The glaciers have retreated before! So why is it such a trauma event now? Of course if it is a desire to terminate the use of oil, and any fossil fuel, the retreat of the glaciers is a convenient issue to achieve the end of preventing man from using fossil fuels. The green folk that have been around forever have only that as their agenda. And will use any natural occurring event if it can be made to help them.
Man has, by human standards, been around for some time. During that time the planet has been warmer than now, and colder. By your estimation the existance of the Sahara is man's fault!

Quote Originally Posted by oww-that-hurt View Post
Here in Montana, USA, we have a place named Glacier National Park. The melting of the glaciers is well documented and studied here. It is estimated that by 2030 the last of them will gone, only to have a few small snow fields that are slow to melt before the next winter because they are in the shadows of the peaks.

Every indication is that the rapid increase in melting rates is due to global warming. Glacier core samples have accurate record keeping of atmospheric events. Geologic evidence of their withdrawal rates changing is documented by the lichen which grow at a certain rate and set up new 'house-keeping' on rocks as they become available. Since we humans began messing up the balance of things, the lichen are able to spread at a faster than ever rate because so much more bare rock is available to them.