Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain .. we ARE the great and powerful super.
Does being the last "superpower" on the globe give us the right to destroy the planet, or the obligation to protect it? It would seem that the answer to that question is thought to lie with the elected officials who are supposed to be furthering our individual opinions en-masse to the global public at large.
It's good that I was able to work the word LIE in there because I've encountered few politicians who don't. The incessant denial of members of the government in accepting that there is even something going ON has led to inexcusable delays in problem resolution. At present all indications are that the problem not only EXISTS.. but that the conditions are deteriorating at a more rapid rate than previously anticipated!
Ellesmere Island in the northern Canadian wilderness should be a barometer for us. It has got to be one of the closest and least inhabited examples we could use. The overall temperate shift over the course of time has led a 41 sq mile island of ice to break free from its land based moorings and drift out some 30-40 miles into the arctic sea before becoming ensnared in the winter's ocean ice. Within a matter of years, it is expected to drift with the summer thaws to the point that it will become a hazard to shipping lanes.
Meanwhile down in Antarctica we see a continuing presentation of exactly the same sort of pattern. Large millenia old ice masses are turning into ice floes and glaciers.
On a more personal level and more readily observable by locals.. check out the temps in the US. Climate changes abound. My father's side of my family is from Maine. We've all noted that the temps have changed drastically over the course of the last few years. Presque Isle.. Fort Kent.. Caribou.. all have failed to see a white christmas for several years now. Caribou was once famous as one of the coldest points on the north american continent. NEVER in my life did I ever imagine that I would hear that they made it all the way into the middle of December without snowfall.
So what happens when the surface ice melts at the poles? Well imagine a cube of ice supported above a glass ( like held in your fingers for example ) the way that the ice shelves are supported by their adjacent land mass. Check the level in the glass.. and release the cube. Check the level again. This simple experiment will demonstrate what the problem is. The world's oceans will continue to rise. We have already lost whole islands to sumbersion flooding due to rising regional ocean levels.
Anyone who still thinks that global warming and the greenhouse effect are not problems that are increasing in severity by the DAY.. needs to have their head examined.
