From LiveScience.com comes this rather alarming report on ice thickness at the North Pole, as scientists have discovered the region is covered entirely with first-year ice, not the layers of ice that are usually built up over years of freezing. What this means for the North Pole –where there is no land, only ice– is that for the first time in human history the pole could be reached by sailing through open water. One of the effects of this melt is the opening of the Northwest Passage, which allows for shipping lanes between Europe and Asia above Canada, and not the much longer journey through the Panama Canal.

Meanwhile, two Russian vessels reached the area last summer in an attempt to plant a flag on the Arctic seafloor and claim the now-accessible area which many believe holds large oil and natural gas reserves. Denmark, however, claims the area is an extension of its territories via Greenland

What everyone agrees on is that within a few decades the North Pole may have no ice at all, and that increase in water will effect coastlines worldwide.

Another bit of momentum in the push for a green economy in Rhode Island. This op-ed by George Nee and Chris Wilhite comes out of a working group of enviro advocates and trades unionists that Sens Miller and Moura, RI Jobs With Justice, and I have been convening:

At the same time, Rhode Island’s excessive dependence on imported energy threatens our environment and our national security. The massive amount of energy that Rhode Island imports creates a drain on our economy. The good news is that environmental challenges like global warming represent the most important economic opportunities of our generation while protecting our coastlines and our beloved Narragansett Bay.

That’s why the Sierra Club Rhode Island Chapter and the Rhode Island AFL-CIO share a vision for Rhode Island’s new energy economy. This new vision is integral to bridging the gap between environmental groups and the labor community in regard to Quonset Point. Now we are joining forces to make Quonset the potential center of the new-energy economy and to reduce our dependence on imported energy in two ways: 1) invest in renewable power; and 2) conserve our energy resources.

Or something like that:

BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhuanet) — It’s been 40 million years since Antarctic waters were warm enough for sharks to lurk around and feed on polar prey, but rising ocean temperatures from global warming could eventually bring the toothy predators back, media reported Tuesday quoting scientists as saying.

If sharks reenter Antarctic waters, the entire polar ecosystem will be severely altered, with the ferocious predators easily preying on a wide assortment of slow-moving, soft-bodied organisms that dominate the sea floor of the cold-water environment, said Cheryl Wilga, an associate professor of biomechanics at the evolution at University of Rhode Island.