The polar ice caps are melting as global warming causes climate change. We are currently losing sea ice at a rate of almost 13% per decade, and over the past 30 years, the oldest and thickest ice in the Arctic has declined by a stunning 95%. (Reference WWF)
If emissions continue to rise unchecked, the Arctic regions could be ice-free as soon as the summer by 2040. What's scary is what will happen to all of us around the world if that were to happen.
A partial list of catastrophes include (1) an never-ending cycle of an increasingly warmer world since the polar ice caps act as global air conditioners ... no ice means the air conditioner is broken, (2) there will be mass flooding and environmental contamination from a rising sea level caused by the melted ice, (3) there will be a decline in food production as crops die off due to temperature variations, (4) Thawing permafrost which currently traps methane gas that will be released into the atmosphere which will perpetuate the cycle of even more global warming. But wait ... let's focus here on the wildlife. When there’s less sea ice, animals that depend on it for survival will perish. Loss of ice and melting permafrost will mean the end for polar bears, walruses, penguins, arctic foxes, snowy owls, reindeer, and every other arctic and antarctic species. As they are affected, so too are the other species that depend on them, that includes us as humans.
Here is a list of 50 non-profit organizations that are working to solve this very big problem; which includes the National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservatory, Polar Bears International, and the Sierra Club.
