Now I can save money on fox pelts from "trappers"!

This guy's logic is above mine.  There are 500k square miles MORE ice this year than last yet this proves the ice is in a death spiral????  Can this guy do my taxes?

Don't get me wrong, I am a student of both the prevailing thought on climate change and the more competent skeptical counter-arguments....This just doesn't make sense, though.  And why, last year, was this same agency saying that the shrinking ice was just an abnormal expression of a more routine weather pattern?

Where did bkrell get his information that there is 500K square miles more of ice formation this year?  The pictures - some from space, even - that I have seen confirm the Northwest Passage is open this year for all kinds of vessels, including sailboats.

Canadian Prime Minister, Steven Harper, is just concluding a visit north where he (finally) declared that Canada will require registration of all ships traversing the Northwest Passage because of the open waters there now.  In the past hundreds of years, the sea-ice effectively kept the Passage closed year-round.  

And Alaska boaters have reported seeing polar bears swimming hundreds of miles to reach ice-shelfs that used to be easily accessible to them for hauling out, resting, and/or hunting.

And Arctic nations, including Russia and the USA, are getting ready to claim undersea polar resources now that those resources are becoming more accessible.

In any case, does anyone need more proof for the catastrophy climate change's going to bring?

Are you saying that after 188 years of global warming, life is worse now than it was in 1820?

This guy's logic is above mine.  There are 500k square miles MORE ice this year than last yet this proves the ice is in a death spiral????

That's because last year was the lowest level.  This year, being the second-lowest, would have more ice.

But all years, except last year, have had MORE ice than this one.

Unfortunately, summer isn't over yet, and peak ice melt may not have been met yet, meaning there's still a chance that THIS YEAR could be lowest.

A very disturbing trend.

Not to mention that the ice, on average, is thinner than it should be.

If you're a complete moron.

Why the climate change deniers can't manage to read a trend line is beyond me. God knows they would never be able to sail anywhere because if they were required to tack they'd completely freak out.

I suspect the studied ignorance is about as honest as a pack of little boys caught tagging the wall in the school bathroom with markers in hand.

........ Can you guys calm down already? How do you function when every day is a crisis in your life?

Are you saying that after 188 years of global warming, life is worse now than it was in 1820?

Don't you think that when someone writes in the future tense, he is talking about the future?

We succeeded in breaking down arctic sea ice at an unprecedented speed. Many scientists warn for tipping points and feeback mechanisms (very relevant in this case), and if these occur, a true catastrophy could indeed emerge.

For me, life would probably not be any worse than today, because, like you, I'm lucky to be living in a well-off country with lots of cash for adaptation.

But I think of the many innocent people who are not so lucky, and who are guaranteed to suffer under the climate catastrophy.

Perhaps human solidarity is not in your dictionary, but it is in mine.

"Perhaps human solidarity is not in your dictionary, but it is in mine."

Self interest will drive the train, or the train isn't going anywhere. Natures law, not mine.

MAD MAC, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but supporting collective interests is a far more important natural law than the pursuit of individual interests. The idea that individual interests are important is very new, and was invented in the 19th century by liberal ideologues. It is a fantasy.

You should know this, if you follow the findings of ethology, evolutionary biology, game theory, neuropsychiatry, socio-biology, and other behavioral sciences a bit. Solidarity, group-thinking, altruism are all key traits defining our species and our evolution.

Concretely speaking, I think world politics will be ever more dominated by political decision making processes that aim to serve humanity as a whole, instead of self-interests of countries. The global consensus building and decision making around climate change is just one big sign of this trend, which has been going on for a long time.

Would you two just take this same old tired argument outside?

This is a "no shit scenario". This story line is repeating. Each year someone manages to take a measurement that represents a trend. I hear it, I read it. Do we have a lawyer in the house that can file a petition for the world at large. A few people are effecting the many. Any resistance to a trend away from fossil fuels could be seen as a crime in my mind. "Don't shoot em, lock em up".

gives lie to this statement:

"MAD MAC, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but supporting collective interests is a far more important natural law than the pursuit of individual interests."

Humans are driven by self interest. Rarely do they put the collective ahead of self interest. Marx and Engels theorized that this would happen - that is did not is one of the many reasons for the failure of the communist ideal. People have always asked "what's in it for me" and they always will. You're deluding yourself if you think the world is going to morph into something other than what it is now, sociologically speaking.

and the records go back 35 years so we should all be alarmed. NOT.