Meanwhile, back in the real world the Extinction is looming
by David Atkins
Yes, it’s true. The Mitt Romney campaign is hilarious, the Randroids are terrifying, the social conservatives are as neanderthal as ever. But while the 2012 election merry-go-round spins, the world as we know it is still dying:
As Arctic sea ice levels hit a new record low this month, scientists and activists gathered to discuss how to bridge the gap between scientific facts and the public’s limited understanding that we are, in their words, “really running out of time.”
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) released preliminary findings Wednesday suggesting that on Sept. 16, Arctic ice covered just 1.32 million square miles — the lowest extent ever recorded. This minimum is 49 percent below the 1979 average, when satellite records began.
“The loss of summer sea ice has led to unusual warming of the Arctic atmosphere, that in turn impacts weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere, that can result in persistent extreme weather such as droughts, heat waves and flooding,” NSIDC scientist Dr. Julienne Stroeve told Greenpeace in a press release.
Wednesday morning, a group of climate scientists and activists met at a Greenpeace International panel in New York to strategize on potential responses to the changing Arctic climate.
“There’s a huge gap between what is understood by the scientific community and what is known by the public,” NASA scientist James Hansen said, adding that he believed, “unfortunately, that gap is not being closed.”
What the scientific community understands is that Arctic ice is melting at an accelerated rate — and that humans play a role in these changes.
We can argue about Social Security and drones and tax rates and marriage equality and all the rest of it. And we should.
But if we don’t do something about this, none of it will matter. It will all be just so much pointless trivia under the shadow of the looming global extinction.
The fact that we spend more than half our time in politics talking about anything else is a tribute to our shortsightedness and selfishness as a species.
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