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The North Pole has been surrounded by the polar ice cap for more than a million years. It is now closely monitored as an indicator of climate change, or global warming. In fact the polar ice and sea level rise are excellent LONG-TERM indicators of the total atmospheric heat level due to the simplistic issue of whether the average heat level will melt or sustain a given quantity of ice.

Ominously, the amount of ice has been generally decreasing for years. September is the period of minimum sea ice each year and is used to get a fair comparison with other years. The results continue to raise grave concern.  While 2007 was an exceptionally low year in terms of Arctic Ice Volume, 2009 is now the second lowest year on record and the results will soon be in for 2010. See this chart of Arctic Sea Ice Volume.

You may have seen different stories or maps of the sea ice extent showing how the Arctic region has melted over the last decade. A few interesting facts to point out:

Bjorn Lomborg has been one of the most articulate contrarians about the need to combat carbon emissions. The Danish economist uses rigorous objective methods to evaluate world crises and solutions. Although he has acknowledged the climate change problem in recent years, he remained steadfast that it did not justify spending money on a solution, compared to other problems.  

He is widely published with his own books, as well as in Op Ed's in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and elsewhere.  His arguments have been articulate, and very frustrating for those of us who feel that the changing climate warrants the highest priority in reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to avert climate catastrophe.

Today, a stunning article in the UK Guardian, states that he has now changed his position and calls for a carbon tax, and states that $100 billion a year should be spent on reducing carbon emissions. This is huge!

Time Magazine has just published an excellent succinct summary of the threats to coral reefs that include the often cited pollution and development. The greatest threats, however, are the warming and acidification, which are now both documented to be functions of the global warming phenomenon. Coral mortality in the last 10-12 years has been extreme, even in remote locations.  Read the article. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2014101,00.html

Climate Change is no longer a theory, as it was when Dr. James Hansen testified to Congress in 1988. The polar ice sheets and glaciers are melting to a degree not seen in millions of years. Our relatively stable weather climate patterns of the last few thousand years are changing. The evidence continues to appear in the headlines. 

Floods from Tennessee to Pakistan that have not been seen in a thousand years. Heat waves from New York to Russia without precedent. Tom Friedman wrote that 'we better get used to wacky weather.' This is all in accord with what Hansen predicted. Weather patterns would become destabilized as temperatures warm, causing more evaporation. Precipitation patterns will change with droughts in some places, deluges in others. The melting ice caps will add to the rising sea level, and will further change the predictable weather patterns.