SCIENCE AND IMPACTS
Amount of sea ice cover in the Arctic expected to hit a record low

According to researchers at the University of Colorado, there’s a 92 percent chance that this September, Arctic sea ice cover will melt to its lowest level since at least the 1970s, when satellite records first became available. Researchers pay close attention to the month of September because that is when Arctic ice is usually at its minimum. But sea ice extent—the area of an ocean that is covered by at least 15 percent of ice—has been declining steadily for the past 30 years. The record low for sea ice extent was set in September 2005 at 2.15 million square miles. This year, sea ice cover is expected to fall somewhere between 1.96 and 1.88 million square miles.

Such high levels of melting could have dramatic environmental implications over the next few years. “Similar to the way the El Nino pattern affects weather in the United States, more ice melt could change rain patterns and temperature patterns in the middle of the United States, which could have economic impacts on farmers,” said Sheldon Drobot, who leads Arctic ice forecasting at CU-Boulder’s aerospace engineering department. Though the Arctic climate system does vary naturally, researchers have concluded that human-induced global warming is at least partially responsible. The melt itself suggests a tipping point effect as natural restraints of global warming—such as sea ice cover, forest cover, or permafrost—are degraded. This degradation will accelerate global warming even further and could lead to even faster melting of sea ice in the next few years.

GOVERNMENT BACK-STEP
Judges recommend go-ahead for coal plant powerlines

In a recommendation that would doom South Dakota and Minnesota to a huge increase in global warming pollution for at least the next 30 years, two administrative law judges recommended last week that powerlines should be built in Minnesota from the proposed coal-fired Big Stone II power plant in Big Stone, South Dakota.

The recommendation goes to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for final action. Fresh Energy and its allies will ask the commission to ignore the recommendation and reject the certificate of need for the powerlines.

If constructed, Big Stone II would add 4.7 million tons of global warming pollution to our air every year, at a time when it's Minnesota policy to reduce emissions by 15 percent by 2015 and at least 80 percent by 2050.

“The scientific evidence is overwhelming and clear. We need a new and innovative 21st-century energy system,” said J Drake Hamilton, Fresh Energy's science policy director. “The economic future of not only South Dakota and Minnesota but the entire Upper Midwest depends on it. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission must say no to the polluting past by denying the transmission lines for dirty energy from Big Stone II and say yes to our nation’s inevitable future of clean, renewable energy.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Attend and bring a friend. Bring them all!

As students and teachers head back to school, jump on the education bandwagon by attending a public forum on global warming. Upcoming events:

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar Discusses Climate Change with Kids
August 25, 11:00AM–11:30AM
Science Museum of Minnesota Argon Room
Saint Paul, MN

Climate Change: From Concern to Action
September 7, 2007, 7:00PM–9:00PM
Spirit of the North Theater
Fitgers Complex
Duluth, MN

Nobel Conference
Heating Up: The Energy Debate
October 2–3, 2007
Gustavus Adolphus College
St. Peter, MN

Global Warming Solutions: A public forum with polar explorer Will Steger
October 14, 7:00PM–8:30PM
All Saints Catholic Church
Lakeville, MN

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Fresh Energy works daily for smart energy policies and regulations that enhance our economies, protect human health and communities, restore our environment, and move us toward energy independence. www.fresh-energy.org