Global warming is debatable. We understand this.
But a report that was published in Wednesday's Daily Republic makes it hard to turn the other cheek when faced with news that Arctic sea ice is just half of what it was four years ago.
Last year, two leading scientists announced that Arctic ice was melting so rapidly that it could disappear by 2040. This week, a NASA climate scientist said that at the present rate, the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free by 2012.
Imagine -- an ice-free Arctic Ocean within five years.
We have other fears, too.
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Early this year, National Geographic published a report on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of top scientists that gathered to discuss climate change and global warming. At the conclusion of their gathering, they issued a summary report that included several distressing possibilities, including:
n Global temperatures will increase between two and 11.5 degrees over pre-industrial levels by the end of this century.
n Sea levels are projected to rise between 7 and 23 inches by the end of the century.
n Temperatures and sea levels will continue to rise for centuries, even if greenhouse gas emissions are stabilized today.
n Not counting 2007, 11 of the past 12 years rank among the 12 warmest years on record, dating back to 1850.
n Observational evidence suggests an increase in hurricane strength that correlates with an increase in sea temperatures.
Of course, none of this is fact. All of this so-called evidence could be just a blip on Earth's radar.
We, however, think there's something to it.
