Quote Originally Posted by VoidLivesOn
Then why does every keep saying the ice glaciers are melting? or is it just selling ratings or something? discovery channel has a new show every other week on how the planet is in "peril", because ice is melting up north or whatever.

and disney has their movies with their cute polar bears and penguins i guess to raise awareness cause afterall who wants to think of a polar bear drowning in melted ice water. maybe it just brings in alot of money, am i correct?

Because the glaciers are melting my friend :-p and that in and of itself is going to cause the planet to heat up more. See the absorption of heat via planetary surfaces has alot to do with said surfaces albedo value (basically how reflective it is) Ice and snow is probably the most reflective surface on the planet. So as the ice and snow melts away it reveals either dirt or ocean, both of which have a significantly lower albedo value and are darker in color (darker colors = absorbs more of the light spectrum = gets hotter faster).

Disclaimer: Im pretty nuetral on the whole global warming thing, i believe its definatly a naturally occuring planetary phenomena but i also believe that man is definatly contributing to speed it up.