval in world population. That means a destructive force - manmade or natural - that would annihilate 99% of humankind. Yes, reduce world population to fewer than 100 million people globally.
I'm not volunteering to self-destruct. And, I doubt, nearly 7 billion other people will either. So, that leaves the second action,
2. Adapt to the changes humanity is inflicting on the world.
That does not mean trying to reverse the course of "climate change" - an utter waste of time and resources.
Nor are we going to "restore" the Earth to its former "pristine" state, something that is an idiotic concept and flies in the face of 4.5 billion year life of the Earth. Imagining a return to some sort of pastoral nirvana is ludicrous.
No, what we need to do is: move from fossil fuel to sources that are economically viable and sustainable (like nuclear); retreat from the coasts and other high risk areas (like Lake Poopo); move from our over reliance on animal protein diets to predominantly plant based diets; adapt our lifestyles to a smaller human footprint (no McMansions!), and so on.
When will this all happen? Not in our lifetimes. So good luck to future generations!
And you know what? There are only two actions that may address the problem:
1. Experience a massive upheaval in world population. That means a destructive force - manmade or natural - that would annihilate 99% of humankind. Yes, reduce world population to fewer than 100 million people globally.
I'm not volunteering to self-destruct. And, I doubt, nearly 7 billion other people will either. So, that leaves the second action,
2. Adapt to the changes humanity is inflicting on the world.
That does not mean trying to reverse the course of "climate change" - an utter waste of time and resources.
Nor are we going to "restore" the Earth to its former "pristine" state, something that is an idiotic concept and flies in the face of 4.5 billion year life of the Earth. Imagining a return to some sort of pastoral nirvana is ludicrous.
No, what we need to do is: move from fossil fuel to sources that are economically viable and sustainable (like nuclear); retreat from the coasts and other high risk areas (like Lake Poopo); move from our over reliance on animal protein diets to predominantly plant based diets; adapt our lifestyles to a smaller human footprint (no McMansions!), and so on.
When will this all happen? Not in our lifetimes. So good luck to future generations!
1
Pay attention to the amount of methane being released into the atmosphere from the thawing tundra. This will tip the climate to extremes. It's not reversible. And it will affect all living creatures, including humans. We have about a decade left to decide whether or not to pass the point of no return. With population increases and non-compliancy of nations things aren't looking so positive.
Stories like this will seem like a tea party in the future.
Stories like this will seem like a tea party in the future.
6
The die is cast .. all we can do now is mitigate impending disaster, and that's the optimistic view.
2
"“We took so many of these (flamingos) from the lake,” said Mr. Huanaco, the judicial leader, pulling out a bright pink wing from the mud hut behind his home. The day seven years ago that he hunted the bird down, he had no idea it would be his last."
He had no idea? I can't imagine these people didn't see the harm they were causing to this lake. Many people are smart enough to recognize the unrelenting and often unnecessary damage they cause, yet they resist change and they do nothing. Now multiply this story by 7 billion collectively indifferent lost souls. Yes, I know, a few people care very much but they are swimming upstream in a dry river bed.
He had no idea? I can't imagine these people didn't see the harm they were causing to this lake. Many people are smart enough to recognize the unrelenting and often unnecessary damage they cause, yet they resist change and they do nothing. Now multiply this story by 7 billion collectively indifferent lost souls. Yes, I know, a few people care very much but they are swimming upstream in a dry river bed.
1
I split time between NYC and the finger lake region of central NY, about 6 hours from the city .... I live in a small town on Lake Cayuga, which is 40 miles long and 4.5 miles wide at it's widest - 450' at it's deepest - the other lakes are similar - from the northern point of this lake it is 30 miles to the southern belly of lake Ontario thru a system of canals - check it out on google - these are gorgeous lakes, and the state seems to want to protect them - we are surrounded by farmland and dairy pasture, and it is regulated, but in today's economy, you never know if immediate profit will take precedence over long term costs - I never take this natural beauty for granted - At the end of a long summer day a 20 minute swim is the perfect antidote to a stressful day - Or in the fall when the water is too cold for swimming a kayak ride - and in the winter when it freezes a long walk .... I don't watch a lot of tv, I don't play video games ,,, this is my escape -- What has happened in Bolivia is way beyond what I fear in central NY, but perhaps it is just a matter of time ... when we will look at long term costs vs immediate profits ?
4
A lake was emptied by agriculture and lack of rains reminds me of the draining of the Aral Sea. People in the old Soviet bought jeans on the black market and to provide cotton for home manufactured jeans emptied the Aral. The Aral was also located in a desert. Global warming?
Recent stories in the times dealing with a forest fire of 17 million acres said it was a caused by global warming. No scientific investigation given as such naming the fire as a contributing factor to global warming. I understand budgets were cut on that one. Flooding in Germany and France. Global warming blamed in France not so much Germany. They border each other so how?Then Cape Cod. Of which I learned 50 years ago wasn't going to be around by 2100. Tidal erosion and storms being the cause.
Recent stories in the times dealing with a forest fire of 17 million acres said it was a caused by global warming. No scientific investigation given as such naming the fire as a contributing factor to global warming. I understand budgets were cut on that one. Flooding in Germany and France. Global warming blamed in France not so much Germany. They border each other so how?Then Cape Cod. Of which I learned 50 years ago wasn't going to be around by 2100. Tidal erosion and storms being the cause.
2
Yes, keep isolating each individual event and ignore the vast majority of expertise. Eventually it will come to your doorstep.
2
@ Susan
Neglecting a 17 million million acre forrest fire in the effects of global warming was caught by the experts. Scientist were dismissed because of it. A newspaer isolating every weather and geological event and blaming global warming does no service to the cause. Scientist distorting their data in the name of the greater good can only lead to disaster.
Neglecting a 17 million million acre forrest fire in the effects of global warming was caught by the experts. Scientist were dismissed because of it. A newspaer isolating every weather and geological event and blaming global warming does no service to the cause. Scientist distorting their data in the name of the greater good can only lead to disaster.
1
"The lake, after suffering decades of water diversions and El Niño droughts, basically disappeared in December,"
Water diversions are certainly man made, is it the same with an El Nino drought?
Water diversions are certainly man made, is it the same with an El Nino drought?
Every event needs to have an explanation. Climate change is the new receptacle. There is certainly evidence that warming is present, the direct evidenced that certain events are tied to it are speculative at best and there is certainly not consensus to say this lake dried up due to Climate change. Please stop publishing scaremongering. It does not further the dialogue. Hyperbole does not further the debate about the direction we should be taking on climate change.
3
The bigger question would be what would the lake look like if there would of been no water diversion.
3
The same thing happened to the Aral Sea, although the cause was considered to be excessive diversion which made it definitely a consequence of human activity.
As long as this occurs in isolated regions, events such as this will never enter the public consciousness; but as we see effects of climate change, overuse, and overpopulation in California's water supply, with perennially dried up reservoirs, we can connect the dots. Unfortunately, so long as the One One Thousandth Percent and their wholly owned political hacks think their wealth will not only insulate them from calamity, but enable them to exploit it, we can make a valid assumption that nothing will be done. Perhaps when people begin to migrate away from Sunbelt it will become evident. Unfortunately, by then it will be too late to prevent the return of The "Great American Desert" which is what most of what was west of the Mississippi was considered to be back in the Jefferson Administration.
This is an excellent article and we need not only more like it, but deep investigation and follow up of cause and effect.
As long as this occurs in isolated regions, events such as this will never enter the public consciousness; but as we see effects of climate change, overuse, and overpopulation in California's water supply, with perennially dried up reservoirs, we can connect the dots. Unfortunately, so long as the One One Thousandth Percent and their wholly owned political hacks think their wealth will not only insulate them from calamity, but enable them to exploit it, we can make a valid assumption that nothing will be done. Perhaps when people begin to migrate away from Sunbelt it will become evident. Unfortunately, by then it will be too late to prevent the return of The "Great American Desert" which is what most of what was west of the Mississippi was considered to be back in the Jefferson Administration.
This is an excellent article and we need not only more like it, but deep investigation and follow up of cause and effect.
3
We humans have difficulty grasping large-scale issues we can't see from our living room windows, issues like overpopulation and ocean pollution. We settle for propaganda because it offers easy answers, comforts us, and more importantly, doesn't cost anything. Climate change is in this category along with depletion of other resources: peak oil, peak soil fertility, peak water resources, peak credit, etc. Climate change is nothing more than the depletion of waste-carrying capacity by industry. We don't want to give up our industries, we also don't want to get rid of the so-called 'goods' industries emit such as automobiles ... regardless of their cost.
Some of the cost is absorbed by ex-fishermen in Bolivia. Others meeting the cost at this moment are Syrians, Venezuela, Somalians, Nigerians, Haitians, Yemenis ... Costs flow to Japan, England, Italy and their creaky banks ... also UK and German banks. Everything in the industrial world is bound up by way of finance. You say "Climate change doesn't exist" or that it doesn't affect; tell it to banks and insurance companies. When they go broke you are dead.
The vanishing lake in Bolivia is an alarm bell, a canary in the world energy consumption/credit system. The canary tells us we have to change or else: that being depression, slave labor if available, poverty, exile ... and worse.
Ask yourself ... is that car really worth ... everything?
Some of the cost is absorbed by ex-fishermen in Bolivia. Others meeting the cost at this moment are Syrians, Venezuela, Somalians, Nigerians, Haitians, Yemenis ... Costs flow to Japan, England, Italy and their creaky banks ... also UK and German banks. Everything in the industrial world is bound up by way of finance. You say "Climate change doesn't exist" or that it doesn't affect; tell it to banks and insurance companies. When they go broke you are dead.
The vanishing lake in Bolivia is an alarm bell, a canary in the world energy consumption/credit system. The canary tells us we have to change or else: that being depression, slave labor if available, poverty, exile ... and worse.
Ask yourself ... is that car really worth ... everything?
3
After doing quite a bit of reading, I am convinced that human-caused climate change is happening now and will get much worse in the future if we do not stop increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. But even if I and the climate scientists are wrong about this, I still think we would be better off with trying to minimize the effect of pollution caused by human activity on ecosystems.
Perhaps all the people commenting who do not accept climate change would be willing also to do a mental experiment. Just for ten minutes, imagine that the 97% of all climate scientists who, after much research, think that climate change is happening and does pose a threat to the way we live through droughts, heat waves, more violent storms, rising sea levels, and extinctions are correct - what then do you think we as a society and individuals should do?
Perhaps all the people commenting who do not accept climate change would be willing also to do a mental experiment. Just for ten minutes, imagine that the 97% of all climate scientists who, after much research, think that climate change is happening and does pose a threat to the way we live through droughts, heat waves, more violent storms, rising sea levels, and extinctions are correct - what then do you think we as a society and individuals should do?
2
Definitely put money on the 3% side...we might get flooding + 7 points. Not sure what the over/under would be though.
The temperature anomaly is 1C. At 450ppm, we cannot avoid 2C by 2100, excluding additional effects. Additional effects: already melting permafrost will add 0.5C by 2100 (and is not included in standard calculations), and once coal plants are shut down, coal aerosols will rain out within a few years and temperature will rise another 0.5C. Since avoiding 450ppm is no longer possible (we'll hit that in a decade), we are looking at 3C by 2100. That's the same amount above pre-industrial temperature as the last Ice Age was below it. So, Whatever is coming, it'll be about as consequential as half of North America being covered in a mile of ice.
17
Holocaust denial, while idiotic, hurts no one. Nevertheless, it is illegal in many places.
By contrast, climate change denial is a potent threat to our very survival. The denialists should be rounded up and put away. They are a pubic health menace of gigantic proportion.
By contrast, climate change denial is a potent threat to our very survival. The denialists should be rounded up and put away. They are a pubic health menace of gigantic proportion.
22
Voiceofamerica - "The denialists should be rounded up and put away."
Yes lock them all up for thinking differently since we don't have enough people in JAIL in the United States. Perhaps when the Democrats win a majority in Congress they can make thinking differently than the party a major crime! That was sarcasm to those unfamiliar with its use.
Yes lock them all up for thinking differently since we don't have enough people in JAIL in the United States. Perhaps when the Democrats win a majority in Congress they can make thinking differently than the party a major crime! That was sarcasm to those unfamiliar with its use.
2
Thank you so much for particularizing this growing problem that threatens human existence.
8
A haunting article with sensational graphics. You are there, well almost. A resonating line: "We accepted the lake was going to die.”
Most people don’t accept, they haven’t been forced to even when reality is a given. Proof positive.
My city of Pinecrest, a suburb of Miami, is a prime example of that not accepting. Five acres of former wetlands and sump were permitted without drainage upfront, the city so anxious for development, they overlooked the obvious. New connections to canals that lead into Biscayne Bay for stormwater relief is illegal, the canals overflow and flood. Even so, the plan for mansions was OK’d without a place for the water to go.
First desecration, the inland wetlands destroyed along with its water absorbing habitat. Then floods, moat land, aquifer breach, cesspool, and now a Zika breeding tank while the homeless water continues to reclaim as the city grapples for a solution that doesn’t exist. See images on Pinecrest Floods and Pinecrest Bans Sumpland.
http://pinecrestfloods.blogspot.com/ and
https://pinecrestbanssumpland.blogspot.com/
Now that denial is a dire health issue.
We must all ask ourselves, ‘what else is there’ before destroying what remains. In the not-too-distant future, South Floridian's will face a similar fate. It is chilling that in this case, the pace has been accelerated by those wanting to develop land deemed too valuable to pass up.
Most people don’t accept, they haven’t been forced to even when reality is a given. Proof positive.
My city of Pinecrest, a suburb of Miami, is a prime example of that not accepting. Five acres of former wetlands and sump were permitted without drainage upfront, the city so anxious for development, they overlooked the obvious. New connections to canals that lead into Biscayne Bay for stormwater relief is illegal, the canals overflow and flood. Even so, the plan for mansions was OK’d without a place for the water to go.
First desecration, the inland wetlands destroyed along with its water absorbing habitat. Then floods, moat land, aquifer breach, cesspool, and now a Zika breeding tank while the homeless water continues to reclaim as the city grapples for a solution that doesn’t exist. See images on Pinecrest Floods and Pinecrest Bans Sumpland.
http://pinecrestfloods.blogspot.com/ and
https://pinecrestbanssumpland.blogspot.com/
Now that denial is a dire health issue.
We must all ask ourselves, ‘what else is there’ before destroying what remains. In the not-too-distant future, South Floridian's will face a similar fate. It is chilling that in this case, the pace has been accelerated by those wanting to develop land deemed too valuable to pass up.
29
They will shortly be writing this article for any of the hundreds of millions of people who rely on coral reefs to undergird their protein source.
4
Most US state legislatures are dominated by real estate developers.
2
Glaciers melt since the 1700's so have little to do with industrial emissions AFTER 1950.
This Swiss NAS site shows glaciers melting in 1900 at the same rate as now...
This Swiss NAS site shows glaciers melting in 1900 at the same rate as now...
3
Au contraire: South American glaciers are disappearing faster than most:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2075093-el-nino-means-glaciers-in-t...
(Granted, El Nino is just over, but I was choosing recent items; a search provides masses of data. For example:)
"Some glaciers have already melted away. In 2009, the last of the ice disappeared on the 5350-metre-high Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia – previously the world’s highest ski resort (pictured below). Similarly the ice-covered summit of Pico Espejo in Venezuela became bare rock by 2008."
"Global warming spells disaster for tropical Andes glaciers" https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/27/global-warming-glacier-d...
Pollitically motivated climate science deniers (unskeptical "skeptics") cite specialist resources (industry has a vested interest), but a general check supports reality. AO is a refugee from a Communist satellite country, a highly qualified math professor, who supports Donald Trump and fossil fuels forever.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2075093-el-nino-means-glaciers-in-t...
(Granted, El Nino is just over, but I was choosing recent items; a search provides masses of data. For example:)
"Some glaciers have already melted away. In 2009, the last of the ice disappeared on the 5350-metre-high Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia – previously the world’s highest ski resort (pictured below). Similarly the ice-covered summit of Pico Espejo in Venezuela became bare rock by 2008."
"Global warming spells disaster for tropical Andes glaciers" https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/27/global-warming-glacier-d...
Pollitically motivated climate science deniers (unskeptical "skeptics") cite specialist resources (industry has a vested interest), but a general check supports reality. AO is a refugee from a Communist satellite country, a highly qualified math professor, who supports Donald Trump and fossil fuels forever.
15
N. America's glaciers have been melting not since the 1700's but rather since the end of the last Ice Age, i.e., for the last 20,000 years, give or take... they left behind the Great Lakes and Yosemite, to name just a couple of famous remnants... [all, of course, before John D. Rockefeller single-handedly began destroying the planet]
3
Glaciers have been melting at an increasing rate for a long time now, and it's all been accelerated by the emissions of the industrial age. Your sources are incorrect.
2
Sympathetic and penetrating reporting with a cutting-edge presentation. This article is spectacular. Thank you!
7
The author draws a line between the death of the lake and climate change while only making passing mention of 'water diversion'. What is the amount of water being diverted? What is the amount of water entering the lake? Basic numbers like this provide a little more insight into what exactly is killing the lake.
22
"Decades of water diversion " quoting from the article. And the lake was high in the mountains in the middle of a desert...
However, water diversion is mostly likely due to human activity, but not defined by the journalists since natural occurrences could shift the flow of water...
However, water diversion is mostly likely due to human activity, but not defined by the journalists since natural occurrences could shift the flow of water...
It's just stunning how the headline can attribute this to climate change and then the text of the article comes close to contradicting this when it attributes the problem to water diversion, mining sediment and El Nino. It mentions the temperature increase since 1995 (when BTW the rest of the world didn't get warmer) but doesn't really explain the science of how that empties the lake or the importance of this issue relative to the other factors mentioned. If this could clearly be attributed to climate change believe me the author would have explained it. The fact that he doesn't seems to border on dishonesty and that contributes the widespread indifference or even skepticism of the climate change issue. Very long on tear jerk human tragedy and very very short on the science.
2
Here's a fascinating relevant paper on the watershed dynamics there: Application of the Watershed Sustainability Index to the Lake Poopo Watershed, Bolivia; Andres Calizaya et al. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275552767_Application_of_the_wa...
2
Thank you NY Times for this heartbreaking, astounding piece of journalism.
17
Well, now. I'm a retired one. And I only recall reporting on the news, whether it was good or bad or (and these weren't a whole lotta fun) indifferent. What did you do for a living, Mr/Mrs/Ms Ptooie?
Climate change is welcome for the planet..
Eventually Earthlings will poison the climate so thoroughly that most of us will die..
It's mother nature's way of cleansing it's parasites (people)
Just HOW MANY people do you think Earth can support ?
O V E R P O P U L A T I O N
Eventually Earthlings will poison the climate so thoroughly that most of us will die..
It's mother nature's way of cleansing it's parasites (people)
Just HOW MANY people do you think Earth can support ?
O V E R P O P U L A T I O N
6
"new world".......Overpopulation is a key issue, but it is nihilistic and amoral to say climate change is "welcome." Besides great human suffering, how could anyone callously write off the other species forced to share our fate? The last extinction was 65 million years ago. How many millions of years would it take for balanced ecosystems to evolve again?
6
I suppose that Paul Ryan and co. will interpret this as more "lies" from the left or a judgement of God upon these poor people and animals.
2
This is a beautifully illustrated, heart breaking story. BUT what happened to the lake is grossly, negligently not addressed. The story references "water diversion" and the water temperature rising and quicker evaporation. Of course water temps rise in a shallower body of water. I'd like to know how much of the cause of this lake drying up was due to it being drained and that water sent somewhere else. DId it go to a river, another lake, aquifer, farms, drinking water? To say that "Climate Change" killed the lake without a scientific explanation is mere propaganda.
8
This is an amazingly good piece by by NICHOLAS CASEY and JOSH HANER.
Thank you to both.
I would like to ask them to do a Part II, about the politics and history of diverting the waters from the lake. Is there any action in Bolivia to try and redivert some of that water back to this lake, once the second largest in the country. Are there any hydrologists in Bolivia or elsewhere who think that recreating the lake is politically and environmentally feasible? Is there any support for rebuilding the lake in Bolivia, outside of the displaced Indian fishing people, the Uru-Murato?
Thank you to both.
I would like to ask them to do a Part II, about the politics and history of diverting the waters from the lake. Is there any action in Bolivia to try and redivert some of that water back to this lake, once the second largest in the country. Are there any hydrologists in Bolivia or elsewhere who think that recreating the lake is politically and environmentally feasible? Is there any support for rebuilding the lake in Bolivia, outside of the displaced Indian fishing people, the Uru-Murato?
10
I certainly hope there are no exaggerations in this article about the impact of Climate Change on this lake - if so it could be a prosecutable offense for fraud.
6
Exxon thanks you for your support. BTW, Exxon made trillions off of promoting a lie that, for 30 years, they knew was a lie. I kind of think that puts it in a different ballpark.
15
There are salt flats all over the Andes mountains. This means that lakes have been drying up there for a very long time. This Lake Poopo was also a SALINE lake, which means that it was on the same path of drying up. The Desaguadero river, which feeds this lake, has been intensively used for agriculture and for the mining industry - this is what led to the current water imbalance.
Dear NYTimes, please stop slapping the "global warming" label on every problem you see out there.
Dear NYTimes, please stop slapping the "global warming" label on every problem you see out there.
10
They said as much in the article. However, the Prof they talked to said they didn't expect this to dry up for another few thousand years. The accelerated drying they are putting down to CC.
16
No, they're actually not. They're putting it down to water diversion. Even a bathtub with remnants of water drained will evaporate rapidly.
anyone who's taken a basic course in geology knows that the stratigraphic record contains a) numerous evaporite layers (i.e., ancient dry lake beds) all over the planet and b) numerous present-day such occurrences (e.g., Utah's Great Salt Lake), all of which formed due to complex natural earth processes, including climate changes as the most obvious... yes, it's a tragedy that the way of life for the affected Bolivians has been forever changed - but to conflate this with the current popular belief that climate change began with John D. Rockefeller is to display a massive ignorance of the geologic processes that formed - and continue to form - our earth
8
bigoil.......How many times does it have to be said? Geological history shows that natural climate change is slow in onset, and species have time to adjust through evolution or migration. The accelerated rate of man-made climate change has more in common with the catastrophic events that have caused major extinctions.
But I'm sure you've been told this many, many times before. What I don't understand is, how can deniers look themselves in the mirror, knowing that love of money and/or a political party means more to them than extinctions of species on this beautiful planet, the only one in the universe known to support life? Such stubborn, shameless ingratitude never ceases to appall me.
But I'm sure you've been told this many, many times before. What I don't understand is, how can deniers look themselves in the mirror, knowing that love of money and/or a political party means more to them than extinctions of species on this beautiful planet, the only one in the universe known to support life? Such stubborn, shameless ingratitude never ceases to appall me.
15
The most recent generation of the Rockefeller family is acknowledging climate change, and divesting. You know better?
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-rockefeller-exxon-mobil-investments-id...
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-rockefeller-exxon-mobil-investments-id...
7
The climate change and unusual weather clearly greatly impacts developing and third world countries. The thought of "tens of thousands" of fish--life, had died off, people and birds leaving the area all due to Lake Poopo drying up is very concerning. There are other places in the world where dead whales wash up on shore, dead tuna, and other aquatic life and populations dying in masses due to pollution or (in this case) climate changes. These issues should be more concerning to the world than whether or not a person needs fur coats or a handbag made of reptilian skin. Materialism and worldly desires is what distracts our attention from what matters most. For example, instead of solving the issue of the concerning amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, people are cutting down forests and clearing off mountain sides for parking lots and buildings.
4
Wait a minute- water is being diverted from the lake in ever-increasing amounts to feed a Quinoa fad, but the lake disappeared from Global Warming? Sorry, Climate Change.
14
I'm guessing at 12,000 ft, the low pressure means water evaporates fairly easily (esp since the wind is also so dry). Perhaps that makes it more sensitive to even small increases in water temperature. They are indicating the final blow was due to increased water temperature.
7
Yes, the article implies the final blow was the increased water temp of 0.9 deg C but by failing to give the actual water temp or the temperatures for previous years readers are simply left to take the reporter's conclusions as fact rather than being able to do some basic math for validation. A quick review of evaporation rate data shows that wind speed is a far greater determinant of evaporation rates than minor temperature increases. Wind data is absent from the article. The available evidence makes it far more likely that water diversion is the primary cause of the loss of this lake.
2
We are emitting heat-trapping greenhouse gases which are increasing the energy (heat) in the system (global warming) which results in a disrupted planetary circulation (climate change). The distinction without a difference was initially introduced by Frank Luntz, Republican pollster/advocate. That said, we are in a planetary emergency which is only getting worse. Ignoring each symptom makes the disease worse.
7
It will continue to get worse.
We keep having more and more people on a fixed amount of land ad infinitum.
More fossil fuels, more pollution, more babies every year.
You just can't keep doing that without big trouble.
Denial won't be possible for much longer.
We keep having more and more people on a fixed amount of land ad infinitum.
More fossil fuels, more pollution, more babies every year.
You just can't keep doing that without big trouble.
Denial won't be possible for much longer.
24
Climate change holds a sad justice in that it will hit rich and poor alike. The wealthy will, of course, someday say that those who can afford it should have access to more water, but, when the lack of water becomes chronic and widespread, this essential liquid for life will be the catalyst for a social and economic revolution unlike any other in history. By then, I hope to be safely under browning grass.
9
Except that the rich will be able to afford water for much longer. Remember the stories from California. Wealth inequality which keeps deepening will be even more significant in survival. And the rich are those in power, so denial is in their favour. How do we change this situation?
1
As long as climate change doesn't affect the members of the GOP, their rich donors and the corporations we will continue to see changes that devastate ethnic groups that live in vulnerable areas. Yes, the lake would have vanished but it should not have done so now. And maybe the western world should be offering these people a new place to live or showing them a new way of life that is sustainable since the lake will not be making a reappearance any time soon. However, I suspect that we will use our normal approach and wait until we're affected and then do too little too late.
18
Yes, the Republicans drained the lake. You sound smart.
6
Oh Jerry, you sound like a typical and easily-aggrieved republican. Where exactly did hen3ry say "Republicans drained the lake"? I'm waiting...
What he did say was that GOP policies contribute to climate change which is a contributing factor to the lake's demise and republicans won't care until they themselves are affected. But I guess there's just too much nuance and subtlety for you to grasp what was really said.
What he did say was that GOP policies contribute to climate change which is a contributing factor to the lake's demise and republicans won't care until they themselves are affected. But I guess there's just too much nuance and subtlety for you to grasp what was really said.
7
Too many people,period.
20
The Earth reached its carrying capacity decades ago when there were only 4 billion people. We will see a lot of ugliness in people when resources literally dry up.
12
To climate change deniers, this article describes part of that process:
A continuous increase in global temperatures, increases sea temperature
which equals water level increase due to water molecule expansion resulting
in inundation of sea shore.
Glaciers melt adding more water to oceans.
Increased evaporation of lakes without water replenishment.
Unusual patterns of rainfall resulting in floods in places and desertification in others. See migration by the tens of millions from Mideast and North-Africa.
I see and pay for these changes like people who own sea shore properties.
I have seen the glaciers retreat in Alaska and Antarctica.
Go out and see for yourself.
A continuous increase in global temperatures, increases sea temperature
which equals water level increase due to water molecule expansion resulting
in inundation of sea shore.
Glaciers melt adding more water to oceans.
Increased evaporation of lakes without water replenishment.
Unusual patterns of rainfall resulting in floods in places and desertification in others. See migration by the tens of millions from Mideast and North-Africa.
I see and pay for these changes like people who own sea shore properties.
I have seen the glaciers retreat in Alaska and Antarctica.
Go out and see for yourself.
14
These developing countries and Third World countries are the true victims of climate change. They do not emit most of the CO2 in the atmosphere yet they are the most affected. The fundamental immorality is that the haves taking away the little that the have-nots had and leave the latter with nothing.
13
If Republicans don't care about the earth and don't believe in science, maybe all the people fleeing will spark some interest? Massive migration is going to happen, and we all know how much Republicans love refugees.
17
There is no tax you can levy that will make any difference.
2
I often backpack on trails which cross meadows that were once lakes. Nothing new here.
4
This lake was about 30 miles long when it was there. Meadows I backpack across might be 1/2 mile long.
6
most often th result of abandoned beaver dams
2
I know it's hopeless but I'm going to suggest that the Denialists actually read the article.
"But climate change was the finishing blow. On average the lake warmed .41F per decade since 1985."
Note: It does not say "the lake drying up is evidence of climate change". The effects of increasing CO2 are well established from basic physics and observation.
So, what is the criticism? A question of causality?
If you hit someone, and the person has a pre-existing condition making them vulnerable, you are still held responsible if the person dies. So there's nothing wrong with the suggestion that the lake would probably have lasted longer without the increase in evaporation, , as well as reduced replenishment, attributable to the effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere.
With respect to other human activities that contributed to the demise, this is a perfect cautionary tale. We have to adapt to the effects of climate change, instead of denying it. Had we not been denying it all this time, perhaps the government would have been able to devise restrictions on water use that would have let the lake survive.
"But climate change was the finishing blow. On average the lake warmed .41F per decade since 1985."
Note: It does not say "the lake drying up is evidence of climate change". The effects of increasing CO2 are well established from basic physics and observation.
So, what is the criticism? A question of causality?
If you hit someone, and the person has a pre-existing condition making them vulnerable, you are still held responsible if the person dies. So there's nothing wrong with the suggestion that the lake would probably have lasted longer without the increase in evaporation, , as well as reduced replenishment, attributable to the effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere.
With respect to other human activities that contributed to the demise, this is a perfect cautionary tale. We have to adapt to the effects of climate change, instead of denying it. Had we not been denying it all this time, perhaps the government would have been able to devise restrictions on water use that would have let the lake survive.
12
Wow, this article really brought out the science deniers of all stripes. It's amazing the breadth and depth of pseudoscience they are willing to digest and disgorge in an effort to avoid simply cutting the Gordian knot and realizing the simplest explanation is the correct one: Mankind is increasing the temperature of the Earth through introduction of heat-trapping gasses into the atmosphere.
What is it about facts that repel these people?
What is it about facts that repel these people?
38
They spent so much time in church that they had no time to study the sciences, or they were "home-schooled" by fundie parents, or both.
4
What repels these people is intelligence, it terrorizes them. They preferred to live in the world of fantasy where they feel comfortable and sheltered from reality. I would say, they are extremely dangerous and we shouldn't let them influence or control our lives. Get rid of them, since they believe in paradise. Let's convince them to self immolate so they can get their first
1
Accusing someone of being a "denier" is apparently the new way to shut down any legitimate discussion. Anthropogenic climate change is real and a very, very important problem for the future of the human race. It also appears to have very little to do with this lake disappearing. Quinoa appears to be the much bigger cause. Why does having that view make someone a "denier"? And can we use the term "denier" against people who don't like GMO's -- or does the application of that term only go in approved directions?
2
Climate change is what drove the original Euroasian out of Africa. Those that remained spend the next few millennias scraping by while those that left moved on to greener pastures.
2
God, it's depressing to read all the comments that deny the importance of climate change or label this outstanding work of journalism propaganda. It just goes to show that even what passes for an educated American public has a poor understanding of basic science and statistics. More disturbing than that is Americans have lost faith in expertise--whether scientific or journalistic--and discernment. If you can't tell the difference between political propaganda financed by the coal industry and independent professional journalism, we are all in deep trouble.
33
Thoughtful article. Their fate may someday be ours. Some readers are viewing regional human politics/mismanagement/greed as separate & independent from climate change. I see them intertwined. We live in denial. Please do a follow-up article on the Uru-Murato in the future.
8
Real people. Real loss. We fail to pay attention when other unseen figures are paying the price. But they will not be alone in their loss forever.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
www.endthemadnessnow.org
6
God forbid Americans should give up their F150 just because some lake in Mexico is drying up and putting Mexicans on the street! (Yes, I am being extremely sarcastic in my comment about the mental illness of conservatism in America).
11
Lots of lakes are going to disappear in the decades ahead due to combination of water diversion/overuse and climate change. The Aral Sea is already gone and the Salton Sea is going fast.
4
The Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when massive flooding caused the Colorado River to break through an irrigation canal headwork and flow freely into the Salton Basin for 18 months. Since then, the Sea's existence has been maintained primarily by agricultural return flows from the Imperial, Coachella, and Mexicali Valleys.
evaporation is winnowing th lake away slowly
easy come, easy go
evaporation is winnowing th lake away slowly
easy come, easy go
1
Rather than the Salton Sea, a complex ecologically ambiguous situation, Mr. Garcia could have in the same region pointed to the United States' deprivation of water to the Colorado River Delta, turning a biologically rich estuary depended upon by local and indigenous people and an array of wildlife into miles upon miles of dead salt flats. Global warming had little to do with it, we just stole the water. Global warming will increase competition for water and other resources, but I worry that focusing only on global warming obscures a lot of willful human caused environmental devastation that could be minimized. The earth is not Eden, but an often inhospitable host with very limited resources and much is being lost whether this was climate change, human diversions, or natural processes (or of course all three).
3
Getting past the amusing name of the lake, this article provides no casual relationship between climate change and the disappearance of the lake. It actually appears water diversion is the chief factor causing the lake to dry up.
Get used to climate change, its been going on for millions and millions of years and man can only adapt.
Get used to climate change, its been going on for millions and millions of years and man can only adapt.
7
The point — and it has always been the point — is that man is causing climate to change at a greatly accelerated and dangerous rate.
Denialism serves no one, except the truly ignorant and fossil-fuel interests.
Denialism serves no one, except the truly ignorant and fossil-fuel interests.
26
The point - and it has always been the point - is that the climate has and always will change. An anomalous lake in a high desert goes dry because of man-made diversions and drought, and climate change is to blame. Really? To politely paraphrase the late, great Sam Kinison, the lake was in a freakin' desert; sooner or later it's gonna go dry.
Look at maps of eighth century maps and you'll see two massive inland lakes in southern Spain, east of Seville. They're not there anymore. Haven't been for a thousand years. Climate change.
Look at maps of eighth century maps and you'll see two massive inland lakes in southern Spain, east of Seville. They're not there anymore. Haven't been for a thousand years. Climate change.
2
Perhaps you overlooked the rising temperature of the lake water cited in the article. You realize, of course, warm water evaporates more quickly than cold, right?
8
Just a beautiful piece of work, using the best features of contemporary online journalism.
16
Google “climate change” and see all exaggeration, and for what purpose? These are just from July 2016! It’s hard to take it serious after a while.
“Storm-battered fish feeling climate change effects”
“One of earth's most-loved species is at risk from climate change”
“Climate change, asteroid impact killed off dinosaurs”
“Climate Change Could Alter Interactions among Species”
“Jason Wu credits the popularity of wool to climate change”
“Climate change plagues Madagascar's poor: 'The water rose so fast”
“Mussels off the menu within 85 years due to climate change”
“Climate Change Disrupts Wildlife Schedule”
“Anglesey's lost colony of seabirds as climate change takes toll”
“Scientists Say Climate Change Damaging National Parks”
“Climate change threatens continuation of nomad life in Turkey”
“Summer of Fire: Climate Change Driving Wildfires”
“Study: Climate Change Warming Asian Waters, Altering Monsoon”
“Climate change to widen range of disease-carrying mosquitoes”
“The curious case of crabs crawling crazy cause of climate change”
“Climate change could reduce Adélie penguin populations”
“Climate change is speeding up the spread of Lyme disease”
“Storm-battered fish feeling climate change effects”
“One of earth's most-loved species is at risk from climate change”
“Climate change, asteroid impact killed off dinosaurs”
“Climate Change Could Alter Interactions among Species”
“Jason Wu credits the popularity of wool to climate change”
“Climate change plagues Madagascar's poor: 'The water rose so fast”
“Mussels off the menu within 85 years due to climate change”
“Climate Change Disrupts Wildlife Schedule”
“Anglesey's lost colony of seabirds as climate change takes toll”
“Scientists Say Climate Change Damaging National Parks”
“Climate change threatens continuation of nomad life in Turkey”
“Summer of Fire: Climate Change Driving Wildfires”
“Study: Climate Change Warming Asian Waters, Altering Monsoon”
“Climate change to widen range of disease-carrying mosquitoes”
“The curious case of crabs crawling crazy cause of climate change”
“Climate change could reduce Adélie penguin populations”
“Climate change is speeding up the spread of Lyme disease”
5
All sorts of bad thing are happening because of climate change, so the more facts and evidence there is that the planet is suufering, the less seriously you are going to take it?
26
"How to Lie with Statistics", Darrell Huff & Irving Geis
Essentially, you can deliver any assertion and blame it on climate change or global warming or El Niño or La Niña or termites or gypsy moths or zombies.
Kilimanjaro lost its summit glacier because of climate change!!! Well, no, actually it lost its glacier because (a) it's in Africa and (b) the mechanism that caused the glacier (prevailing wind from rain forest to top of mountain) was broken (man chopped down the rainforest which deprived the mountain of its supply of ice crystals and also allowed the ground to heat up more to move the sun's heat up the mountain). But it takes actual science done by actual scientists to figure that out.
Essentially, you can deliver any assertion and blame it on climate change or global warming or El Niño or La Niña or termites or gypsy moths or zombies.
Kilimanjaro lost its summit glacier because of climate change!!! Well, no, actually it lost its glacier because (a) it's in Africa and (b) the mechanism that caused the glacier (prevailing wind from rain forest to top of mountain) was broken (man chopped down the rainforest which deprived the mountain of its supply of ice crystals and also allowed the ground to heat up more to move the sun's heat up the mountain). But it takes actual science done by actual scientists to figure that out.
1
And you don't seem to realize you are killing your own argument.
7
The title of the of this article claims “Climate Change Claims a Lake”. Throughout the article, “climate change” is blamed for the lake drying up. The author never defines “climate change”, so the author is left with the connotation of “climate change”, which is a hypothesis based on a computer model that carbon released from human activity results in dramatic change in temperatures. The author cites two points for evidence that “climate change” has caused the lake to dry up: 1. The air temperature has risen by 1.6 degrees F and 2. The lake dried up faster than local scientist believed. The author did not present evidence that 1.6 degrees F is enough to dry up a lake 98 years faster than expected. The author expects us to believe the local scientists’ claim of a faster drying up lake without any further evidence or examination. The author points out that upstream water was diverted for agriculture. Is that climate change?
The reality is the world changes. The author chooses a remote lake in a remote place and fails to show climate change, as common defined, is the primary suspect. This is just another exaggeration of alleged climate change effects which in aggregate are laughable.
The reality is the world changes. The author chooses a remote lake in a remote place and fails to show climate change, as common defined, is the primary suspect. This is just another exaggeration of alleged climate change effects which in aggregate are laughable.
2
Are you going to do a story about how massive Devil's Lake in North Dakota is and how it continues to grow?
4
propaganda like this does not help the cause of climate change science.
5
This is obviously tragic, buts the story should be titled ''poor water management, mining, and climate change claims a lake". Hysteria does not help people make good choices, and neither does fancy graphics that gives anything but the latest computer fits. Journalistic elitism once again from the tone deaf NYT.
5
Sad story, but people have been displaced by nature and the actions of other people ever since...ever. Very nice piece of digital-age journalism, in any case.
3
Climate change is real, but this article adds nothing to that discussion since no effort has been made by the author to quantify the effects of "decades of water diversion" on the disappearance of Lake Poopo. Also, the Salton sea in California (mentioned in the article as having been diminished by "water diversion") was actually filled up by accident in the early 1900's as a result of efforts to control the Colorado River. Furthermore, the Salton Sea historically has cycles of filling and emptying that occur naturally every 400 to 500 years. Mentioning the Salton Sea as an example of other lakes disappearing due to climate change is misleading.
Climate change is a serious problem, but Bolivian water management policies may have had a far greater impact on the loss of this lake. Inaccurate reporting like this is fodder for climate change deniers and diminishes the importance of the issue.
Climate change is a serious problem, but Bolivian water management policies may have had a far greater impact on the loss of this lake. Inaccurate reporting like this is fodder for climate change deniers and diminishes the importance of the issue.
6
The fate of Lake Poopo was predicted over 100 years ago.
Here is a vivid description of that area of Bolivia written by James Bryce in 1913:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V2wxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X2YDAAAAIBAJ...
"Poopo will disappear altogether, and this plain will become a sheet of glimmering salt".
Here is a vivid description of that area of Bolivia written by James Bryce in 1913:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V2wxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X2YDAAAAIBAJ...
"Poopo will disappear altogether, and this plain will become a sheet of glimmering salt".
7
So was the end of the world.
1
Yes DanM, but the Climate Change Religion does not care about facts.
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang
But with a whimper
Unfortunately, not. There will be lots of bangs, because we tend violent, and trouble is certainly on the way. Climate change being primary, but lots of other forms of waste, pollution, and dumping in the clusterf**k.
Not with a bang
But with a whimper
Unfortunately, not. There will be lots of bangs, because we tend violent, and trouble is certainly on the way. Climate change being primary, but lots of other forms of waste, pollution, and dumping in the clusterf**k.
2
Didn't dinosaurs go extinct because of climate change too? I miss the dinosaurs...
2
The dinosaurs were around for 135 million years and went extinct because of a planet-wide natural disaster, no fault of their own. Our type of humans have only been around for about 200 thousand years, and in the last 200 years we have been doing a pretty good job of messing up our environment. Something tells me that we are not going to have a 100 million plus year run.
8
Not really gone.
They are flying around everywhere.
They are flying around everywhere.
3
I stopped eating quinoa years ago.
2
That stuff is vile. Why would you eat it in the first place?
what quinoa has to do with the disappearance of the lake? good you don't eat it, more for smart people
Maria, the article says "First, as quinoa became popular abroad, booming production of the grain diverted water upstream, lowering Lake Poopó’s level."
2
Yes I appreciate the graphics quality and the intent to tell the story of a small group of people whose culture is dying. But as other comments have noted , this disaster was engineered by political forces that allowed water diversion to produce Quinoa (for export ?) and a mining (corporation ? ) to silt the lake. The article doesn't say the lake is very shallow and is susceptible to drought. The connection to "climate change" forces is only suggested and not proven. What is the rainfall history of the watershed ? I am not a denier.
23
This is happening all over - Alaska, Pacific Islands, etc. it is not an isolated event.
18
Even deny, being a denier
2
This lake didn't disappear because of climate change. It disappeared because of water diversion. Mono Lake has actually filled up again because the LA Department of Water & Power has allowed water to flow back into the lake. But it's a salt lake, and no one ever actually lived there or made a living off the lake. It's just pretty to look at as you drive by on Highway 395.
The water diversion in Bolivia went to grow Quinoa to fill the shelves of Whole Foods and Park Slope Co-op and the pantries of Americans. This story isn't about climate change. It's about unintended consequences.
The water diversion in Bolivia went to grow Quinoa to fill the shelves of Whole Foods and Park Slope Co-op and the pantries of Americans. This story isn't about climate change. It's about unintended consequences.
5
Actually, Mono is not salt, it's alkaline. Very strong alkaline.
3
"WATER CHEMISTRY OF MONO LAKE
It contains chlorides, carbonates, and sulfates - a chloride-carbonate-sulfate "triple water" lake. It is alkaline, with a pH of 10, and ALMOST THREE TIMES AS SALTY as the ocean. At 6,392 feet asl it will be slightly more than twice as salty as the ocean."
It contains chlorides, carbonates, and sulfates - a chloride-carbonate-sulfate "triple water" lake. It is alkaline, with a pH of 10, and ALMOST THREE TIMES AS SALTY as the ocean. At 6,392 feet asl it will be slightly more than twice as salty as the ocean."
1
This is a beautiful and tragic story. How was the choice made to hide most of the people's faces either under hats or in shadow? Was that a request made by the villagers, or an artistic choice? It seemed odd to depict most of the residents as faceless.
7
I have been to Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, and at that altitude near the equator you must wear a broad brimmed hat to survive, and even so, your skin will be baked to a very dark leathery brown. To our eyes, which can detect a wide range of brightness at a time, we can see their faces, but a camera exposure set outdoors to pick up the color of their clothes show their faces as nothing but a shadowed dark void. That being said, indoor pictures showing the strength and character of these wonderful people, and what living in such a harsh environment does to you would have been informative for those who have never been to this spectacularly beautiful part of the Earth.
13
I want climate change to accelerate. I love snow and climate change means more snow where I live. In the Boston area, for 135 years of record keeping, 6 of the 8 heaviest snowfall seasons have occurred in the last 24 years. I am optimistic that we will have another big snowfall season in the upcoming winter. It would be an appropriate commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the Great Snow of 1717.
1. 2014-2015: 110.6 inches
2. 1995-1996: 107.6 inches
3. 1993-1994: 96.3 inches
4. 1947-1948: 89.2 inches
5. 2004-2005: 86.6 inches
6. 1977-1978: 85.1 inches
7. 1992-1993: 83.9 inches
8. 2010-2011: 81.0 inches
Not a believer. Not a denier. Not a skeptic. I am a climate change fan !
GO CLIMATE CHANGE !
1. 2014-2015: 110.6 inches
2. 1995-1996: 107.6 inches
3. 1993-1994: 96.3 inches
4. 1947-1948: 89.2 inches
5. 2004-2005: 86.6 inches
6. 1977-1978: 85.1 inches
7. 1992-1993: 83.9 inches
8. 2010-2011: 81.0 inches
Not a believer. Not a denier. Not a skeptic. I am a climate change fan !
GO CLIMATE CHANGE !
3
What you wish for will have a billion people on the move within decades.
38
There's only one planet, Sir. We all share it. Animals, trees, humans, fish. Not really about you and your silliness.
64
before you tie him to the stake - perhaps DanM does believe in Irony
7
Maxing out production of Quinoa via water diversion is a Bolivian National choice - no more no less.
As California depletes the aquifers and the Colorado river in the great agricultural valleys for almond production and other high water resourced crops - the citizens in the cities are faced with diminishing choices. Its called a conscious decision.
Conflating to Climate Change Agenda is called......... propaganda!
As California depletes the aquifers and the Colorado river in the great agricultural valleys for almond production and other high water resourced crops - the citizens in the cities are faced with diminishing choices. Its called a conscious decision.
Conflating to Climate Change Agenda is called......... propaganda!
9
You forgot that in the middle of our California drought we are also using huge quantities of water to grow rice and alfalfa. Unfortunately I would not call conflating our water problems with climate change "propaganda", but merely an example of our stupidity.
9
Lakes have come and gone for eons. There is no reason to believe that this one is unique, somehow. Anyway. Why are only NEGATIVE things attributed to warming? There are many positive things that would also occur with a rising temperature but these are purposely ignored by the media. It's so obvious that there is a political, rather than a scientific agenda in play here just by the dishonest coverage of the subject.
4
There is no reason to believe that nature gives a rat's patootie about this planet or humanity, yet narcissists cling desperately to the notion such an imaginary being will intervene to stop their destruction of this whole planet.
7
The only real hoax about climate change are those who deny that humans have anything to do with it.
Yes, changes to the climate have always occurred, but the rub here is the *rapidity* with which it currently occurs. That's ground zero for why adaptation not only is necessary, but also is the only option available; thanks to deniers and their monied and greedy heroes, mitigation is no longer viable.
We really do inherit the wind.
Yes, changes to the climate have always occurred, but the rub here is the *rapidity* with which it currently occurs. That's ground zero for why adaptation not only is necessary, but also is the only option available; thanks to deniers and their monied and greedy heroes, mitigation is no longer viable.
We really do inherit the wind.
35
This sounds more like human mismanagement than climate change.
14
I guess no one told the fish that climate change is a hoax.
18
Blame water diversion and overpopulation before looking for politically convenient reasons. El Niño has nothing to do with humans. It has been there for a while.
4
Great journalism. Thanks
5
hmmmmm...... sounds like large water users with contracts are involved here along with climate change. keep an eye on the american west this scenario is already upon us.
7
"Climate change" is about an increase in global average temperatures of approximately one degree centigrade per year. How, exactly, does a gradual change like that translate into things that happen metaphorically overnight?
I am very sure there were other factors at work here. But, nature taking its course doesn't fit the Times' narrative, does it?
It's hot outside today -- Must be global warming! There's a blizzard in the northeast -- Must be climate change! It's going to rain on Wednesday -- Must be changing weather patterns due to that hot dog I boiled last night!
Our local newspaper has actually put a link on their Web page for readers to upload "images of climate change." How ridiculous is that?
And, how long until the Times does something similar? Oh, wait...
This article is exactly that, isn't it?
I am very sure there were other factors at work here. But, nature taking its course doesn't fit the Times' narrative, does it?
It's hot outside today -- Must be global warming! There's a blizzard in the northeast -- Must be climate change! It's going to rain on Wednesday -- Must be changing weather patterns due to that hot dog I boiled last night!
Our local newspaper has actually put a link on their Web page for readers to upload "images of climate change." How ridiculous is that?
And, how long until the Times does something similar? Oh, wait...
This article is exactly that, isn't it?
2
That should have been "increase in global average temperatures of approximately one degree centigrade per *century.*" Sorry 'bout that!
2
Elfego, thanks for correcting the error. But what you miss is the acceleration. We are looking at somewhere between 3C and 6C by 2100, and time doesn't stop then. And there are contributatory factors from "tipping point" issues like permafrost melt and Greenland and Antarctic melt. My fear is that we have unleashed a monster.
1
The NYT doesn't help matters by claiming that every negative natural event is the result of "climate change". Anthroprogenic climate change is real and immensely important -- but the impacts on daily weather and natural events like lake water levels are not immediate or direct. And when you say they are, then you call into question the credibility of there being actual long-term climate change. If they stop water diversion and water returns to this lake, does that mean that we now have no climate change problem? What is another Category 3 hurricane (which Katrina was when it made landfall) doesn't hit New Orleans for another 100 years. Does that mean that climate change doesn't exist? Don't stretch to find drama. The actual facts of climate change should be dramatic enough.
4
Perhaps the headline should start with "Decades of water diversion and".
6
As with many of these stories ("rising sea levels" by Virginia that really aren't), there is much more at work here than climate change ("First, as quinoa became popular abroad, booming production of the grain diverted water upstream, lowering Lake Poopó’s level. Second, mining sediment was quickly silting the lake from below"), but that doesn't stop the Times from boiling it down to "climate change claims a lake." A lot of us are not skeptical that climate change is occurring, but we are troubled that the reporting so often favors the extreme and the exaggerated case.
1
Shame.
Incredible amounts of work wasted on gorgeous graphics and videos, heart-rending writing, and amazing photos...
...without connecting even one of the million dots that must be directly traced between humans burning hydrocarbons, the alleged smoking gun, and the shrinking of the lake, the alleged victim.
Thank you for providing solid evidence that when you are preaching to the converted, like your readers who have deep faith in global warming, any story, even the Easter Bunny, stands on its own without logical proof.
Incredible amounts of work wasted on gorgeous graphics and videos, heart-rending writing, and amazing photos...
...without connecting even one of the million dots that must be directly traced between humans burning hydrocarbons, the alleged smoking gun, and the shrinking of the lake, the alleged victim.
Thank you for providing solid evidence that when you are preaching to the converted, like your readers who have deep faith in global warming, any story, even the Easter Bunny, stands on its own without logical proof.
2
@A. Rice,
I agree that economic and industrial forces exacerbate climate change's effects on the planet, But tell me what's happening with the Dead Sea? The desertification of North Africa? The melting of glaciers everywhere? The rising level of the Med Sea? Maybe the ME sun has blinded you to the extensive Israeli research on global climate change and its effects on your area and the rest of the planet. SO open the eyes... and mind. Time for reality check when 2,000 leading scientists oppose your naïve denial of reality and your unsubstantiated charge of "bias". It's your world, too.
I agree that economic and industrial forces exacerbate climate change's effects on the planet, But tell me what's happening with the Dead Sea? The desertification of North Africa? The melting of glaciers everywhere? The rising level of the Med Sea? Maybe the ME sun has blinded you to the extensive Israeli research on global climate change and its effects on your area and the rest of the planet. SO open the eyes... and mind. Time for reality check when 2,000 leading scientists oppose your naïve denial of reality and your unsubstantiated charge of "bias". It's your world, too.
3
I challenge that nobody connected the dots.
The answer is not to challenge me to a scientist count.
There are scientists on both sides. Where's the hard evidence?
What you show, unwittingly, Dr. Bob, is how what there isn't on your side are clear simple facts.
The answer is not to challenge me to a scientist count.
There are scientists on both sides. Where's the hard evidence?
What you show, unwittingly, Dr. Bob, is how what there isn't on your side are clear simple facts.
The article presented no scientific evidence for a climate change connection. The writers appear not to understand or be interested in the hydrology of high-altitude saline lakes in an arid region. The article notes that water was diverted for mining and agriculture, but then ignores those facts as a probable cause of the lake's demise (cf. the Aral Sea!)
A. Rice's evaluation of the article is right on, although I do find it a compelling piece on the hard lives led by the marginalized indigenous people of the region.
Dr. Bob: what do those 2,000 scientists agree on, precisely? I hear many citations of statistics on the supposed "consensus," but rarely, if ever, is the content of the consensus described. I have read the latest article that claims to prove 99% consensus, but the content of it amounts to this:
-CO2 is a GHG
-Earth is warmer now that it was 150 years ago
-Human beings contributed to this warming
Not a very striking consensus. Not stated is how much the human contribution is, how much the earth is warmer, how reliable the computer projections are, etc. etc. etc. :-(
A. Rice's evaluation of the article is right on, although I do find it a compelling piece on the hard lives led by the marginalized indigenous people of the region.
Dr. Bob: what do those 2,000 scientists agree on, precisely? I hear many citations of statistics on the supposed "consensus," but rarely, if ever, is the content of the consensus described. I have read the latest article that claims to prove 99% consensus, but the content of it amounts to this:
-CO2 is a GHG
-Earth is warmer now that it was 150 years ago
-Human beings contributed to this warming
Not a very striking consensus. Not stated is how much the human contribution is, how much the earth is warmer, how reliable the computer projections are, etc. etc. etc. :-(
"California’s Mono Lake and Salton Sea were both diminished by water diversions..."
The Salton Sea was CREATED by a human water diversion in the very early 1900s. No water is divertes from it: too salty to use!
The Salton Sea was CREATED by a human water diversion in the very early 1900s. No water is divertes from it: too salty to use!
2
The Salton sea was created by mistake ,and/ or incompetence.
Perhaps a mistake caused by incompetence, or just hasty digging. Anyway, are you disagreeing with me??
Climate Change? How much was it really "climate change" and how much was from water mismanagement and diversions?
1
"The videos and photography for this story are exquisite."
Indeed. This piece is not about Global Warming ... its about "Search for the Pulitzer Prize".
Standard "journalism". Useless as any basis for discussion of anything else, as well put earlier by Ross.
Indeed. This piece is not about Global Warming ... its about "Search for the Pulitzer Prize".
Standard "journalism". Useless as any basis for discussion of anything else, as well put earlier by Ross.
1
Only "believers" will think about this article, I fear. Subsistence farmers and hunters around the world are suffering from climate change. Let's talk about this. Let's make a list of what are the most important issues facing our world, our country, and our community and let's talk about those. If citizens don't demand sane, focused discourse, we will never get it, apparently, because we don't count when there is political blood to be let. Whatever your opinion is on climate change, gun safety (not a 2nd amendment issue), crime, jobs, threats to life in the US and elsewhere, terrorism - isn't it time that we and our elected representatives talk deeply about these issues? Just saying' The facts you choose to use are not the issue at this point. Talk to someone today - especially if they don't agree with you on an important topic - not emails, not straw men - but issues. If you come to some way forward, share it. We all need to hear about and learn from successful conversations. I fear that we aren't getting anywhere on the issues that are most important to life on earth and life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
2
The photographs and video were stunning, magnifying the impact of the story for us as distant readers. Thanks for creating such a powerful experience.
7
Wow - a dry lake bed! We've never seen that on planet earth before; we must be doomed. I've got news for you, the climate has been continually changing for millions of years, yet today guilt-ridden and ego-driven humans insist there's something they can do about it. That's only a symptom of how big we believe we've become in our own delusional minds. It's lunacy.
2
All these other factors including mismanagement and diversion of the water but we're going to place the ultimate blame on the thing that advances our political agenda. Always.
1
There is nothing to show this lake dried up from climate change.
The water was diverted.
The remaining water, being shallower, heated up more.
There is overwhelming evidence that the disappearance of the lake was caused by water diversion and not climate change.
The water was diverted.
The remaining water, being shallower, heated up more.
There is overwhelming evidence that the disappearance of the lake was caused by water diversion and not climate change.
3
To put things in perspective, Climate change claimed the enormous Glacier that is no longer over the part of North East where I live when it melted during ice age when huge sea level rise also occurred. I believe this occurred just 10-12 thousand years ago.
3
Where is that bloviating U.S. senator from Oklahoma to explain to us why climate change is a hoax? Maybe if he and his ilk had to visit these places and read some of the stories in this series, Congress would stop dithering and act to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
4
The climate change nay-sayers need to be reading these sad articles. Especially powerful politicians.
Climate change is the one thing that makes me glad I am not young. My kids are going to have to deal with terrifying problems.
Climate change is the one thing that makes me glad I am not young. My kids are going to have to deal with terrifying problems.
4
How terrible it would be if the Climate Change would be in another direction, instead of warming we had cooling. Lakes and rivers overflowing flooding huge agricultural lands, coastal towns submerged under water by seas and oceans like Venice and our streets being canals. Think about that!
Coastal towns already are being submerged under water. Ask anybody in Miami. Our streets already are canals during major storms, which are happening more and more because of climate change.
3
Another wonderful success for the invisible hand of the marketplace. And if the people living on the lake whose lives have been destroyed react as we would, we can send in the drones.
2
western slope of th andes is one of th driest places on earth
th atacama desert has at least 2 huge observatory complexes, chosen just for that reason
some areas havent seen rain in more than 20 years, some in living memory
th atacama desert has at least 2 huge observatory complexes, chosen just for that reason
some areas havent seen rain in more than 20 years, some in living memory
1
This story is an important one that I very much wanted to read. And the photography and videos are indeed, as "Brendan" comments, exquisite. Unfortunately, I could neither read the story nor enjoy the illustrative material. I seem to be a relic of the 20th century who is simply unable to cope with pictures that suddenly expand or shrink and with text that the pictures obliterate. Is there no way The Times tech department can create a click-on/click-off alternative so that age-challenged readers (surely, I'm not the only one) can read text without the illustrations and separately peruse the photographs? (Even the old "Print" option would work re the text; and handling the photography in a way similar to that provided for "slide shows" would be an enormous help.) N.B. I wonder if the reason there are so few comments on this story might not be that even some young readers found this spread a challenge.
1
I agree , but I have a sinking feeling that any real content is really not there. I'm looking now at a pictorial map of the western shore of South America and a vast expanse of blue that represents the Pacific Ocean. Towards the bottom of the blue is the sentence,
"The lake had long been vulnerable."
What a waste of modern technology, and my digital bandwidth, which i pay for.
Frankly, I almost wish the NYTimes would close its web site and force me to find a more traditional news source. But I know that what I want won't be available. It will have been replaced by a vast array of Amazon knockoffs selling cheap junk at inflated prices.
"The lake had long been vulnerable."
What a waste of modern technology, and my digital bandwidth, which i pay for.
Frankly, I almost wish the NYTimes would close its web site and force me to find a more traditional news source. But I know that what I want won't be available. It will have been replaced by a vast array of Amazon knockoffs selling cheap junk at inflated prices.
This is happening over much of the globe along with the melting of the glaciers and people just do not get it. Water, the primary crisis of the twenty-first century.
Meanwhile back at the NYTs rather than hard information and informed commentary we get an occasional human interest story and the rumination of Andrew Revkin. Backed up by the unceasing entirely ludicrous essays by guest contributors.
Meanwhile back at the NYTs rather than hard information and informed commentary we get an occasional human interest story and the rumination of Andrew Revkin. Backed up by the unceasing entirely ludicrous essays by guest contributors.
4
This is a tragic story of human trial documented peerlessly. Unfortunately, only midway through the piece are the seemingly more impactful factors of diverted water for quinoa farms and sediment buildup from mining mentioned. Warming temperatures are observable empirically and have produced environmental change. However in steering the reader towards the hot topic of climate change, the NYT's rather transparent and commercial interest in appealing to its base borders on unprofessional bias.
3
The NYT commercial interests (its advertisers) are opposite to what you claim. So please wake up. Climate change is real, it's here, and it's accelerating. Ignore the symptoms, exacerbate the disease.
A powerful article with a great presentation.
The immediate reason for Lake Poopó’s disappearance, and the loss of the Uru-Murato people’s way of life, may be climate change, however the underlying force is the appropriation of indigenous natural resources and culture by our consumeristic modern society. This is certainly nothing new under the sun. Climate change is a consequence, a symptom of deeper human problems.
A society, a civilization, a global economy that lives to service capital does not have the moral or ethical structure to fairly deal with indigenous subsistence cultures. People, cultures, ecosystems that do not produce a surplus to monetize are not going to survive, are not surviving in our world. Indigenous people must trade, or have stolen, their ways of life, and their natural resources, to serve consumerism and capital creation. Again, this is nothing new, just a new episode.
In our world the consequences of this cultural and natural resource appropriation is for the historian and anthropologist to record, the indigenous people to suffer, our ecosystems to lose, and the developed world’s politicians, capitalists, and consumers to conveniently ignore and forget.
Michael Bain
Glorieta, New Mexico
The immediate reason for Lake Poopó’s disappearance, and the loss of the Uru-Murato people’s way of life, may be climate change, however the underlying force is the appropriation of indigenous natural resources and culture by our consumeristic modern society. This is certainly nothing new under the sun. Climate change is a consequence, a symptom of deeper human problems.
A society, a civilization, a global economy that lives to service capital does not have the moral or ethical structure to fairly deal with indigenous subsistence cultures. People, cultures, ecosystems that do not produce a surplus to monetize are not going to survive, are not surviving in our world. Indigenous people must trade, or have stolen, their ways of life, and their natural resources, to serve consumerism and capital creation. Again, this is nothing new, just a new episode.
In our world the consequences of this cultural and natural resource appropriation is for the historian and anthropologist to record, the indigenous people to suffer, our ecosystems to lose, and the developed world’s politicians, capitalists, and consumers to conveniently ignore and forget.
Michael Bain
Glorieta, New Mexico
33
Lake Poopo' is but one example of what is occurring when human-caused climate change is affecting us globally, no matter where it started, though usually in highly industrialized countries...and then a domino effect to even the most pristine regions supposedly not affected by man's destruction of the environment by carbon consumption. I understand that an entire village had to migrate in the region of La Paz for lack of water, as the glaaciers in the mountain are disappearing. Chacaltaya, also in La Paz, used to be a skiing are many years ago, now there is no snow nor ice anywhere. In the tropics in Bolivia, rivers have dried up, and so have smaller lakes. Meanwhile, deforestation, mostly illegal logging goes on, while an incompetent and corrupt government looks the other way. Cochabamba, a lovely place with spring-like temperature year- round (except for a brief mild winter in June-July), is suffering from a drought, with huge contamination from out-of-control car combustion plus indiscriminate logging. But I digress. Your article is about Llapallapani, and the disappearance of Lake Poopo', and a way of life for the natives, now forced to abandon the region. The pictures, as sad as the story goes, are beautiful in illustrating the fact.
6
In 1993, President Bill Clinton promoted and signed legislation that undermines our environmental laws. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) lets Canadian and Mexican corporations sue the U.S. if our policies hurt their investments. These suits do not have to go through our regular court system. Instead, corporations go to a special “investor-state dispute settlement” court.
TransCanada is currently suing us for $15 billion for not allowing it to extend its Keystone Oil Pipeline over environmentally-sensitive areas.
U.S. corporations can also sue these countries for interfering with their profits. A Huffington Post article titled “NAFTA’s Chapter 11 Makes Canada Most-Sued Country Under Free Trade Tribunals” by Sunny Freeman, posted back on 1/14/15, reported on a survey of investor-state settlement disputes. Most of them challenged Canadian environmental protections or resource management programs. Canada had to spend a lot of money to defend itself, and it sometimes ended up having to overturn its own environmental laws as well as pay U.S. corporations.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton oversaw the writing of the latest Free Trade proposal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP would let foreign corporations sue countries for enacting environmental legislation which interferes with their profits.
The Clintons do not appear to fully understand the ramifications of climate change.
TransCanada is currently suing us for $15 billion for not allowing it to extend its Keystone Oil Pipeline over environmentally-sensitive areas.
U.S. corporations can also sue these countries for interfering with their profits. A Huffington Post article titled “NAFTA’s Chapter 11 Makes Canada Most-Sued Country Under Free Trade Tribunals” by Sunny Freeman, posted back on 1/14/15, reported on a survey of investor-state settlement disputes. Most of them challenged Canadian environmental protections or resource management programs. Canada had to spend a lot of money to defend itself, and it sometimes ended up having to overturn its own environmental laws as well as pay U.S. corporations.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton oversaw the writing of the latest Free Trade proposal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP would let foreign corporations sue countries for enacting environmental legislation which interferes with their profits.
The Clintons do not appear to fully understand the ramifications of climate change.
4
NAFTA was originated by Reagan and then-Canadian PM Mulroney, and expanded to include Mexico by Bush Sr., who actually signed the deal. Bill Clinton signed the enabling legislation.
2
Shallow saline lakes like Poopó exist on the knife edge of evaporation, precipitation and inflow. The vast salars of dried lakebeds, exemplified by the thick salt deposits that some of the displaced fishermen and villagers are now mining, are what results when the balance tips the other way for too long. In this case, less than 1 °C of warming in a highly arid region was enough.
But this should not be dismissed as a sad but minor local misfortune in a region few of us will ever visit. There are many areas around the world that exist on their own separate finely-balanced knife edges, whether farm belts where an unusually dry year can spell ruin, or town centers a few feet above what used to be historical highwater marks. The U.S. has been hit by California's unprecedentedly severe drought, too many "thousand year floods" for me to count, and wildfires that are increasing in severity and cost despite ever more resources being committed to fight them.
When faced with one example after another of cases such as this, climate scientists may well shake their heads in bewilderment about what is needed to convince diehard 'skeptics' that climate change has costs, and that those costs are coming due around the world.
But this should not be dismissed as a sad but minor local misfortune in a region few of us will ever visit. There are many areas around the world that exist on their own separate finely-balanced knife edges, whether farm belts where an unusually dry year can spell ruin, or town centers a few feet above what used to be historical highwater marks. The U.S. has been hit by California's unprecedentedly severe drought, too many "thousand year floods" for me to count, and wildfires that are increasing in severity and cost despite ever more resources being committed to fight them.
When faced with one example after another of cases such as this, climate scientists may well shake their heads in bewilderment about what is needed to convince diehard 'skeptics' that climate change has costs, and that those costs are coming due around the world.
13
Knife edge, is right. But pushed violently over the edge by water diversions for agriculture and mining. Also, if you look at the Wikipedia article on the lake, you will find a chart showing that during the most rapid increase in the AGW metric, the lake level rose!
Casey rightly cites the increase in lake temperatures and points to a man-made crisis. And we get a sense, here, of the effects on communities, families, individuals. But, where are the names of those who have benefited by appropriating these resources and marginalizing these communities? There are 100+ mines that have been diverting water and polluting this lake for decades. And, we have a state that has been unwilling or unable to address many of the concerns of the local population for decades. Help us understand who is responsible here. It is not enough to say climate change.
19
I think it is irresponsible to lead with Climate Change. 1) The primary cause of the loss of a lake like this is water diversion, which has been extreme and unregulated, controlled by wealth landowners. 2) Once you reduce the volume of a large body of water, the temperature will rise whether the "climate" is changing or not. This is simple physics. 3) The temperature rise due to the decrease in volume leads to evaporation of what is left. This is the secondary multiplier effect. Only halting the diversion of the remaining water before it is too late, or a few freak years of excessive rain in this region, one of the driest in the world, can reverse it. 4) El Nino fluctuations can only be part of the story, well down the list. The archaeological record has recorded similar lake disappearances going been affecting the region going back at least as far as the Moche culture (ca. 100-800 AD), with water diversion also playing a role. Similar scenarios have played out all around the globe and continue to today, with, again, the greed of those who divert lake water more responsible than anything else.
Therefore, please, NYT, be careful with the C-word. If you use bad science, or misstate a headline because it's better clickbait this way, you only provide ammunition for the anti-global warming lobby, and the goal of regulating fossil fuel emissions (a good that goes well beyond climate regulation), becomes more distant.
Therefore, please, NYT, be careful with the C-word. If you use bad science, or misstate a headline because it's better clickbait this way, you only provide ammunition for the anti-global warming lobby, and the goal of regulating fossil fuel emissions (a good that goes well beyond climate regulation), becomes more distant.
3
The whole thing reads like it belongs in a sequel to Field Notes from a Catastrophe by former NYT staffer Elizabeth Kolbert. I know tragedies like this large & small are impacting peoples in the more fragile environments of our planet & things are only going to get worse.
I once read that it takes carbon in our atmosphere about a century to cycle out- oftentimes into the oceans. If that is still held true, things will get worse for at least a century. Think of the difference in carbon added in 1916 with a population less than 2 Billion versus our highly industrialized world today with a US Census estimated 7.3 Billion people. The carbon of today will be up there in 2116.
The same is true of resource scarcity. People are over-drafting aquifers, lakes, rivers in a never quenched thirst of water. Freshwater being polluted for fracking will cause our grandchildren to curse us as short-sighted. The breadbasket of America is over drafting the Ogallala Aquifer that feeds America and much of the world. Here is an article from business centric Bloomberg on the subject for those likely to dismiss a report from an environmental journalist.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-02/great-plains-water-cri...
I would suggest all of us who have not to read The Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity by Sandra Postel & Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner. Humans are +/- 60 percent water. Blood 92%, brain & muscles 75%, and bones about 22%.
I once read that it takes carbon in our atmosphere about a century to cycle out- oftentimes into the oceans. If that is still held true, things will get worse for at least a century. Think of the difference in carbon added in 1916 with a population less than 2 Billion versus our highly industrialized world today with a US Census estimated 7.3 Billion people. The carbon of today will be up there in 2116.
The same is true of resource scarcity. People are over-drafting aquifers, lakes, rivers in a never quenched thirst of water. Freshwater being polluted for fracking will cause our grandchildren to curse us as short-sighted. The breadbasket of America is over drafting the Ogallala Aquifer that feeds America and much of the world. Here is an article from business centric Bloomberg on the subject for those likely to dismiss a report from an environmental journalist.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-02/great-plains-water-cri...
I would suggest all of us who have not to read The Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity by Sandra Postel & Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner. Humans are +/- 60 percent water. Blood 92%, brain & muscles 75%, and bones about 22%.
6
Having been a member of the Mono Lake Committee for many years, I can tell you it takes concerted effort to save an inland mountain lake near major urban areas from death by diversions. Mono Lake is not as big as it once was, but it still has water levels that support its unique ecosystem. Of course Mono Lake has a a whole raft of well-off eco-conscious Californians to look after it, not just a few tribes of poor Indians.
I wish the article had talked more about the effects of diversions. Climate change may be harder to deal with, but the diversions can be negotiated.
I wish the article had talked more about the effects of diversions. Climate change may be harder to deal with, but the diversions can be negotiated.
53
Oh thank Goodness for those forward thinking progressive Californians who are so much better than those backward ignorant natives in south america. I wonder if they went half a trillion into debt like California if they could have saved their lake.
1
ca has an $ 11 bill surplus
do you often have bouts of hysteria ?
do you often have bouts of hysteria ?
4
How blind and stupid do you have to be to keep denying climate change? I just don't get it.
32
Apparently being a Far Rightwing Republican conservative is the only requirement. It seems to be a subspecies of Home sapiens indigenous to the North American continent and best known for never admitting when it's wrong, highly neurotic practices in breeding and equally neurotic assumptions about how the world functions. Does not currently appear to be endangered.
4
We need an Auschwitz for Republicans if our species is to survive.
The videos and photography for this story are exquisite. Putting visuals and faces to those affected by the eminent climate crisis are important to put perspective on the real harm being done. Sadly, I believe stories like this will be come all too prevalent in the coming years.
79
Not to sound trite or unfeeling - this is a disaster for the people of Bolivia - but I wonder if there are beavers nearby and if not if some can be imported. Beavers are amazing - truly amazing - at building structures to preserve and preserve water.
4
But don't beavers need trees to create structures? Because I didn't see any trees in the Bolivian high desert. Not a one.
17
lok at that pic -- does that look like beaver country to you
do you see one tree anywhere ?
do you see one tree anywhere ?
5
Another tragedy unfolds, and still the human race seems incapable of planning for even the next generation, let alone the long run.
88
A sad and tragic story of one of the lakes affected by drought and mismanagement of the water balance. Others that come to mind are the Aral Sea, the Dead Sea, and the saline lakes of the Basin and Range province.
23
The area has been stricken by drought for years. The waters from the lake were diverted for years. This lake is just one of the millions of lake beds around the world that fill and drain naturally over the eons. The NYT scours the planet to print evidence of global warming but if there is a place on earth where the temps have been colder each year and the snows and rains have increased, they either claim that you cannot judge climate change by what happens in a single location, or that global warming also can cause cooling in other places. There is no way to argue against this kind of logic. This lake is dead. So is the entire northern great plains which used to be a vast lake. So what. Tragic for the locals of course, but no more evidence of climate change than the super cool past 10 summers in NYC is.
37
I posted a detailed version of your post explaining how water temperature increases as volume decreases, an that the volume decreased due to diversion, gave historical information on similar events for similar reasons going back to 100 BC - and the comments moderators have blocked it so far. My only point is that we will never get the fossil fuel controls the planet needs for a million other good reasons if a 9th grader can identify articles like this as very poor science. It gives anti-envirnmentalists all the ammunition they need to block it.
The term people use is climate change, because global warming was a misnomer. As currents and air movements change and as the atmosphere becomes more energetic, some places will have cooling but overall, there is warming. I suspect the big challenge and change will happen about the time the arctic thaws completely and currents could change. Here's an article about the antarctic growth: http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0706/Scientists-may-have-solve... The difference between science and ad hominem attacks is that scientists keep asking questions and work to understand anomalies. Saying gravity doesn't exist because helium balloons rise isn't science.
4
But, of course, one might get a large sampling of temperatures from all over the earth and average them. It's been done. It's getting warmer very fast ... much faster than can be accounted for by anything except the thermodynamic properties of certain molecules (e.g, carbon dioxide) that we know (1) form an increasing proportion of our atmosphere; and, (2) we are producing and putting into the atmosphere in vast quantities.
7
It might be Climate Change...long term.
However, this year it's likely El Nino combined with the diversions of water for mining and agricultural.
However, this year it's likely El Nino combined with the diversions of water for mining and agricultural.
27
That does not matter to journalists. They're writing for effect.
2
Climate change is happening. It's a scientific fact. Snow lovers (like me) should rejoice. Climate change is good because snow is fun. Stop fighting climate change. Get outside in winter and enjoy the snow.
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/JAM2395.1
Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of Snowstorms in the Contiguous United States
"These comparative results reveal that a future with wetter and warmer winters, which is one outcome expected (National Assessment Synthesis Team 2001), will bring more snowstorms than in 1901–2000. Agee (1991) found that long-term warming trends in the United States were associated with increasing cyclonic activity in North America, further indicating that a warmer future climate will generate more winter storms".