The gulf between the science and the politics of climate change has never been wider. Consider the Arctic ice cap, which has lost half its volume in the five years from 2005. Experts say the Arctic ice cap is now in a “death spiral”. The region is warming two to four times faster than the global average. If the ice cap melts, it will trigger two even more serious climate disasters: the melting of Greenland’s huge ice sheet and the release of methane gas from thawing Arctic soils and seabeds. These are two big climate tipping points: points of no return that could thrust the Earth into an inhospitable, dangerous and irreversible climate reality. There is enough ice in Greenland to cause a seven-metre sea level rise. Last year, scientists reported that 97% of Greenland’s ice cap thawed at some point during the month of July.
