Editorial: Midcentury looking bleak

Monday, Sept. 10, 2007 | 7:01 a.m.

There is seemingly no end to the alarming reports about global warming.

Hardly a week goes by without scientists warning of new and grave consequences if countries do not work individually and cooperatively to reduce emissions from fossil fuels, which are the primary cause of drastic climate change.

Last week was typical.

A report by the National Environmental Trust focused on heat projections for large cities, including Las Vegas.

Currently, an average of 26 people die from heat-related causes every summer in Las Vegas, the study found. By midcentury, because of global warming, the study concluded that an average of 87 people will die every summer from heat-related causes.

Last week also saw the release of a study by the Government Accountability Office. According to an Associated Press report, it concluded that earlier snowmelts, longer summer droughts and bigger western wildfires are being caused more by "climactic conditions" than land management techniques.

The study concentrated on the effects of increased heat in national parks, and it faulted the Bush administration for not making global warming a higher priority.

Additionally last week, the U.S. Geological Survey forecast that by 2050, thinning ice in the Arctic, caused by global warming, will have led to the deaths of two-thirds of the world's polar bears, including all that live in Alaska. The bears need ice floes for hunting seals, their primary food. "As the sea ice goes, so goes the polar bear," the study said.

And as heat goes, so go not only plants and animals, but ultimately the human race.