Some interesting, and semi-devastating, articles on global warming just popped up that make the global warming epidemic a far more present reality.

First off, in a Discovery News article, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that there is less sea ice than ever on record, and that the melting is continuing. Satellite measurements showed 2.02 million squares of ice in the Arctic, down from the 2.05 million square miles recorded in September 2005.

This May 18, 2006 photo shows walruses on an ice flow in the northern Bering Sea off of Alaska.

So, what’s the big deal? Why is Arctic ice so important? Well, sea ice in the Arctic helps keep regions cool by reflecting sunlight that might be absorbed by darker land or ocean surfaces. The article states that “exposed to direct sun…instead of reflecting 80 percent of the sunlight, the ocean absorbs 90 percent. That causes the ocean to heat up and raises Arctic temperatures.”

Unusually hot and clear weather up in the Arctic has resulted in a large amount of solar energy in the region, which has sped up the melting process as well. For the skeptics out there, Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist, stated that while some natural variability is expected, "we simply can't explain everything through natural processes."

"It is very strong evidence that we are starting to see an effect of greenhouse warming," he said.

He then goes on to state another interesting, and concerning point. “The puzzling thing,” he said, “Is that the melting is occurring faster than the climate models have predicted.”

Several years ago, he would have predicted a complete melt of Arctic sea ice in the summer sometime around 2070 or 2100. But at the current rate, a complete melt could happen by 2030.

That’s twenty years. Yes, there still will be ice in the winter, but it will be gone in the summer. And what does that mean? Besides a myriad of apocalyptic possibilities, let’s keep it simple for the sake of this blog.

No ice in the summer means rising sea levels engulfing our coastlines.

And if you don’t take that seriously, perhaps you will once you learn this: insurance companies in the United States will no longer insure homes in at-risk areas for flooding from global warming. Even insurance companies are taking global warming seriously folks. Now that's saying something.

Thinking of moving to Miami? Don't expect any home insurance there...

But perhaps you still think that’s no big deal—we just need to move those folks move away from the coastline, right? Well, that might be kind of difficult considering that eighty percent of the world’s population lives less than thirty miles from the coastline. I can’t imagine that relocating five billion people would be all that easy.

Kind of makes me happy I moved to Denver…

But all this information does beg, and I mean beg, a very important question: at what point do we actually do something about it?

For more on how urban planners are responding to this, check out this article.

Both photos were taken from the original articles.