Worry — who,  us?  Americans seem immune to action on issues of real concern, like climate change.  It seems like some people are more prone to believe the false things they hear (especially things about Obama and the scary things he might do) just because it’s almost more fun to worry about them.  It makes more sense to be concerned about things that are real and truly threaten us.  Maybe  the lack of concern about climate change (and the ongoing debate about it) is because people think claims about global warming are coming from the government — a government they don’t trust. But that’s not the case.  Climate change warnings are not coming from governments, they are coming from scientists, and that’s why we need to pay attention. Below are three stories (out of many) that we need to pay close attention to.

The first story of concern is new today, and about melting in the Antarctic peninsula.

Climate change melting southern Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves

The US Geological Survey (USGS) has found that every ice front in the southern part of the Antarctic Peninsula—the coldest part—has been retreating overall for the past sixty years with the greatest changes visible since 1990.

“This research is part of a larger ongoing USGS project that is for the first time studying the entire Antarctic coastline in detail, and this is important because the Antarctic ice sheet contains 91 percent of Earth’s glacier ice,” said USGS scientist Jane Ferrigno. “The loss of ice shelves is evidence of the effects of global warming. We need to be alert and continually understand and observe how our climate system is changing.”

The melting of ice shelves won’t directly lead to sea level rise, since ice shelves already rest in the ocean. However, the loss of the shelves will allow melt from the terrestrial Antarctic ice sheet to reach the ocean and eventually raise sea levels threatening islands, low-lying areas, and coastal communities and cities. If all the land-based ice in Antarctica melted, researchers estimate that sea-levels would rise by over 213-240 feet (60-73 meters).

That’s a bit serious, to say the least!  See the graphic here to see where this peninsula is.

Evidence of climate change is all around us.  The second story of concern is about runaway climate change and how methane is contributing to it.  How much time do we have left before it’s too late to stop the methane leakage?  No one knows for sure, but the signs are not good as the permafrost melting is continuing and there are measurable increases in atmospheric methane.   Scientists say that methane is leaking to the point where we might see runaway methane, leading to runaway climate change sooner than previously thought.

Methane in the atmosphere: The recent rise

Many climate scientists think that frozen Arctic tundra. . .  is a ticking time bomb in terms of global warming, because it holds vast amounts of methane, an immensely potent greenhouse gas. Over [...]