My father grew up in a country where African Americans were, by law, forced into separate and unequal lives. They were lynched, cheated, driven from homes, kept from jobs, denied their rights, and abused by te justice system. They lived as refugees in their own nation. Today, an African American was nominated for the Presidency of the United States by one of the two major political parties. Today we are reminded that the world as it is does not need to be accepted, that the good guys do not always lose and that we can make things better.
This is not the end of the fight for equality. This is not the promised land. But it is a step, a large step, closer. On most days I settle for the Democratic party because of the way our political institutions force that choice upon me. But tonight, tonight I am deeply proud to be a Democrat.
Hey, remember back in February, when Serr8d used disingenuous graphs to try to argue that melting polar ice wasn’t a problem? And remember how I subsequently pointed out the flaws in his arguments, and noted that the late summer ice levels are what’s important? Well, lookie here:
The National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., reported that the extent of sea ice in the Arctic is down to 2.03 million square miles. The lowest point since 1979 is 1.65 million square miles set last September.
With about three weeks left in the Arctic summer, this year could wind up breaking the previous record, scientists said.
Arctic ice always melts in summer and refreezes in winter. But over the years, more of the ice is lost to the sea and with less of it recovered in winter. While ice reflects the sun’s heat, the open ocean absorbs more heat and the melting accelerates warming in other parts of the world.
…snip…
“We could very well be in that quick slide downward in terms of passing a tipping point,” said center senior scientist Mark Serreze. “It’s tipping now. We’re seeing it happen now.”
Within a few years — “five to less than 10 years” — the Arctic could be free of sea ice in the summer, said NASA ice scientist Jay Zwally.
“It also means that climate warming is also coming larger and faster than the models are predicting and nobody’s really taken into account that change yet,” he said.
Other scientists, including James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York, agreed. Hansen in a Wednesday e-mail said the sea ice “is the best current example of a tipping point.”
Last year was an unusual year when wind currents and other weather conditions coincided with global warming to worsen sea ice melt, Serreze said. Scientists wondered if last year’s melt was an unusual event or the start of a new and disturbing trend.
This year’s results suggest the latter because the ice had recovered a bit more than usual thanks to a somewhat cooler winter, Serreze said. Then this month, when the melting rate usually slows, it sped up, he said.
Of course, these are people who study this sort of thing for a living, so what the hell do they know? Obviously, they’re just politically-motivated alarmist hacks…
