It's never nice being the bringer of bad news, but this story was one I didn't feel comfortable ignoring: it's been reported that Arctic sea ice is retreating so quickly that scientists say there is now a 50-50 chance that it will have gone completely by September.
The Independent broke the frankly quite terrifying story at the end of last week, and bloggers are now beginning to catch on to the enormity of the situation. The fact is, we've never seen anything like this before -- never in human history -- and if it happens, there'll be no more denying that climate change is real. But are we doomed? And more to the point, will it be too late to do anything about it?
Before you start running for the hills, let's look at this with some calm detachment. It is normal for the polar ice to melt during the summer months before it re-freezes for the long Arctic winter. So what we're seeing at the moment (boats where there should be ice, polar bears perfecting their doggie-paddle) is pretty much part of the course for this time of year. But it's what happens once summer is over that's causing concern.
The extent of the loss of ice last year means that much of the ice that is now forming the North Pole is very new ice, and is therefore less stable than in previous years. This has led scientists to speculate that it may completely thaw out this summer -- a never before seen phenomenon that would raise global ocean levels further, causing unprecedented weather chaos.
I'm doing my best to make this sound less scary than it is, but however you look at it, the outlook is not good. Let's hope that the psychological impact of this story will give people an extra push to start re-evaluating how they live their lives and taking the green messages so many ignore more seriously.
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