Yo candidates, can we please start talking about climate change seriously?

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An iceberg melts in Kulusuk, Greenland near the Arctic circle. Photo: John McConnico/AP, stolen by me from Guardian Unlimited

I just saw this diary on Kos. Apparently, the arctic ice cap is melting a lot faster than expected:

The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at record lows, scientists have announced.

Experts say they are "stunned" by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as the UK disappearing in the last week alone.

So much ice has melted this summer that the Northwest passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the Northeast passage along Russia's Arctic coast could open later this month.

Let's put foot-tapping Republican Senators on the back burner for a while (I'm as guilty of piling on as anyone) and start addressing some pressing issues please.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It's kind of sick, isn't it, that this is even a political issue? This is a serious danger that should be triggering our self-preservation responses, not retreats to political philosophy.

I am not imune to this: whenever Grishnash tells me about some sickening new fact abou the latest hurricane, instead of saying "(*&^, we're doomed," I say "Oh, but there's nothing wrong with the environment!" As if being proved right matters. But I guess it's one of those "you have to laugh, or you'd cry" situations.
1:07 AM, September 06, 2007
grishnash said…
The Arctic ice extent is now 17% below its all-time record, with about 3 weeks of melting left before the temperature drops back to the point where there is net freezing rather than net melting.

For those baseball fans out there who want to get an idea of just how out of the ordinary this is, it is kind of like if A-Rod had just hit his 85th home run of the season tonight, with just over 3 weeks left in the season.
7:39 AM, September 08, 2007
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