Aug. 17, 2007 — There was less sea ice in the Arctic on Friday than ever before on record, and the melting is continuing, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported.

“Today is a historic day,” said Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the center. “This is the least sea ice we’ve ever seen in the satellite record and we have another month left to go in the melt season this year.”

Yay! It’s getting warmer. A previously unusable section of the Earth’s surface is becoming habitable… The vast riches of the Arctic seafloor are coming within reach … The fabled Northwest Passage is becoming a reality … The polar bear threat is diminishing …

Changes are opportunities too.

Environmental campaigners, however, played down the agreement, saying it does not fundamentally alter the Bush administration’s refusal to accept binding targets for reducing emissions.
…
Specifically, Mrs. Merkel was pressing the Group of 8 to adopt the plan to cut emissions in half by 2050 and to limit the rise in global temperature to two degrees Celsius — terms the president’s chief environmental adviser, James L. Connaughton, said Wednesday the United States was not prepared to accept.

Instead, he said, the final communiqué approved by the Group of 8 nations — the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan — would probably reflect a merging of Mrs. Merkel’s plan with a proposal by Mr. Bush. In a major speech on climate change last week, the president spelled out his plan to convene major polluting nations, including China and India, in a series of meetings aimed at setting long-term goals by the end of 2008.

this complaining is just stupid. environmentalists are getting what they have wanted.

AMERICAN THEOCRACY Unpacked (W. F. Zimmerman): A searching, Christian, but not unfriendly look inside the controversial bestseller by Kevin Phillips — Summer 2007

AFTER THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (W. F. Zimmerman): Detailed chapter-by-chapter comments, analysis, and speculation on the series finale –Fall 2007

WORLD WAR II AND THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR (W. F. Zimmerman): First volume of the series deals with the interwar period through Poland, Norway, and France — Fall 2007

4xCO2 (W. F. Zimmerman) — adapting to the inevitable rise of global carbon dioxide levels to 4x historical levels, or 1120 ppm — Jan 2008

EXOPLANETS FOR KIDS (W. F. Zimmerman) — the most exciting era in the history of astronomy, explained for kids ages 7 to 777 — 2008

THE SOLOMON KEY UNVEILED: Detailed chapter-by-chapter comments, analysis, and research on the eagerly anticipated follow-on to THE DA VINCI CODE — three months after its publication — 2008?

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