The news talks about a river in Canada, the Slims River, who has changed its course. This fact is due to climate change, which has caused the melting of a glacier in the country, that, at the same time, caused this change in the river.
This change consists in an aleration of its course, which used to flow out to the Bearing Sea and now it does it to another river, the Kaskawlush. Experts in the topic have said this phenomenon is known as "river piracy" and that for it to take place it requires centuries and that they had never seen something like this in modern times. It is surprising, because in this case it took place in only one spring.
Before this happened, researchers from different universities had planned to study the river during summer, a job they couldn't carry out because the course of the river had already been altered. They found out if was cut off when the water from one glacial lake started to pour through another lake.
John Clage, from the University in British Columbia, had predicted this phenomenon because of the geological formation of the area, but he couldn't predict when it would happen or thta it would happen that fast. And when the researches went to the place to study it, they found a skinny lake instead of what it used to be.
This change in the river's course will affect the environment, both the landscape and the wildlife, such as sheeps who graze in the surroundings, fishes or other aquatic animals. Dan Shugar, the leader of the investigation, reminded the effects of climate change and the surprises it can give in such a short period of time.
PERSONAL OPINION:
As Shugar says, this is a perfect demonstration of the climate change effects and that it is more real than we thing. Sometimes we know it is a fact, but we are not aware of its effect because they take place in very long periods of time, which makes them be unnoticed. But in this case, it has happened in a very short period of time, and that's why it is more shocking. I think we should worry more about climate change, even if we can't always see its effects as clearly as we have seen it in the Slimes River. We have to bear in mind that climate change is something real that it's threatening our planet and try to lead our actions in helping it to stop.
VOCABULARY:
· piracy: pirateria
· pour through: abocar
· stream: rierol
· graze: pasturar
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