Submitted by Scott Baker, Dec 12, 2007 13:38

In people's rush to make All Global Warming All the TIme, they seem to have forgotten their are other factors influencing the melting of the ice, some man-made, some not, but all accelerating the predictions. Among those recently cited in New Scientist and elsewhere are:

1. Pollution. Soot, which is black, more easilly absorbs the sun's warmth, than pure snow. And soot is settling all over the arctic thanks mostly to Asia's dirty ascendency.

2. Deforestation - no, not in the arctic, but below the arctic circle, causing permafrosted land to be reclaimed by the sea, and changing the sea channels irrevocably so that more warm water can travel up to the arctic.

3. Eco-tourism. A small, but growing problem, as the number of ice-breaking ships increases yearly. Add to that commercial and now, military ships as the scramble to claim the next big oil field heats up. The USGS estimates the arctic could hold up to 25% of the world's undiscovered oil supply.

The causes of global warming show no signs of abating. While nations quibble, the arctic melts. Human beings have never been asked to cooperate on such a large scale, for so long a time, for such a distant goal ever before in history. It's unlikely they can learn to do so now. We will see what happens when the ice melts.

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