[Silence]
[Arrangement: Cold atmospheric synths, piano, driving bass, electric guitar, organ swells, steady drums building throughout]
[Intro]
Is the climate
(On a runaway train?)
Is the climate
(Coming off the chain?)
Something’s changing
(We can all see)
From the mountain tops
(To the frozen sea)
[Instrumental]
[Piano Arpeggios, Wind Effects, Distant Guitar]
[Verse 1]
Back in ninety-five
(The signs were there)
A warming world
(Changing the air)
Some thought the future
(Would move in a line)
Slow and steady
(Plenty of time)
But Greenland whispered
(A different song)
The measurements kept saying
(Something was wrong)
[Pre-Chorus]
A little faster
(Than before)
A little less ice
(On every shore)
[Chorus]
Oh, Dear!
(The cryosphere)
Being cold, cold, cold
(Is getting old, old, old)
Oh, Dear!
(The cryosphere)
Melting away
(Year after year)
[Refrain]
Ice to water
(Water to sea)
Sea to shoreline
(Where will it be?)
Ice to water
(Faster each year)
Oh, dear…
(The cryosphere)
[Verse 2]
Ancient glaciers
(Begin to slide)
Holding less firmly
(With every tide)
Grounding lines retreat
(Further inland)
A giant awakening
(Across the land)
Millions of years
(To build that ice)
A few short decades
(To pay the price)
[Instrumental]
[Guitar Solo]
[Organ Swells]
[Driving Bass]
[Pre-Chorus]
The system shifts
(Out of phase)
Past the limits
(Of old ways)
[Chorus]
Oh, Dear!
(The cryosphere)
Being cold, cold, cold
(Is getting old, old, old)
Oh, Dear!
(The cryosphere)
Disappearing slow
(Then all at once)
[Bridge]
Can we slow it?
(Perhaps we can)
Can we stop it?
(That’s the plan)
But some thresholds
(Once they’re crossed)
Leave us counting
(What was lost)
No stable coastline
(For centuries)
Redrawing maps
(Of every sea)
[Arrangement: Piano drops out, bass and drums drive forward]
[Refrain]
Ice to water
(Water to sea)
Sea to shoreline
(Where will it be?)
Ice to water
(Faster each year)
Oh, dear…
(The cryosphere)
[Final Chorus]
Oh, Dear!
(The cryosphere)
Being cold, cold, cold
(Is getting old, old, old)
Oh, Dear!
(The cryosphere)
The future’s here
(Loud and clear)
Oh, Dear!
(The cryosphere)
How much longer
(Before the next frontier?)
[Outro]
Is the climate
(On a runaway train?)
Is the climate
(Coming off the chain?)
Six million years
(Beneath our feet)
Gone forever
(With the heat)
Oh, dear…
(The cryosphere)
Oh, dear…
(The cryosphere)
Cryosphere Tipping Points and Ice Sheet Collapse
About the Song: Cryosphere Tipping Points and Ice Sheet Collapse
In 1995, I was convinced climate change was happening at an exponential rate; however, Sidd argued we needed more data over a longer time period. At the time, the dominant assumption was that global warming was largely linear and slow—offering centuries to respond.
By 2004, enough observational data had accumulated to confirm accelerating nonlinear behavior in the cryosphere and ocean systems. Greenland ice sheet dynamics, in particular, were no longer consistent with equilibrium assumptions.
Much of climate change can potentially be mitigated or slowed. Ice sheet collapse, however, is largely irreversible on human timescales once critical thresholds are crossed.
“And once we have destabilized these ice sheets, there will be no stable coastline for centuries.”
From the album “Unwritten“