If the earth really is warming up, then we expect the ice caps to melt and the sea level to go up. This would make things like beach front property worth less as the years go by rather than more, but we don't see this at all. In fact we see the ice caps getting bigger year over year, rather than smaller. If anything earth seems to be heading towards a new ice age.
The effects of climate change are measured in decades and centuries instead of years. So while we may not experience the more catastrophic effects of these changes while we are alive, the results are increasingly becoming more evident.
The world has gone through climate changes before and it will survive. However, how our future generations will experience this cannot be said. The infrastructure we develop takes into account that things are likely to stay the way they are.
As for the ice thing: There’s land ice and there’s sea ice. The melting of glaciers (land ice) is what you should be worried about since it is melting at an alarming rate. As for why sea ice is increasing, this has been studied before.
The water around Antarctica is more fresh than it has been in pervious years because of increased snow and rainfall as well as increased contribution of fresh water from melting land ice.
This fresh, cold water is less dense than the warmer, saltier water below. Previously, that warm salty water would rise, melting the sea ice. But now, because of the lighter fresh water on top, there is less mixing of the ocean's layers and the surface stays cooler, longer.
Geniune question: do you guys had chapters dedicated to global warming, CFC, noble gases, the effects of deforestation, and the thinning of ozone layer in school text books?