It is my somber duty to relay that, according to Reuters, “The Arctic is warming up so quickly that the region’s sea ice cover in summer could vanish as early as 2013[.]”

I must admit, sad as I am, I’m mostly confused. I read last June that “for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.” “This year” is now last year, and the iceless age never came to pass. Plus, I’ve been prepared for the balmy Arctic of 2013 ever since Al Gore announced last July,  “there is now a 75 percent chance that within five years the entire ice cap will completely disappear during the summer months.” However, I wasn’t quite sure what to think when I read in the San Francisco Chronicle the following September: “The consensus of most sea-ice scientists is that the Arctic could be free of ice in the summer between 2030 and 2040.”

Complicating matters further, President Obama said of climate change, “The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear.”

The president vowed to “restore science to its rightful place.” If that is to mean anything, it should mean restoring skepticism and objectivity to their rightful places within the sphere of scientific inquiry.