Large chunk of glacier breaks, tips off Andean tsunami.

Global climate change is becoming the threat we all feared in Peru [watch video below]. Independent Television News has posted a video of how a large chunk of ice fell into an Andean lake, triggering a tsunami that may have killed three people.

The location of this disaster, Carhuaz, is very close to where one of the most tragic disasters occurred in modern world history. In 1970, a massive earthquake triggered a landslide that killed an estimated 25,000 people who lived in the city of Yungay.

But the highlands of Peru are already experiencing climate change effects beyond the melting of glaciers.  In 2008, the San Francisco Chronicle investigated how potato farmers in the region were already struggling to deal with rising temperatures and consequential effects on their crops.

Peru's melting glaciers will also trigger a humanitarian crisis because the nation's water sources will disappear, as was recently reported by NBC News in an excellent segment. The urgency has prompted Peru's primary rock star, Pedro Suarez-Vertiz, to release a climate change anthem to help build awareness for this problem. The Peruvian government is also combating climate change with a number of initiatives, among them planting over 100 million trees to date and granting permits to companies to develop 500 MW in renewable energy projects, meeting 12% of the country's current energy needs.

Without global action, however, Peru will most likely only continue to suffer more tragic consequences as a result of climate change. The Guardian in their coverage claims that "The World Bank report warned that the disappearance of Andean ice sheets would threaten hydro-electric power and the water supplies of nearly 80 million people."

So how are you going to help?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihQv4lu5gIc[/youtube]