According to an article today in the respected British broadsheet newspaper The Independent, scientists are predicting that for the first time in documented history, the North Pole will completely melt sometime late this summer.
Shrinkage of the North Pole due to the recent rise in global temperatures has been rapidly accelerating, at a pace far greater than successive climate change models. As recently as a couple of years ago Scientists were not expecting to see this event until at least 2030. Here we are on the eve of the melting of the North Pole, 22 years ahead of the climate change models.
So what comes next and how does this impact us ? From an environmental standpoint, further deterioration of the North Pole habitat is going to present damaging consequences for biodiversity in this region. Additionally, the loss of reflective land mass in this region will further add to warming as the darker seas absorb more radiated heat from the Sun.
This in turn will further accelerate the warming process and lead to the more dangerous acceleration of the melting of ice caps in Greenland and Antartica. The melting of these land based ice caps is far more significant as they add to the mass of the oceans, whereas the North Pole is already a part of the overall mass and as such, does not raise sea levels when it melts.
Clearly the world is taking a turn for the worse. This is painfully obvious, however the unique timing of this event presents an opportunity.
The likely melting event will take place in September / October, mere weeks away from the Presidential Election. This presents a remarkable opportunity for Obama - possibly along with Al Gore, still my pick for VP :) - to make a public address from a scientific vessel at the North Pole on this occasion.
This is the time to bring this issue to the forefront. This is the time and imagery to use to highlight to the public just how important this is and just how dangerous 4 more years of Republican energy policy will be.
This is a unique opportunity for the DNC and the Obama campaign to benefit our country and the world at large by drawing attention to a global issue while highlighting the need for change. This is a historic moment, one that should be in everyone's minds the day they go to vote.