While No One Was Looking, Japan Loses Island

It was only two weeks ago that scientists sounded the alarm bells on Climate Change. In northern Hokkaido Japan, that message might have just hit home. The tiny uninhabited islet, called Esanbe Hanakita Kojima seems to have disappeared. It's speculated that this four-foot-high island in the disputed Kuril Territory may have eroded as it slipped below the waves. No one knows for sure how this happened or when. As far as Japanese Officials are concerned, this does little to affect Japan's territorial sovereignty in its on-going dispute with Russia. That being said, this may pose a navigational hazard of which the Japanese Coast Guard is looking into. In any case, this is just one more indication of how this planet is changing. We will only get so many chances to avert further climate impacted catastrophes.