How can the polar ice be melting then? How about a little common sense, and some real science that seems to be an “inconvenient truth”. A study by a KU engineer has observed thinning in the earth’s mantle and probable volcanic activity just below the infamous “ice river”. http://www.physorg.com/news116684418.html

While even he doesn’t have the balls enough to admit that volcanic activity is going to be a lot more efficient at melting ice than CO2, it’s incredibly odd that all that melting seems to be stemming from an area with increased volcanic activity, doesn’t it?

That said, putting stresses on the world climate system is dangerous. We don’t know how far the climate will swing or how fast. But evidence indicates that Earth’s climate switches rapidly and often with catastrophic effect.

Rapid melt in sea ice means rapid melt in Greenland is soon to follow. Loss of even a small portion of that ice sheet will dramatically raise sea levels and, potentially, disrupt climate drivers like the Gulf Stream or other systems.

Even more worrying is geological evidence of catastrophic instances where ice damns form on melting glaciers and then suddenly break releasing massive amounts of water all at once. Past tsunamis flowing out of glaciers have cut huge swaths over land and sea. Some have even implicated these events in the extinction of megafauna at the end of the last geological era.

There’s one hell of a lot of water in the Greenland glacier. If temperatures rise, that water has to go somewhere. But progression in nature is hardly ever orderly or gradual. Things tend to happen suddenly and without warning.

This year, polar sea ice broke a new record minimum. It didn’t break the record, it shattered it. Previous minimum sea ice coverage for the northern hemisphere was 4.1 million square kilometers. Currently, the new minimum sits at 2.99 million square kilometers.

That’s 25% less ice than the least ever measured in the Arctic basin. The loss was sudden, unpredicted, and we don’t know what its impacts will be. Even more disturbing is the loss of one meter in elevation on the entire Greenland ice sheet.

If you want to take a look at what north pole sea ice stands today go to http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/.

The definitions of “good” are clear, and set out in the lore of industrial civilization:

1) Anything that increases economic growth
2) Anything that pushes forward development (note : other terminology, such as “development” must not be misused, either)
3) Anything that increases material wealth amongst those in power

So who is going to be brave enough to redefine what “good” means?