Less than a decade ago, people who were saying ominous signs of warming were appearing in the Arctic were smeared and ridiculed and pilloried by the climate-change deniers, many of them bought-and-paid-for shills of Exxon-Mobil, the Koch brothers and like-minded folks who thought they could keep the lid on simply by doing what they'd done on so many other issues: lying.
Those were the days when even climate scientists saw the relatively modest changes they were predicting as coming very gradually over many, many decades. Those views have changed because change itself is upon us across the planet. And, in some places, the speed with which it is occurring today has outstripped the worst-case scenarios forecast yesterday, making anything predicted about tomorrow suspect.
Although there are still deniers—a boatload of them in Congress—the hold-outs are dwindling. Because the evidence is growing everywhere and, in the Arctic, is incontrovertible. As FishOutofWater wrote a week ago, the data tell the story. Summer melting at that time appeared to be headed toward reducing the extent of Arctic ice to its lowest area on record. Not only that, but the lowest level ever recorded looked as if it would happen in August, not September when temperatures begin cooling again and the annual melting season ends.
Sure enough, the most recent data show exactly that. The extent of Arctic sea ice has been confirmed at a record low. And we still have perhaps four weeks to go before the weather turns. Neven's Arctic Sea Ice Blog has the numbers for the minimums:
2005: 4.09 million square km
2006: 4.03 million square km
2007: 2.92 million square km
2008: 3.00 million square km
2009: 3.42 million square km
2010: 3.07 million square km
2011: 2.90 million square km
2012: 2.88 million square km (and running)
Ouch.
Worse yet, sea ice volume is far lower, 50 percent lower, than was thought to be the case. That's because the summer ice minimum is not just covering less area but it's thinner as well. Right now, there is no sea ice thicker than six meters. The less ice to reflect sunlight, the more the Arctic absorbs heat. The more heat, the faster the melting occurs. That's a cycle that, many scientists agree, could mean the Arctic will be entirely ice free by 2030, 20 years before previously predicted. Given the record of those past predictions, it could be sooner.
Except for shippers and oil and gas drillers, the consequences aren't pretty. We are just getting our first taste right now.
Our national political leaders are divided into four groups:
• the know-nothing deniers, the people who really, truly believe global warming is a liberal hoax because they're stubborn ignoramuses;
• the cynical deniers, people who know global warming isn't a hoax but have a personal or ideological stake in maintaining the fossil-fuel industry's energy dominance;
• the delayers, the people who know global warming is happening and that something must be done about it but who think the timing for action isn't quite right or are unfocused in their efforts to adopt changes;
• the handful of people who know global warming is happening, know something drastic must be done to ameliorate and adapt, speak about global warming often, but can't get past the barricades thrown up by the deniers and delayers to make a dent in the problem.
Expanding that last group and diluting the strength of the other three constitute an urgent task for progressives. If you're not convinced, I urge you to follow the excellent diaries in the Climate Change SOS Blogathon that are appearing all this week. Even if you are convinced, you can hone your knowledge on the subject by reading those diaries, many of them written by activists and scientists.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2009:
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced that the Car Allowance Rebate System, colloquially known as "cash for clunkers," will end its month-long run Monday, well before its scheduled ending date of November 1. As of Thursday, dealers had registered 457,000 transactions worth $1.9 billion.
The program originally was to receive $4 billion, but that was cut to $1 billion. When that appropriation lasted less than a week because of consumer interest, Congress approved another $2 billion, which was also supposed to carry the program to November 1.
The deadline gives consumers four more days to buy new, more fuel-efficient vehicles than what they now own, while obtaining a trade-in subsidy of $3500 or $4500 for their old models. In a statement, LaHood said:
"This program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump-starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work. ...
"It’s been a thrill to be part of the best economic news story in America. ... Now we are working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program."
Tweet of the Day:
HAHAHAHA: Allen West on Todd Akin: "There is no place in politics for these type of comments and attitudes toward women."
— @jbendery via web
Tune in Monday to Friday from 9-11 AM ET for Daily Kos Radio, hosted by David Waldman a/k/a KagroX. You can listen
here. There was no ignoring Todd Akin (R-MO-02) and his medieval idiocy on Daily Kos Radio's Kagro in the Morning today. Even
DemFromCT had to join in the discussion during his regular polling update. And callers
where4art and
annieli couldn't resist, either.
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