Human Wrongs Watch
By Sara Ayech, Greenpeace*, September 19, 2012 – The record has already been broken – but it is about to be shattered.
This isn’t the kind of record you wish to remember and tell your grandchildren about. This is no tale of great sporting achievement like Usain Bolt smashing his way into the Olympic record books. No, this is something entirely more sombre.
I’m in the Arctic as part of a Greenpeace crew to bear witness to this year’s sea ice minimum – the moment of the year when the extent of Arctic sea ice is at its lowest. And very soon we expect to hear news of a new record, breaking the one set in 2007 – the lowest ever recorded sea ice minimum.
If current trends continue, the Arctic Ocean – which some research suggests has not been ice free for many thousands of years – is likely to see ice free summers within the next decade.