THE ARCTIC ICE IS MELTING AT A RECORD RATE

While politicians and investors debate the merits of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) levels of between 450 and 550 parts per million, the current level of around 390 parts per million is causing the Arctic sea ice to melt. The 2008 melt is climaxing this week and is almost as much as the record 2007 melt. By 2013, the ice may be all gone in summer.

This is a trigger for runaway global warming.

If the Arctic is ice free, the warmer sea will melt Greenland (causing a 7-metre worldwide sea level rise) and the frozen Arctic permafrost soils. According to the CSIRO, permafrost could release up to 1500 billion tonnes of carbon, twice the amount of CO2 already in the atmosphere.

There is already too much CO2 in the atmosphere – fossil fuel use must be rapidly abandoned and excess CO2 drawn out of the atmosphere. This is an emergency, but governments and corporations are continuing with business as usual.

We are protesting the corporations who continue to invest in new fossil fuels to burn, and the government that supports them with new fossil fuel power stations, desalination and new tollways.