Last week we discussed the idea (brought up by Wilson in Future of Life) that it could be argued that no place on Earth (at least the surface) is now truly "wilderness" or untouched by humans. In other words, it could be argued that the planet is now a human artifact and no longer natural.
This recent Economist article is reminiscent of that:
Time to call the sweep?
Soot gets everywhere. Even into the world’s highest mountains
THE Himalayas and the adjacent Tibetan plateau are sometimes referred to as the Earth’s third pole, because of the amount of ice they host. They are also known as Asia’s water tower. Their glaciers feed the continent’s largest rivers—and those, in turn, sustain some 1.5 billion people. Many studies suggest, though, that the Himalayan glaciers have been shrinking over the past few decades. This has usually been attributed to rising air temperatures, but climate researchers have now come to realise that tiny airborne particles of soot and dust are also to blame. Being dark, they absorb sunlight.
And that warms their surroundings...photo and text from Economist Article
