Melting ice means worldwide adjustments

The Arctic Ice Cap, an ice sheet the size of the U.S., has floated frozen and relatively unaltered for the last 50 million years in the Arctic Ocean. Until now.  

Since the late 1970s, expanses of ice the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut have melted away each year, throwing off the delicate balance of the arctic ecosystem and drastically affecting the lives of the polar bears and Inuits that inhabit it. Soon, the rest of the world will feel it too, as rising sea levels cause more severe storms and droughts worldwide.

To prevent further arctic ice loss, the rate of global warming must be slowed. Cut backs on greenhouse gases that increase planet temperatures are, thanks to science and innovative renewable energy ideas, increasingly within reach.