Dangers at Sea – The North Pole of Tomorrow

Global warming and climate change are taking their effect on the arctic. Frozen for more than a hundred centuries, scientists are examining the possibility of a completely ice-free North Pole this summer. Extreme temperatures have melted the ice in the arctic much faster than years past – about 70% of the ice there now was produced in the past winter and will melt even more quickly this summer.

Polar bears are in danger of losing their breeding grounds, the graceful arctic fox has nowhere to go when temperatures heat up, and several penguin species are seeing drastic declines in number. Huge volumes of melting ice are creating rising sea levels around the world.

At the same time there are hundreds of new marine species discovered each day, many of them beneath what was once arctic ice. While these new species may or may not survive future climate change, our land is not surviving the rising waters. Carol Auer, an NOAA oceanographer, says “a half-inch of vertical sea level rise translates to about three feet of land lost on a sandy open coast” and studies five years ago estimated an annual rise of about 3mm.

Is there a solution?

While some of the effects of climate change and global warming are a natural part of our environment, a big portion of it is the result of our own actions and neglect. Conclusions to a recent scientific study support the fact “that the climate change observed over the past four decades is man made and not the result of natural phenomena.”

Suing the president for neglecting the polar bears is probably not the answer (who’s idea was it to reelect this bozo anyway?) but there are a variety of ways you can decrease your personal impact on the planet and make a difference.

If you could change one thing about our society in an effort to decrease global warming, what would it be?