Arctic summer icepack shrinks to record low - seattlepi.com

Walt Meier, a research scientist at the snow and ice center, told the New York Times: “The Arctic is the Earth’s air conditioner. We’re losing that. It’s not just that polar bears might go extinct, or that native communities might have to adapt, which we’re already seeing — there are larger climate effects.”

The Arctic has experienced global warming at a faster rate than anyplace else on earth.
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“The scientific community realizes that we have a planetary emergency: It’s hard for the public to recognize this because they stick their head out the window and don’t see that much going on,” Dr. James Hansen, the NASA climate scientist, told a Greenpeace-sponsored panel in New York.

Hickenlooper, drought experts paint chaotic picture of Colorado climate | The Coloradoan | coloradoan.com

“I’m not out there to stir up the water around climate change,” Hickenlooper said, but everyone seems to agree that Colorado’s weather will become more volatile and unpredictable in the future.

Arctic sea ice melts to all-time low, 18 per cent below previous record; global warming blamed

"Arctic sea ice is one of the most sensitive of nature's thermometers," said Jason Box, an Ohio State University polar researcher.
[Is Antarctic sea ice one of the least sensitive of nature's thermometers?  If so, why?]
...The ice in the Arctic "essentially acts like an air conditioner by keeping things cooler," Meier said. And when sea ice melts more, it's like the air conditioner isn't running efficiently, he said.