Quote Originally Posted by TamanduaGirl
As for global warming well the ice caps are crumbling at the edges but they are getting thicker in depth so are really about the same mass as always. The oceans around the equator have actually gotten cooler. The air temp has gone up a bit but the earth has NEVER had a stable envornment. There have been many ice ages and hot dry times, it cycles and this we are living in now has been the longest in between there has been yet. Finlay all the other planets in our solar system have heated up to about the same amount in the same time frame so it could well be related and we certainly aren't responsible for them too.
That's a good point. However, whether or not the ice-caps are increasing in depth and therefore staying on average at the same volume, the crumbling of the edges reduces the surface area of the ice-cap. In the Arctic, this harms the polar bear, as I'm sure someone mentioned before. The seals which it hunts do not have the relatively thin sea ice to make breathing holes in, the method that the polar bear relies on to catch them. The seals can just swim in the unfrozen water and the polar bear doesn't stand a chance of outswimming them.

It's true, the oceans will and are getting cooler, due to the ice that is melting into them. I heard that Britain will get a lot cooler before we get hotter due to a current that runs between it and Ireland being affected by the melting ice.

You do have a good point about the fact it may not all be down to us. For millions of years, Earth has plunged in and out of ice ages and heatwaves, so we can never expect that to change. But due to this unstability of our climate, we could really do without hurrying it up.

I agree with Giselle, this certainly has been an interesting thread.