Don’t panic: it’s just the poles melting
by David Atkins
Seriously. The North Pole. It’s a lake now. (Check out the video at the link.)
Also, Antarctica’s permafrost is melting. Don’t anyone get alarmed too fast:
Things are getting ugly on Earth’s underside.
Antarctic permafrost, which had been weathering global warming far better than areas around the North Pole, is starting to give way. Scientists have recorded some of it melting at rates that are nearly comparable to those in the Arctic.
Scientists used time-lapse photography and LiDAR to track the retreat of an Antarctic ice cliff over a little more than a decade. They reported Wednesday in the journal Scientific Reports that the cliff was “backwasting rapidly.” The permafrost that made up the cliff was found to be disappearing nearly 10 times more quickly than was the case during recent geological history. And the rate of melting is picking up pace.
But hey, it’s just the planet, right? If we actually do something about it, we might increase the deficit somehow. Which would be awful because rich people might have to be taxed, and that would mean less trickle trickling down. Icewater trickling into the oceans from the poles is another matter. That’s good as long as we can keep the oil burning.
So, no planet for you. And whatever you do, don’t panic.
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