in case you hadn't heard

my old favorite:
Scientists Warn of Melting Ice in Arctic

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Scientists on Monday painted a gloomy picture of the effects of global warming on the Arctic, warning of melting ocean ice, rising oceans, thawed permafrost and forests susceptible to bugs and fire.
"A lot of the stories you read make it sound like there's uncertainty," said Jonathan Overpeck, a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona. "There's not uncertainty."

Deborah Williams, a conference organizer and former director of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, said Alaska is Ground Zero for observing the effects of global warming because so many natural phenomena are tied to ice and the repercussions of it melting.

Overpeck reviewed NASA studies showing how Arctic ice has shrunk in size and depth. Climate models 25 years ago predicted a shrinking ice pack.
"What we didn't predict is that it would be so dramatic," Overpeck said.

If warming trends continue, Overpeck said, the globe eventually will get a nasty message from the Arctic: a rise in sea levels. Higher oceans will flow into low-lying parts of the world such as New Orleans, making recovery in that hurricane-ravaged city moot.
"It's hard to imagine why we're wanting to rebuild if we're going to allow global warming," Overpeck said.