from Hacker News

Arctic sea ice sets a record low maximum in 2025

by martinpw on 3/28/25, 12:34 AM with 143 comments

  • by astahlx on 3/28/25, 5:07 AM

    It is good to see this here on HN. We, the hackers and painters, would have the power to build world wide communities for addressing the climate collapse (the climate that provided good conditions for humanity to thrive). We have the wealth to work on solutions, we are the ones also contributing to burn the world, maybe because we have given up or because it is just too comfortable. We sit in our offices, home offices, letting everything collapse as long as the pizza and the next gadget reaches our desk. We control how information is distributed, we are responsible. We would be advised to take action; will we?

  • by wasmainiac on 3/28/25, 6:55 AM

    Unfortunately we needed large scale climate engineering a decade ago.

    Oil is a key driver of economic activity, how would we ever convince governments, businesses, and finally individuals to cut their earnings before they “get theirs”. Sure we can get a significant portion of individuals to live a net-zero life, but there are far too many people who don’t care since everything seems normal if you are not paying attention.

    I want carbon neutrality, but I have no hope to achieving this before we face large scale ecological collapse (look at the GBR).

  • by jamesblonde on 3/28/25, 5:20 AM

    This is why there is a race on for Greenland. (And Svalbard?)

    Ice melting in the Arctic is not a linear process. There will most likely be ice free summers in the Arctic within most people here's lifetime.

  • by hdivider on 3/28/25, 2:38 AM

    It seems like so much has been said about climate change, with such comparatively miniscule action by the powerful.

    Imagine being one of the optimates, the financial ultra-elite. You are at the pinnacle of power in our civilization. You have children, perhaps even grandchildren. You can subvert the rule of law to a huge extent and get away with it. The sheer power of your wealth can take on its own dynamic, allowing you to spend vast amounts on the most ludicrous ideas and still come out OK by sheer artificial demand. Thus, you can will a lot of things into existence.

    What do you choose to do about climate change? Invest in many potential breakthroughs? Bring the smartest and most capable people in R&D together and partner with government to bring the best solutions to fruition at scale? Make your mark by moderating the impact of climate change and allow your children to live at least in a similar world to what we have today?

    Nope. Instead, you choose to invest in pollution. The future be damned.

    The above is actually happening, right now, at enormous scale. I'd urge people to remember this when our culture communicates that the worth of a person correlates with their net worth; it does not.

    In the rotten competition for more and more, Seneca's words come to mind:

    "The better man may win. But the winner is bound to be the worse man."

  • by gmuslera on 3/28/25, 1:18 PM

    It is not just surface, but thickness too, what makes the whole picture. But what will matter in the end is exposing more (dark, albedo-wise) water to sunlight rising a notch global warming and melting even more Arctic sea ice. Positive feedback loops should be scary.

  • by singularity2001 on 3/28/25, 10:06 AM

  • by aoweirji3j on 3/28/25, 7:04 AM

    And this is why trump keeps ranting about greenland. It's not just a distraction. He wants to invade greenland and canada, and he wants global warming to accelerate so it becomes more accessible.

  • by jfengel on 3/28/25, 2:11 AM

    So they say. But I won't believe it until I see it on an official US government site.

    To avoid ideological bias, of course.

  • by zcar on 3/28/25, 11:45 AM

    I wonder how the results would be if they measure the average for the year instead of only the coldest months. I say that because I suppose that ice, just like snow doesn't exactly match with temperature.

  • by jmclnx on 3/28/25, 1:40 AM

    At this rate, oil fields and shipping lanes will open up we can race to toast the planet even more. But at least the billionaires will be happy and not have to worry about just being only multi-millionaires.

  • by walrus01 on 3/28/25, 4:54 AM

    See also, trends in atmospheric co2 at Mauna Loa observatory:

    https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/

  • by tonyhart7 on 3/28/25, 6:31 AM

    russian people would love this

  • by chneu on 3/28/25, 8:07 AM

    Stop blaming the rich and the corporations. They love when 8 billion people throw up their hands and give up, while continuing to buy cheap stuff.

    Blaming the rich/corps is exactly what they want. They'll gladly be your bad guy as long as you keep buying their goods, which people do.

    We are blasted by capitalist logic that we are shaped by. The second anyone says "maybe everyday people need to consume less?" people freak out like they're being assaulted. But nobody seems to call out corporations for their, "You deserve this environmental disaster of a hamburger" propaganda advertisement.

    The world's few thousand illionaires don't consume like the other 8 billion people. Using the rich as an excuse just perpetuates the destruction and let's the rich continue.

    The absolute worst part? Most people idolize the rich and pretend that one day they too will be rich. Capitalism has convinced us that we are entitled to excess. Calling out how insane this is is a social no-no because it makes people fee-fees hurt.

  • by Animats on 3/28/25, 2:31 AM

    The Northwest Passage still isn't ice-free. There's more open water, but loose icebergs reportedly clog up the tight spots.[1]

    [1] https://scitechdaily.com/arctic-ice-wont-let-go-the-surprisi...