While I agree with Alex Deane that ad hominem attacks on climate change contrarians are out of order, that doesn't mean that weaknesses in the contrarian position shouldn't be pointed out.
Alex references one of those weaknesses in his post:
I noted with interest that the "stunning and alarming footage" recently shown of ice breaking away from the ice shelf, came without any mention of the fact that the ice is thickening in other parts of Antartica.
Thickening ice in the Antarctic interior is consistent with mainstream thinking on climate change. Higher temperatures increase the rate of evaporation, resulting in higher levels of precipitation and therefore more ice formation anywhere in the world with sub-zero temperatures.
Mean global temperatures could go up several degrees and still leave the Antarctic interior cold enough to thicken the ice sheet there. Obviously, the early warning signs will be, and have been, found at the coastal edges of the southern continent, hence the focus of scientific and media interest.
