The North Pole is Hot, Sea Ice at Record Lows

In an era of the replications of news stories, that are local rather than being global, a few of you my have noticed something is a bit weird in the North pole these days. The U.S. President Elect may not believe in global warming, and is likely to pull out of the Paris agreement, but the reality of nature too has a voice.

Recently it has been noticed that these days there is an anomaly we haven't seen before. Even with the polar night in the high arctic, temperatures are remaining high, as if in protest. This could signal yet new lows for ice in the arctic for 2017.

A superhot arctic could mean an acceleration of the melting of the north pole. This can impact ocean currents and created unexpected changes in global weather patterns. CNN recently reported unprecedented Sea ice lows at both the Arctic (north pole) and Antarctic (south pole).

It looks like, since the beginning of October (2016), that for the first time we are seeing both the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice running at record low levels. ~ Walt Meier

To me it feels wrong that we give our attention to politics and passing issues, and mostly ignore the extinction events that we are causing, and the changes of the Earth, the place that has sustained us since the beginning of how life evolved on the planet.

For history, this is sort of a big deal. They will say that's when it truly started to happen (late, 2016). Some people in the science community are watching the chaos somewhere else — the Arctic.

With the North pole,  36 degrees warmer than normal as winter descends, the idea of rising climate change migrants, is sort of inevitable. Sure the ice is freezing up again, as it always does at this time of the year after reaching the September low, but this year its going to be lower than the record breaking 2012 levels.

In a world and at a time when the media seems obsessed with geo-politics, we have to remember we are witnessing changes that will impact generations of global citizens and has a tremendous economic cost for the global economy.

Climate Change is an Economic Issue

With that realization of the connectivity of the global economy, the state of the Environment is now recognized, as a huge economic issue. The decline of sea ice has been a key indicator that climate change is happening, but its loss, especially in the Arctic, can mean major changes for your weather, too.

The North Pole is actually drifting East since about the year 2000. It's now heading towards the British Isles.

 Air temperatures have been running more than 35 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) above average in the arctic. That kind of spike doesn't occur very often.

The mainstream media has been pretty tame about it, which any Millennial who cares about the environment I think would find pretty disappointing. There is a good chance, if you are reading this, you didn't even know.

October and November are typically a time of rapid ice gain for the Arctic region, as daylight hours become shorter and shorter and eventually non-existent during what's referred to as the "polar night."

With less ice in the summer, more of the sun's rays can heat the darker water, as opposed to being deflected back into space by the white ice cover. The result is a feedback loop, and one that scientists have warned about for some time.

As a species, it's pretty obvious we don't care much about the environment, but when there is no more ice in the Arctic, the consequences of climate change may accelerate faster than we are able to adapt to.

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What do you think, is climate change an economic event for the world? Can the Paris agreement make a significant difference? Are carbon taxes a good idea?