There is an easy way to half the amount of pollution which leads to Global Warming, and that's to half the number of polluters.

Scientists have recently published data which paints a stark picture of climate change in the future, announcing that the Arctic has entered an irreversible stage of warming.

Loss of Arctic sea ice has increased to such levels that the region is beginning to absorb more of the suns rays which in turn is leading to further ice melts and rising sea temperatures.

Scientists fear that the Arctic has now reached 'a point of no return' which will inevitably lead to the melting of Greenland's land ice, this would radically raise sea levels.

British Green Party Principal Speaker Keith Taylor commented: "This is the latest in a long line of wake up calls on climate change which our leaders have so far ignored. "

"If a significant portion of Greenland's glaciers melt, sea levels could rise by up to six metres; every low-lying city in the world will be affected. The implications of this are simply astonishing."

"We must increase the pressure on the government to act, and act now on climate change other wise it will simply be too little too late."

"There are radical policies out there which we know would have a huge effect on the progress of climate change, we simply need a government bold enough to implement them."

"The Green Party recently voted to adopt the Domestic Tradable Carbon Quotas policy which, whilst it would be a small first step, could dramatically reduce the UK's carbon emissions, making us a genuine world leader in terms of tackling climate change."

Over the past 30 years, temperatures in the Arctic have been creeping up, rising half a degree Celsius with attendant increases in glacial melting and decreases in sea ice. Experts predict that at current levels of greenhouse gases--carbon dioxide alone is at 375 parts per million--the earth may warm by as much as five degrees Celsius, matching conditions roughly 130,000 years ago. Now a refined climate model is predicting, among other things, sea level rises of as much as 20 feet, according to research results published today in the journal Science.

Modeler Bette Otto-Bliesner of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder and paleoclimatologist Jonathan Overpeck of the University of Arizona matched results from the Community Climate System Model and climate records preserved in ice cores, exposed coral reefs, fossilized pollen and the chemical makeup of shells to determine the accuracy of the computer simulation. Roughly 130,000 the Arctic enjoyed higher levels of solar radiation, leading to increased warming in the summer and the retreat of glaciers worldwide. The model correctly predicted the extent of the resulting Arctic ice melt, enough to raise sea levels by roughly nine feet.

"Getting the past climate change correct in these models gives us more confidence in their ability to predict future climate change," Otto-Bliesner says. "These ice sheets have melted before and sea levels rose. The warmth needed isn't that much above present conditions."
But sea levels rose as much as 20 feet 130,000 years ago and Overpeck speculates that may have been the result of additional melting in Antarctica. After all, the ice there is not all landlocked; some rests in the ocean and a little warming in sea temperatures could melt it or pry it loose. And this time around, the warming is global, rather than concentrated in the Arctic. "In the Antarctic, all you have to do is break up the ice sheet and float it away and that would raise sea level," he says. "It's just like throwing a bunch of ice cubes into a full glass of water and watching the water spill over the top."

Such a sea level rise would permanently inundate low-lying lands like New Orleans, southern Florida, Bangladesh and the Netherlands. Already sea level rise has increased to an inch per decade, thanks to melting ice and warm water expansion, according to Overpeck. And evidence that the Arctic is exponentially warming continues to accumulate. Indeed, in another paper in the same issue of Science, Goran Ekstrom of Harvard University reported a marked increase in so-called glacial earthquakes (seismic events recorded throughout the world when Greenland's glaciers slip past rock) since 2002. In fact, last year alone saw twice as many quakes as in previous years, with most of that increase coming during the summer months.
"We need to start serious measures to reduce greenhouse gases within the next decade," Overpeck says. "If we don't do something soon, we're committed to [13 to 20 feet] of sea level rise in the future." --David Biello

Balloon Data Confirms Antarctic Warming Trend too.

Launching weather balloons has been a nearly daily habit at some Antarctic research facilities since 1957. Carrying radiosondes--instruments that measure atmospheric conditions such as temperature and wind speed--the balloons travel as high as 12 miles or more. A new analysis of the past 30 years of records from nine research stations, including Amundsen-Scott at the South Pole, reveals that the air above the entirety of Antarctica has warmed by as much as 0.70 degree Celsius per decade during the winter months.

John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey and his colleagues report in today's issue of Science that this warming trend is consistent across data from multiple stations run by multiple countries using multiple types of instruments. Previous studies had shown that Antarctica's surface temperatures had warmed by roughly 2.5 degrees C over the last half century, but this study provides the most complete look at atmospheric trends to date.

"The rapid surface warming of the Antarctic Peninsula and the enhanced global warming signal over the whole continent shows the complexity of climate change," Turner says. "Greenhouse gases could be having a bigger impact in Antarctica than across the rest of the world and we don't understand why."

This warming has implications for snowfall on the continent as well as the melting of land-based ice reserves, potentially leading to global sea-level rise, the researchers warn. Although they cannot ascribe a particular cause to the warming, they ruled out several other potential explanations, including heat transfer from other regions (there was no observed change in wind patterns) and solar radiation changes (the sun is either at or below the horizon throughout the winter months in question).

And although current computer models fail to predict this warming trend, the scientists argue that the data is consistent with what would be expected as a result of increasing greenhouse gases

So what is the answer?

Well we can faff around turning off a few lights and insulating our roofs.  It will help a bit, but there is only one sure way to reduce global warming and that is to reduce the numbers of global warmers.  The human population is just too high, especially in the industrial countries where most greenhouse gasses are produced. 

For over a million years the our fight for survival cantered around reproducing the species.  Having babies was more that just a good thing to do, it was essential to our very survival.  Well in the mid 20th. century all that changed.  There are now just too many of us, using up finite resources, producing toxic waste including greenhouse gases and threatening the destruction of our environment. 

All these global warmers need food, housing and energy in order to live comfortable, fulfilling lives.  The result of this is more global warming for every human being who lives.  We can't kill half of us off but we can half the number of replacements we breed.  So please, please, please, resist the mindless animal urge to reproduce.  Resist the urge to produce even more global warmers!

Global warming does not happen by itself, it is caused by Global Warmers, you and me.  There is too much global warming because there are too many global warmers!  Its as simple as that.

Now I don't propose we all rush out and slit our wrists or jump off cliffs to save our planet.  What I do propose however it that we all limit the number of replacement global warmers we breed.  That we we can half the human population within a generation.  This is the ONLY way we can save our planet and save our species.

Contributed by Jack Cox