Hot air over melting glaciers

Glaciers the world over are melting. That's the one incontrovertible truth. Some say they are melting abnormally fast. Others call this claim alarmist and say the pace of disintegration is actually a lot slower.

The last few days' very public row over the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control's (IPCC's) projection that the mighty Himalayan glaciers would melt away by 2035 strikes me as a little unnecessary. Now personal attacks are being made to discredit the panel's Indian head, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri. The controversy - following an IPCC admission that its forecast of doom wasn't actually based on solid research or scientific study - has certainly dented the international panel's credibility.

But my question is, what does it matter? We've been told - and I believe this is beyond question - that the glaciers are melting faster than they should. Whether it is at a rate judged too fast, or even faster, what's clear is that the world has to attempt to arrest the liquefaction because the result could be catastrophic for our entire planet (sea levels would rise and swallow large tracts of low-lying land, the planet would soak up more heat with less ice to bounce sunlight back etc.). So let's get down to finding a solution instead of bickering and arguing over the melt rate. No need for all this hot air over ice. It runs the risk of accelerating the pace of the meltdown!