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This winter is colder than last year, but not by much. Around here, the ponds and lakes are not even frozen over yet; let alone thick enough to walk or skate on. One hundred years ago we harvested ice by this time, and some years there were two harvests.
The carbon in the wood was pulled from the air during the time the tree grew; and therefore burning wood does not change the long term level of carbon dioxide in the air. Coal on the other hand is carbon that has been sequestered underground for millions and millions of years; so burning coal or any fossil fuel increases the level of carbon dioxide in the air.
It's not a question of coal or wood being dirty or clean - it how they affect the long term level of carbon dioxide in the air that matters.
The Arctic ice is not freezing nearly enough to make up for the melting. The volume of ice is decreasing exponentially and the area of ice is decreasing linearly over time. We are seeing feedback loops more quickly than even the most pessimistic models predicted. Greenland is already 5F warmer than it was. 125,000 years ago, after a change in the earth's orbit, Greenland gained 7F and HALF of its ice melted; raising the ocean level around the world by an average of TEN FEET. The current warming is just getting started - there is about a 40-50 year lag, so the carbon dioxide that was added to the air in the 1960's is causing today's warming. Warmer water cannot hold as much carbon dioxide, so we will begin to see and increase from this feedback loop, too.
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