Shock and Thaw

New Yorker launches three-part exploration of climate change

Writer Elizabeth Kolbert must have single-handedly accelerated global warming with the jet fuel she burned visiting the Arctic, Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and the Antarctic to research a big three-part series on climate change for The New Yorker. What did she find? Well, it's all melting. The Alaskan village of Shishmaref is going to be uprooted and moved en masse, thanks to increasing exposure to rising tides and grumpy weather. The Arctic sea ice is melting, thus reducing its reflectivity, thus absorbing more energy, thus melting faster (and so on). Greenland's ice sheet is melting, raising sea levels and possibly altering the ocean currents that keep the world's temperate zones temperate. Meanwhile, the third part of a big multi-country climate report -- the part on the actions governments need to take -- is being delayed by the U.S. delegation, which doesn't like the word "mandatory." If you haven't slit your wrists yet, get ready for part two ...