Judith Schwarts of Time Magazine did a piece on how much money the ice caps melting will cost us now and down the road. According to a study done by Eban Goodstein, over the next 40 years it will cost $2.4 trillion to $24 trillion if the Arctic keeps melting at the pace it is.
Not only does the melting ice caps effect our economy, but also effects our atmosphere as an annual rate of 3 billion tons of CO2 has been added to the skies, equaling about 500 coal-powered plants, or even 40 percent of all U.S. fossil fuel emissions.
According to another study, "Cost of a Warming Arctic," the U.S. has been losing $61 billion to $371 billion annually due to heat changes and flooding. These studies obviously call for change as some ask for people to give part of their income to fight the global warming. Studies suggest 3 percent of per capita income could fight the warming.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1977563,00.html
