Via Jonathan at PastPeak, this horrifying story from the Chicago Tribune about the melting arctic:

RESOLUTE BAY, Nunavut — They never used to need air conditioners up in the Arctic.

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But earlier this year, officials in the Canadian Inuit territory of Nunavik authorized the installation of air conditioners in official buildings for the first time. Artificial cooling was necessary, they decided, because summertime temperatures in some southern Arctic villages have climbed into the 80s in recent years.

In case you were wondering, Resolute lies just a bit south of the 75th parallel, well above the arctic circle. And they’re buying A/C for the first time ever.

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The article is terrifying and incredibly frustrating — faced with incontrovertible proof of climate change, and dramatic proof at that, the reporter still felt it necessary to go speak with a climate “skeptic.”

Argh.