Lowest recorded Arctic ice extent

[Jovial Monk]

The area covered by Arctic sea ice reached its lowest point this week since the start of satellite observations in 1972, German researchers announced.

"On September 8, the extent of the Arctic sea ice was 4.240 million square kilometres. This is a new historic minimum," said Georg Heygster, head of the Physical Analysis of Remote Sensing Images unit at the University of Bremen's Institute of Environmental Physics.
The new mark is about half-a-per cent under his team's measurements of the previous record, which occurred on September 16, 2007, he said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/arcti ... z1Xe8lk96Y

Good thing the ETS Bill will be introduced into the House Tuesday.

[mantra]

What is so frustrating about this proposed carbon tax - or ETS as some choose to call it, is that it's not going to stop the oil drilling or the mining that is ravaging this planet.

The ETS concentrates on the little things - like carbon emissions and not the devastation caused by the multinationals who will still continue trampling on, invading and digging up everything they can get their hands on.

[Plough]

The area covered by Arctic sea ice reached its lowest point this week since the start of satellite observations in 1972, German researchers announced.

"On September 8, the extent of the Arctic sea ice was 4.240 million square kilometres. This is a new historic minimum," said Georg Heygster, head of the Physical Analysis of Remote Sensing Images unit at the University of Bremen's Institute of Environmental Physics.
The new mark is about half-a-per cent under his team's measurements of the previous record, which occurred on September 16, 2007, he said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/arcti ... z1Xe8lk96Y

Good thing the ETS Bill will be introduced into the House Tuesday.

Yes the ets should see the end to climate change as we know it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The irony is the rort that this government wants to foist upon the working people of this country will not make one little bit of differnce to the climate.

[mantra]

No unfortunately that's true for the immediate future although perhaps in a 100 years or so, there may be a noticeable difference in temperature - but we won't be around to see that.

I am a lefty, but I'm not entirely happy with this tax especially the fact that we'll be buying carbon credits internationally, which are dodgy at the best of times. Some say this won't happen, but the government certainly hasn't confirmed it. In fact they haven't explained how this money will be distributed and how it will help us to reduce emissions. I can't figure out how buying carbon credits from an international market will help us.

If we knew the revenue was going to be put into decent regulation of heavy industry, or invested in innovative renewable industries as promised by Rudd, it might be more appealing, but we'll still continue to buy our solar panels from China, there will be no less cars on the road and the companies who spew out pollution will continue to do so but pass their increased costs onto us.

[Super Nova]

The key issues for me are in two categories.
1. We have to change our behaviour - what should that change be and what is it dependant on
2. How can this behavour be changed

On point 1, data in iondicating we are having a negative effect on the environment and if we reach a tipping point we could have a run away greenhouse effect. This will not wipe us out but will lead to mass extinction on the planet and wiping out of most of humanity. Setting back human progress many thousands of years.

On point 2. With our current western world ecconomic structures and political frameworks we only have laws made by popularly elected reps, incentives and taxation as the levers to control mass behaviour. So a carbon tax is the beginning of using the the instruments available to influence behavour. This is only the beginning.

We will need to move to a global government that enforces laws made to the greater good of the planet before anything significant happens. This will never happen until the world has gone to shit, most of the people are gone and in desparation... a new world order is put in place.

Pity really, we never learn in advance, we need to disaster with full impacts before we change outr behaviour.

Sometimes I am surprised we have made it this far.

[Super Nova]

"Climate models show, rather, that the reduction is related to the man-made global warming which, due to the albedo effect, is particularly pronounced in the Arctic."

Albedo increases when an area once covered by reflective snow or ice - which bounces 80 per cent of the sun's radiative force back into space - is replaced by deep blue sea, which absorbs the heat instead.

Temperatures in the Arctic region have risen more than twice as fast as the global average over the last half century.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/clima ... z1XjWPCIEy

This is interesting however the root cause of less reflective snow cover to begin with is not clear from this story.

"This stunning loss of Arctic sea ice is yet another wake-up call that climate change is here now and is having devastating effects around the world," said Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the Centre for Biological Diversity in San Francisco.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/clima ... z1XjY3Q4MM

So it is a wake-up call however the root cause is...... what. Is it human activity?

I guess they imply it is or are they just raising the fact only.

The last time the Arctic was incontestably free of summertime ice was 125,000 years ago, during the height of the last major interglacial period, known as the Eemian.

Air temperatures in the Arctic were warmer than today, and sea level was also four to six metres higher because the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets had partly melted.

Global average temperatures today are close to the maximum warmth seen during the Eemian.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/clima ... z1XjYI1uZg

This is interesting. The global temp is about the same as during the Eamian period. This does not look good considering we are predicting it getting even higher.

[Pastafarian]

The irony is the rort that this government wants to foist upon the working people of this country will not make one little bit of differnce to the climate.

Which no one really has stated in the government.

[Bizarro Monk]

Such a lovely topic started by me good friend Mr Jovial Monk. You should all vote for him ya know.