On August 6, 2010, a 43-mile-long mass of Ice has broken off Greenland’s Petermann glacier. According to scientist, this is second largest glacial breakaway of the Pertmann glacier and is four times the size of Manhattan. It is also said that it hold enough water to supply US tap water flowing for 120 days. Another large chunk of ice broke off the same glacier in 1962 though it is still unclear which of the glacial breakaway is bigger. The Petermann glacier is located 620 miles south of the North Pole. A Glacial geophysicist, Regine Hock, said that the glacial break up is a normal process that happens all the time. What is unusual is the size of chunk of ice that broke off.

Global warming is one of the suspected reasons for the acceleration of the mass ice break up. It is said that the rate in which the glacier in Greenland slides towards the sea is around 220 percent faster in summer than in winter. If the Greenland ice completely melts off, there is a possibility that the sea level would raise by 7 meters or 23 feet. Nobel Prize winner Al gore has stated in his film “Inconvenient truth” that a lot of highly populated low lying areas is at risk of being submerged.

In 2007, the United Nations panel of climate experts said that there are unequivocal evidence that Global warming is the caused by human activities in the past half century mostly by burning of fossil fuels.  They have said that there might be a possibility that the Himalayan Glaciers might all melt 2035. Some say that the 2007 climate change research was exaggerated while several members of the US National Academy of Sciences defended the said research.

Some people choose not to believe that global warming is becoming a big threat to the planet. Some countries prioritize their own economies over the environment. Something has to be done about it. Certain parts of Philippines is at risk of being submerged if Greenland ice melts. It is high time to do what is right rather than what is profitable.