A white hare on brown dirt

When talking to a climate scientist one does not want to hear, "that really shocked us," or "reality is well ahead of the climate models." Alas, scientists who study the Arctic are saying that a lot. Cue the theme from Jaws.

Sharon Begley of Newsweek explained the findings behind that shock and dismay. We've all heard how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has a greenhouse effect, trapping heat. Here's the latest:

* Climate change models were designed to be out ahead of what's actually happening in hopes of dire predictions would spur government action. Except reality is *worse* than the models.

* G8 nations have vowed to prevent warming of more than 2 degrees, because models predict dire things above that. We've already passed 0.8 degrees and have enough carbon already in the atmosphere to complete those two degrees. That warming hasn't happened yet because worldwide pollution is balancing the carbon (blocking sunlight from reaching earth where it turns into heat). For health reasons we're tackling the pollution problem.

* Greenland's icepack is melting faster than anticipated.

* Scientists have already predicted that if the Arctic permafrost begins to melt, the ground there will release more carbon into the atmosphere. More carbon means more heating and faster permafrost melting -- a nasty cycle once it starts. One of the shocks was the estimate of the amount of carbon that could be released from the permafrost -- 3 times the previous guess. And the amount that could be released in a year is 3-7 times what all the cars and light trucks in the USA emit.

Fortunately, the skeptic's scorn has shifted from the climate scientists to the lame response of various national governments. Those eyes are now on the Copenhagen conference to be held in December with 192 countries attending.

A companion piece looks at the biodiversity of the Crown of the Continent, the area surrounding Glacier National Park in Montana. At the moment, the area has the same wonderful diversity as was there when Lewis and Clark passed by. Perhaps this will end soon. Animals, such as bears which will eat anything, will stick around. But the lynx, which eats only snowshoe hares, may not stay. Those hares are the ones that turn white in winter and brown the rest of the year. The problem is that warming has shortened winter and the triggers for the color change (hours of daylight) are still the same. That leaves a white hare sitting on brown dirt. The hare population is dropping.