North Pole becomes island

Due to climate change - which conservatives like Sarah Palin claim is made-up - it appears as if Santa Claus is going to need a kayak this holiday season.

For the first time in known history, the North Pole has in effect become an island. NASA photos show that climate change has melted Arctic sea ice around the pole, leaving the pole an island of ice surrounded by water.

Shipping companies are trying to take advantage of the fact that this is the first known instance of a navigable sea route around the pole. But that's exactly like if I cheered strip-mining the entire Appalachian Mountains just because it would make it easier to bike to Virginia.

In this world we call reality, the melting of the ice is what sea ice specialist Mark Serreze calls a "death spiral."

As the ice becomes water, it holds in heat and melts more ice. Where does this newly formed water go? You've heard of icebergs, but who's ever heard of a waterberg? As a liquid, water can't pile up iceberg-like. Thus, the water will add to the oceans and make sea levels rise.

And beaches and cities will be flooded.

Despite this, the conservative intelligentsia continues to deny climate change. Maybe when their swanky beachfront condos are the first things flooded, they'll finally snap out of their delusion.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/North_Pole_becomes_an_island/articleshow/3434077.cms)