weird, warm weather.

Well, melting of the Northwest Passage has made this mythological throughway an economic and environmental reality.
At least 10 years sooner than expected, open waters in the Artic have Russians planting their flag on the sea bottom floor. That's only the beginning. The first question coming to mind as footage plays on international news: "When did that happen?" Strangely enough, scientists were stunned about the accelerated conditions as long ago as October of 2006.
Canada must be excited about this. Finally, the moderate and kind have arrived on top -- they've been rewarded with one of the most valuable shipping routes on the globe. And with weather warming next year, too, maybe there's an opportunity for vacation cottages. Deputy Minister of the Environment to Canada's newest province, Nunavut, sees another upside. Warming trends will provide longer boating seasons and reduced energy consumption with rising temperatures.

Here are some other facts from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies:
"Global warming is now 0.6°C in the past three decades and 0.8°C in the past century. It is no longer correct to say that "most global warming occurred before 1940". More specifically, there was slow global warming, with large fluctuations, over the century up to 1975 and subsequent rapid warming of almost 0.2°C per decade."

Indeed the earth has warmed and cooled significantly over the last thousands and millions of years. Maybe we won't shrivel into a raisin tomorrow, or bake like a potatoes next year. But there is something awfully persuasive about clean air, clean water and, darn it. If we can reduce the damage done to the environment, ourselves, and the other living creations on this big blue marble, why not take a shot.