SVALBARD AND JAN MAYEN ISLANDS – 2015/07/20: A walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is resting on an ice floe in the pack ice north of Svalbard, Norway.
Credit: Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket
Last week, at a New Orleans conference center that once doubled as a storm shelter for thousands during Hurricane Katrina, a group of polar scientists made a startling declaration: The Arctic as we once knew it is no more.
The region is now definitively trending toward an ice-free state, the scientists said, with wide-ranging ramifications for ecosystems, national security, and the stability of the global climate system. It was a fitting venue for an eye-opening reminder that, on its current path, civilization is engaged in an existential gamble with the planet’s life-support system.
In an accompanying annual report on the Arctic’s health — titled “Arctic shows no sign of returning to reliably frozen region of recent past decades” — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees all official U.S. research in the region, coined a term: “New Arctic.”
Until roughly a decade or so ago, the region […]
The situation has changed. Just because something goes on for a long time doesn’t mean that it will continue. If you want to get tuned in to what is really happening check out Adapt2030 and Oppenheimer Ranch Project at Youtube.
I also have been following info about climate change for the last 20 years or so. Earlier prognosticators talked about earth changes and many predictions had talked about time periods in late 90’s early 2000’s. Now as has been documented by onsite and satellite data/pictures glaciers and both polar ice caps ARE melting. That we have 8 billion people consuming the natural world has to cause imbalances-we don’t have to like for off planet causes Thousand of scientists are shouting warnings. Are that many after government grants? Let’s stop destroying/consuming the natural systems that created life as we know it. Let’s prepare for the likelihood of changes be they hot or cold that will kill many and destroy civilization, not to mention real estate values!