Irish Times: THE ARCTIC ice-cap is melting and there seems to be very little we can do about it. Global warming is, as ever, the assumed cause but what difference will it make to life on this planet? Probably a great deal. Losing all of the summertime Arctic ice will change the way the earth absorbs or reflects incoming energy from the sun. Energy balances will change, temperature-driven ocean currents, including the Gulf Stream so very central to our own mild climate, are likely to be …