Burning the Planet at Both Ends

A couple of news articles today pointing out or underlining the melt happening at both poles. First from the south…

The frozen region of freshwater ice the size of France partially protects the West Antarctic Ice Sheet from collapsing into the sea. In recent years, the ice-free season in the Ross Sea has become a routine event — but it happened this year on New Year’s Day, the earliest time in history.

Grist: Antarctic sea ice is ‘astonishingly’ low this melt season
By Eric Holthaus on Jan 3, 2019

Then more news from the north….

Two separate studies published in November identified sites in Greenland and Iceland that seemed to be emitting methane into the air (Climatewire, Nov. 26, 2018). Now a third study, published yesterday in Nature, adds another site to the list.

Scientific American: Greenland Has Yet Another Methane Leak

But meanwhile in Ontario our provincial government is no longer allowed to talk about climate change. This little tidbit from blogTO

“As some of you will now have heard, Premier’s Office is reviewing and approving all social media content, from all ministry channels,” the email continues.
“PO has indicated they will not be approving any posts mentioning climate change at this time.”

BlogTO

The quote from a missive from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.