For reasons best known to itself the public broadcaster in Ireland RTE continues to ignore momentous climate events that are now taking hold on the planet and will begin to accelerate in the coming years. Peter Sinclair and the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the media are one group in the States that are attempting to get the information out. Below is a recent video.

Arctic Sea ice cover has been in continuous existence for anything between 3 to 13 million years. But within a decade it will be gone for good. We are already feeling the effects. As the Arctic sea ice melts, the dark sea underneath begins to absorb more sunlight, increasing Arctic temperatures. This affects the Jet Stream which is changing direction and slowing down. It's the changing behaviour of the Jet Stream which caused extreme weather in many parts of the world this summer.

 

The speed of the ice melt has alarmed scientists. The NASA animation below shows how fast the ice is melting.

 

 

The video below by Peter Sinclair charts just how fast Climate Change is occurring and what the effects are going to be. In Ireland we may be more shielded from the more severe effects in the short term but other places are not so lucky.

In the online blog Arctic Sea Ice John Nissen, chairman of the Arctic Methane Emergency Working Group and other scientists involved in studying the Arctic Circle and it's effect on the planet's climate are making some dire predictions about the future of the planet. The predictions are about how they see climate change panning out in in the next few decades.

 

"So my conclusion on global warming temperature rise is between 1.5°C and 3°C by 2030, while the Arctic warms at least 5°C above current temperatures. We must not go there!" - JOHN NISSEN. Chairman of the Arctic Methane Emergency Working Group


"The bad effects forecast for end of the century (4°C warming worldwide, 10°C in Arctic) will actually occur by about 2060. The speed of change is catastrophic for agriculture; warfare and population crashes will ensue." - Professor PETER WADHAMS. Professor of Ocean Physics, Cambridge University, UK


"Most worrying is that such intense local warming in the Arctic can cause large abrupt methane releases from sediments. This would add a lot of additional warming that would result in massive crop losses globally, threatening global fresh water supply and causing extinction on a massive scale." - SAM CARANA. Blogger, http://samcarana.blogspot.ie/

 

"Whatever the additional warming may be [because of already unavoidable committed warming], the multiple cascading Arctic positive feedback domino effect is already unstoppable except by cooling." - PETER CARTER MD. Canada. climate-emergency-institute.org


Source: http://arctic-news.blogspot.ie/

One of the difficulties in getting a clear picture of the challenges posed by Climate Change has been access to accurate information. Major Oil interests very often have significant but discrete control over media outlets which has served to muddy the waters of good information about our climate. For example Carlos Slim (pictured right), the richest man in the world according to the Forbes 2011 list, has significant interests in oil and gas. He is a part owner of Bronco Drilling (a major US oil and gas drilling company). What is less well known here in Ireland is that he also has shares in Independent News and Media which runs the most popular selling titles in the country such as the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent. The net effect of Big Oil influence on the media is that crucial information about Climate Change is gradually being filtered out. Information such as that provided by NASA scientist James Hansen in the following short video ...

 

   

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