Extreme no more?

The Polar extremities have largely seemed an irrelevance to most people in the past; incomprehensible, unpopulated nether regions of no interest but for their wildlife and icy scenery. These days, it's different; climate change makes news every day, and the catastrophe that is now reality at the earth's extremes is making the scientists and now the rest of us, worry. Having seen the extraordinary wonders of these regions for myself, I feel doubly privileged, but the thought that these scenes might not be possible in years hence, is an appalling prospect.