The North Pole to Become the North Lake?

Recently, a headline on the news caught my attention. It stated that over the next 10 to 20 years, the ice on the North Pole will completely melt over the summer months. I at once had two thoughts; the first was just how shocking it is that due to global warming from gas emissions and global product consumption, that sites once boasting tundras of solid ice would soon be reduced to mere puddles. The second thought was how we were to relay this news to the children of the world, "Well, kids even Santa is going to be taking a summer holiday that can now include a little sun and surf!" All joking aside, what has the state of the world come to when our ice caps are melting?

The effects of this sudden increase in water flow is not limited to only the Arctic region, but will have drastic repercussions to the areas that will be receiving this unexpected runoff. Martin Sommerkorn, an expert in the field of Arctic sea life and a member of the team who conducted the studies that yielded these conclusions, stated that, "This could lead to flooding affecting one-quarter of the world's population, substantial increases in greenhouse gas emissions from massive carbon pools and extreme weather changes." I don't think it comes as a surprise to many to hear that the weather has certainly changed and had some unusual patterns over the previous years and up to today. All around the world, we've experience record lows, record highs, alarming amounts of increased rain, sleet, and snow, just to name a few examples.

The weather and natural events caused by global warming have already begun proven to provide us with enough tragedies thus far. However, the truly alarming thing is that this may only be a glimpse of what is to come. Could a yearly flooding from the melted Arctic now be expected to reign havoc upon the northern parts of the globe, destroying lives, cities, and countries on the whole? Other experts hypothesize that as the North Pole continues to melt away, smaller straits and waterways, including the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, may expand so much so that they would be turned into constituted routes for common overseas shipping. Of course this is just another example of the many worldwide effects that pollution and product consumption has attributed to.

Here, we have yet another thing to worry about, along with the hurricanes, heat waves, and increased diseases. Hopefully this proof will debunk those who still consider the whole global warming theory a conspiracy, and also encourage us all to employ greener habits into our everyday lives. For, what would Santa think if he had to trade in his sleigh for a boat?