"A state not witnessed for at least a million years"

Homo erectus left Africa 1,000,000 years ago.

The August 2005 newsletter (pdf) of the American Geophysical Union contains a "consensus statement" signed by 21 scientists:

Arctic System on Trajectory To New, Seasonally Ice-Free State

"The Arctic is rapidly losing its permanent ice. At the present rate, a summer ice-free Arctic Ocean within a century is a real possibility, a state not witnessed for at least a million years, perhaps much longer."

On November 7 2005, the BBC reports:

Greenhouse gas 'to rise by 52%'

Global greenhouse gas emissions will rise by 52% by 2030, unless the world takes action to reduce energy consumption, a study has warned.

The prediction comes from the latest annual World Energy Outlook report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

It says that under current consumption trends, energy demand will also rise by more than 50% over the next 25 years.

Far from rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic, which would at least be useless, we are loading the deck with more chairs.