"We are creating something that’s irreversible on the human time scale. Carbon dioxide pumped into our atmosphere from power plants and cars will affect surface temperatures and sea levels for more than 1,000 years. Coastal land and small islands could disappear as the oceans rise — the result of melting glaciers and continental ice sheets.

The American Southwest could become a dust bowl and ocean dead-zones could become more prominent and widespread, says a new study just released by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Yet, it’s hard to take news of global warming seriously in North Dakota’s current cold spell, although I know the threat is real.

In western North Dakota, you have to drive through a 9-foot-high tunnel where snow drifted and the snowplow piled snow to get to my aunt’s old place, my sisters in White Shield, N.D., told me.

My younger sister, Kaye, told me the snow in her frontyard was at least 3 feet high. That’s enough to cover the trash cans."

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COLUMNIST DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: 2008 goes down as one for the books (The Grand Forks Herald 1/28)

More Dorreen Yellow Bird:
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Yellow Bird: The nation enters the Obama years (1/21)
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Yellow Bird: Reviving the horse culture in the Plains (1/14)
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Yellow Bird: Two good resolutions for 2009 (1/5)
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Yellow Bird: Open doors beckon young children (12/17)
Yellow Bird: Fritz Scholder redefined Indian art (12/10)
Yellow Bird: Helping wildlife in North Dakota (12/8)