The Straight Edge Lifestyle – How Our Generation Can Benefit From It

I am Straight Edge. Period. For those of you who don’t know what being Straight Edge is, it means that I don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs. I have never done any of these, and I never will. For our generation including all of us here at Skyline, these things consume our culture. One movement, however, can change our generation’s course for the better.

The Straight Edge lifestyle became a subculture here in the United States during the late 70s and into the early 80s. Associated during this time with hardcore punk music were ideals of individualism, doing what you want, and almost hatred of school or work.

After this period, the Straight Edge movement underwent a transformation, through the 1980s and 90s, into a subculture with some of the same ideals, but with a new era of influence. The musical element remained, but with the introduction of vegetarianism and veganism, animal rights advocacy, and Straight Edge militant groups.

These two decades defined the controversial aspect of being Straight Edge. In 2000 much of the controversy surrounding the movement disappeared.

For individuals in the movement, or living the lifestyle, the general ideals remain. Smoking, drinking, and drug use is not allowed. For more “hard line” followers, a diet of meat and promiscuous sexual activity is discouraged. Animal rights remain a strong ideal of being Straight Edge.

The most recognizable symbol of the Straight Edge movement is the “X,” either being drawn on the back of hands, on clothing, or in the form of a tattoo. As for how the movement represents themselves, there is some disagreement. For some Straight Edge followers, “playing the part” overshadows the ideals. There is almost a cultural criterion for how someone who is Straight Edge should look or act. There is also emphasis on the music you surround yourself with. However, the term “straight edge” is accepted by most Straight Edge followers, and the general public as somebody who doesn’t like alcohol, smoking, or drugs. This defines the message of Straight Edge.

Unfortunately, my generation fails to hear the message.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, (CDC), their 2010 smoking statistics for young adults ages 18-24 show that 21.4% smoke. Smoking is also known to cause cancer, heart disease, and lung diseases. In the United States, smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, killing one out of five people every year. Worldwide, smokers will die 13-14 years earlier than non-smokers. Excessive alcohol and drug abuse does not fare any better. CDC studies show alcohol abuse can lead to pancreatitis, liver cancer, high blood pressure, and chronic health problems. Drunk driving is one of the leading causes of death among young adults involved in car accidents. It is also shocking to know that most young adults begin drinking under the age of 18, which is definitely illegal. As far as drugs are concerned, a study conducted by University of Cincinnati psychologist Krista Medina in early 2010, showed that the brains of college students are impacted by abuse of prescription drugs and from the chemicals in marijuana. Medina’s research shows that abuse of drugs and alcohol can massively affect the students’ verbal memory and ability to focus, not to mention long-term mental effects. Illegal drug use is one of the largest problems law enforcement agencies face every year. Drug use is present in any area of any city or town.

I believe that our generation has been entirely taken over by a culture where getting drunk, high, or smoking is cool. I don’t understand how getting arrested by the police for being high or getting in a fatal car accident after binge drinking is cool. It’s not and what happens after the fact carries very serious consequences. This is the reality in what we face when making irresponsible decisions. It saddens me to look at those younger than us, especially little children, and realize it won’t be long before they are influenced by a misguided culture. I don’t really know if there is an argument justifying a reason to light up a cigarette and possibly get lung cancer, or doing ecstasy and collapsing from heart failure. I highly doubt it. The financial and emotional toll an addiction leads to is nothing short of a dead end. Whether you watch the news or read about it, addicts who don’t get help meet a terrible fate. This problem affects all of us here at Skyline College. I think if more young people familiarized themselves with the Straight Edge culture, they will find that they will live a much more comfortably healthy and positive lifestyle. The Straight Edge lifestyle protects you from the negative influences of society and commits you to be self-disciplined. This movement can really benefit our generation and turn the tide against so many problems we face.

I know, however, that most of you will continue to smoke, drink, and do drugs after you read this, but just understand the cost. I understand that you can do these things if you want, and you may– I cannot change you. I only hope that you can gain a sense of self-awareness of this never ending problem. I always say that things like alcohol and drugs are the Devil’s gift to man so that he may destroy himself. You, however, always have the choice to either take his offer or refuse it.

Written by: Kiriakos VilchezThursday, September 16, 2010

Originally posted at – http://www.theskylineview.com/opinion/the-straight-edge-lifestyle-1.1601933 

Straight edge History

Straight edge is a subculture and subgenre of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs. It was a direct reaction to the sexual revolution, hedonism, and excess associated with punk rock. For some, this extends to not engaging inpromiscuous sex, following a vegetarian or vegan diet, and not using caffeine or prescription drugs. The term was adopted from the song "Straight Edge" by the 1980s hardcore punk band Minor Threat.

Straight edge emerged amid the mid-'80s hardcore punk scene, in part as a reaction against the perceived "jock" element of the developing scene.^{[citation needed]} Since then a wide variety of beliefs and ideas have been incorporated into the movement, including vegetarianism, animal rights, communism and Hare Krishna beliefs.^[6] In many parts of the United States, straight edge is treated as a gang by law enforcement officials. A 2006 study suggested that the vast majority of people who identify as straight edge are nonviolent.

History

In 1999, William Tsitsos wrote that straight edge had gone through three eras since its founding in the early 1980s. Later analysts have identified another era that has taken place since Tsitsos's writing.

[edit]1970s and early 1980s

Minor Threat, the coiners of the termstraight edge

Straight edge grew out of hardcore punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and was partly characterized by shouted rather than sung vocals.Straight edge individuals of this early era often associated with the original punk ideals such as individualism, disdain for work and school, and live-for-the-moment attitudes.

Straight edge sentiments can be found in songs by the early 1980s band Minor Threat, most explicitly within their song "Straight Edge", first wave English punk band The Vibrators song "Keep It Clean" and Jonathan Richman's early band The Modern Lovers 1970s song "I'm Straight", which rejected drug use.^[13] As one of the few prominent 1970s hard rock icons to explicitly eschew alcohol and drug use, singer/guitarist Ted Nugent was also a key influence on the straight edge ideology.

Straight edge started on the East Coast of the United States in Washington D.C., and quickly spread throughout the US and Canada. By the 1980s, bands on the West Coast of the United States, such as America's Hardcore (A.H.C.), Stalag 13, Justice League and Uniform Choice, were gaining popularity. In the early stages of this subculture's history, concerts often consisted of non-straight-edge punk bands along with straight edge bands. Circumstances soon changed and the early 1980s would eventually be viewed as the time "before the two scenes separated". Early straight edge bands included: the Washington D.C. bands Minor Threat, State of Alert (S.O.A.), Government Issue, Teen Idles and The Faith; Reno's 7 Seconds; Boston's SSD, DYS and Negative FX; California bands as mentioned above; and New York City bands such as Cause for Alarm and The Abused.

[edit]Bent edge

Main article: Bent edge

Bent edge began as a countermovement to straight edge by members of the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene who were frustrated by the rigidity and intolerance in the scene. This idea spread and on Minor Threat's first tour in 1982, people would come up to the band identifying as bent or curved edge. The countermovement was short lived and faded away by the end of the 1980s.

[edit]Youth crew (mid 1980s)

Youth of Today, the pioneers of Youth Crew.

During the youth crew era, which started in the mid 1980s, the influence of music on the straight edge scene seemed to be at an all-time high. The new branches of straight edge that came about during this era seemed to originate from ideas presented in songs. Many youth crew bands had a strongheavy metal influence. Notable youth crew bands included: Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Judge, Bold, Chain of Strength, Uniform Choice, and Slapshot.

Starting in the mid 1980s, the band Youth of Today became associated with the straight edge movement, and their song "Youth Crew" expressed a desire to unite the scene into a movement. Vegetarianism became an important theme in straight edge during this era, starting with Youth of Today's 1988 song "No More", which contained the lyrics: "Meat-eating, flesh-eating, think about it. So callous this crime we commit". This catalyzed a trend towards animal rights and veganism within the straight edge movement that would reach its peak in the 1990s.

[edit]1990s

By the early 1990s, militant straight edge was a well-known part of the wider punk and DIY scene. However, militant straight edge punks were not known for being tolerant. They displayed outward pride, outspokenness, and showed a willingness to resort to violence in order to promote their sub-culture. The militant straight edge individual was characterized by being more conservative and less tolerant of homosexuality and abortion.

In the mid 1990s, a number of bands advocating social justice, animal liberation, veganism, and straight edge practices leaned towards metal. During the 1990s, the straight edge scene split into factions: hardline and Krishna Consciousness.

[edit]Outside the United States

In the early to mid 1990s, straight edge spread from the United States to Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Straight edge spread around the world due to the relentless touring of youth crew bands and the ease of ordering records from American record labels via the mail.

[edit]2000s

By the beginning of the 2000s, only small groups of militant straight edge individuals remained. The decline in militant behavior has been linked to the lack of a well known straight edge band leading the movement.^{[citation needed]} Contrary to news reports that portrayed straight edge as a gang, several studies have shown that straight edge individuals as a whole are mostly peaceful people. In the 2000s, there was a growing amount of tolerance of people who do not follow the straight edge lifestyle by straight edge individuals. In this incarnation of straight edge, the musical styles of the bands involved are more varied, ranging from a youth crew revival style to metalcore to posicore. Straight edge bands from the 2000s include Champion, Down to Nothing, Embrace Today, and Throwdown.

[edit]X symbol

Italian straight edge band To Killperforming live

The letter X is the most known symbol of straight edge, and is sometimes worn as a marking on the back of both hands, though it can be displayed on other body parts as well. Some followers of straight edge have also incorporated the symbol into clothing and pins. According to a series of interviews by journalist Michael Azerrad, the straight edge X can be traced to the Teen Idles' brief U.S. West Coast tour in 1980. The Teen Idles were scheduled to play at San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens, but when the band arrived, club management discovered that the entire band was under the legal drinking age and therefore would be denied entry to the club. As a compromise, management marked each of the Idles' hands with a large blackX as a warning to the club's staff not to serve alcohol to the band. Upon returning to Washington, D.C., the band suggested this same system to local clubs as a means to allow teenagers in to see musical performances without being served alcohol. The Teen Idles released a record in 1980 calledMinor Disturbance with the cover shot being two hands with black X's on the back. The mark soon became associated with the Straight Edge lifestyle.

Later bands have used the X symbol on album covers and other paraphernalia in a variety of ways. The cover of No Apologies by Judge shows two crossed gavels in the X symbol. Other objects that have been used include shovels, baseball bats, and hockey sticks.

A variation involving a trio of Xs, XXX, is often used in show flyers and tattoos. This can be used to show that an adherent is extremely straight edge. Also, it can be ironic based on the fact that three X's are a cartoon way to signify alcohol or poison. The term is sometimes abbreviated by including an X with the abbreviation of the term "straight edge" to give sXe. By analogy, hardcore punk is sometimes abbreviated to hXc.

Re:Generation Music Project (2012)

Blink-182 - Up All Night

Blink 182 - Heart's All Gone

Blink-182 - Wishing Well (Official Music Video)

Blink-182 - After Midnight

Blink 182 History

Blink-182 is an American rock band consisting of vocalist and bass guitarist Mark Hoppus, vocalist and guitarist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. They have sold over 28 million albums worldwide since forming in Poway, California in 1992. With original drummer Scott Raynor they released their debut album Cheshire Cat in 1994 and achieved moderate success with its follow-up, 1997'sDude Ranch, which went on to sell over one million copies. Raynor was replaced by Barker midway through a 1998 tour.

The band achieved greater success with 1999's multi-platinum selling Enema of the State, which reached number 9 on the Billboard 200on the strength of the singles "What's My Age Again?" and "All the Small Things", the latter of which became the highest-charting song of their career by reaching number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Blink-182 gained popularity for their irreverent sense of humor, and the follow-up album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001) reached number 1 in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Theeponymously-titled Blink-182 followed in 2003 and marked a stylistic shift for the group, infusing experimental elements into their usualpop punk formula, resulting in a more mature sound.

DeLonge left Blink-182 in early 2005, sending the band into indefinite hiatus. Hoppus and Barker formed a new band, +44, while DeLonge formed his own act, Angels & Airwaves. Hoppus also pursued a career as a television host while Barker continued working in music as a producer and solo artist. Blink-182 reunited in February 2009 and their sixth studio album, Neighborhoods, was released in September 2011.

History

[edit]Formation and early years (1992–94)

Blink-182 was formed in Poway, California, a suburb outside of San Diego, in 1992. After Mark Hoppus graduated high school in Ridgecrest, he relocated to San Diego to work at a record store and attend college. DeLonge was kicked out of Poway High for attending a basketball game drunk and was forced to attend another local school for one semester. At Rancho Bernardo High School, he befriended Kerry Key, also interested in punk music. Key's girlfriend, Anne Hoppus, introduced her brother to DeLonge in August 1992. The two clicked instantly and played for hours in DeLonge's garage, exchanging lyrics and co-writing songs—one of which became crowd favorite "Carousel." DeLonge recruited friend Scott Raynor for drums, who he met at a Rancho Bernado Battle of the Bands competition. Raynor was by far the youngest member of the trio at 14, and his event account differs significantly: he claims he and DeLonge started the band together, which Hoppus later joined.

The trio began to practice together in Raynor's bedroom, spending hours together writing music. Hoppus and DeLonge would alternate singing vocal parts. The band was initially named Duck Tape until DeLonge thought of the name "Blink." Hoppus' girlfriend was angered by her boyfriend's constant attention for the band and demanded him to make a choice between the band and her, which resulted in Hoppus leaving the band shortly after formation. Shortly thereafter, DeLonge told Hoppus he had borrowed a four track recorder from a friend and was preparing to record ademo tape, which prompted Hoppus to break-up with his girlfriend and return to the band. Flyswatter—a combination of original songs and punk covers—was recorded in Raynor's bedroom and landed the band their first shows.

The band's earliest shows were largely in empty clubs, but the band's popularity in the thriving San Diego music scene grew as did California punk rock concurrently in the mainstream. DeLonge called clubs constantly in San Diego asking for a spot to play, as well as calling up local high schools convincing them that Blink was a "motivational band with a strong anti-drug message" in hopes to play at an assembly or lunch. The band found their way onto the bill as the opening band for local acts at SOMA, a local all-ages venue which they longed to headline. The band's equipment was piled into a blue station wagon and Hoppus' manager at the record store fronted him the money to properly record a demo in the studio. In 1993, the band recorded Buddha at local studio Doubletime. Cassette copies of Buddha and T-shirts were compiled by the band and Hoppus' family. Raynor's family relocated to Reno, Nevada he was briefly replaced by musician Mike Krull. The band saved money and began flying Raynor out to shows, but eventually Raynor moved in with Hoppus for a summer in which the band would record their first album, video and gain even more exposure.

[edit]Early releases and touring (1994–98)

The heart of the local independent music scene was Cargo Records, which offered to sign the band on a "trial basis," with help from O, guitarist for local punk band Fluf, and Brahm Goodis, friend of the band whose father was president of the label. The band recorded their debut album in three days at Westbeach Recorders in Los Angeles, fueled by both new songs and re-recordings of songs from previous demos. Although Cheshire Cat, released in 1994, made very little impact commercially, it is cited by fans and musicians as an iconic release. "M+M's", the band's first single, garnered local radio airplay from 91X and Cargo offered the band a small budget to film a music video for it. The band's popularity caught the ire of an Irish techno band of the same name, who threatened with legal action. To avoid a dispute, the band appended "182" to the end of their name, chosen at random. The band clenched a manager, Rick DeVoe, who associated with larger bands such as NOFX, Pennywise and The Offspring.

By 1995, the band borrowed a van from the band Unwritten Law and hit the road for their first out-of-town show in Reno. Taylor Steele, friend of DeVoe, was preparing a national tour to promote his new surf video GoodTimes, and the band signed on for their first national tour, which extended as far as the East Coast. The band purchased their own tour van and embarked on the GoodTimes tour with Unwritten Law, Sprung Monkey and 7 Seconds. Popularity for Cheshire Cat grew in the form of pirated CD copies across the country. The GoodTimes tour continued and the band was whisked away to Australia, with Pennywise paying for the band's plane tickets. Fletcher Dragge, guitarist of Pennywise, believed in the band strongly. He demanded Kevin Lyman, creator of the Warped Tour, sign the band for the 1997 festival, telling him that "they're gonna be gigantic." Australia was very receptive to the band and their humorous stage shows and pranks gained them a reputation, but also made them ostracized and considered a joke. Early shows featured wet T-shirt and wet pants contests. The band slowly built a young, devoted following with indie recordings and an endless series of performances and various clubs and festivals.

After nonstop touring, the trio began recording their sophomore follow-up, Dude Ranch, over the period of a month in late 1996. Discouraged by Cargo's lack of distribution for their first album, Blink-182 signed with MCA Records to handle Dude Ranch. The record hit stores the following summer and the band headed out on their first Warped Tour. When lead single "Dammit" began rotation at Los Angeles-based KROQ, other stations took notice and the single was added to rock radio playlists across the country. Dude Ranch shipped gold by 1998, but the exhaustive touring schedule brought tensions between the trio, and Raynor was fired under mysterious circumstances. Travis Barker, drummer for tourmate The Aquabats, filled in for Raynor, learning the 20-song setlist in 45 minutes before the first show. Barker joined the band full-time in summer 1998 and the band entered the studio with producer Jerry Finn later that year to begin work on their third album.

Mainstream breakthrough and continued success (1999–2004)

With the release of Enema of the State in June 1999, Blink-182 was catapulted to stardom and became the biggest pop punk act of the era. The glossy production instantly set Blink-182 apart from the other crossover punk acts of the era, such as Green Day. Three singles were released from the record—"What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things", and "Adam's Song"—that crossed over into Top 40 radio format and experienced major commercial success. "All the Small Things" became a number-one hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, but also became a crossover hitand peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Its video parodied boy bands and pop music videos and won a Moon Man for Best Group Video at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and had a considerable effect on pop punk music.

After multi-platinum success, arena tours and cameo appearances (American Pie), the band recorded Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), which debuted at number 1 in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Hit singles "The Rock Show" and "First Date" continued the band's mainstream success worldwide, with MTV cementing their image as video stars. Finn returned to produce the record and was a key architect of the "polished" pop punk sound, and he served as an invaluable member of the band: part adviser, part impartial observer, he helped smooth out tensions and hone their sound. During time off from the band, DeLonge created the side project Box Car Racer with David Kennedy of Hazen Street, while Barker teamed up with Rancid's Tim Armstrong to form the rap-core outfit Transplants. The side projects, specifically Box Car Racer, caused great division within the band, and Hoppus felt betrayed.

The band regrouped in 2003 to record their fifth studio album, infusing experimentalist elements into their usual pop punk sound, inspired by lifestyle changes (the band members all became fathers before the album was released) and side projects. Blink's eponymous fifth studio album was released in the fall of 2003 through Geffen Records, the band's first with the label. Critics generally complimented the new, more "mature" direction taken for the release and lead singles "Feeling This" and "I Miss You" charted high. The New York Times considered that the album may have been influenced by the growing popularity of emo. Fans were split by the new direction, and tensions within the band—stemming from the grueling schedule and DeLonge's desire to spend more time with his family—started to become evident.

[edit]"Indefinite hiatus", side projects, and Barker's plane crash (2005–08)

In February 2005, the band issued a press statement announcing their "indefinite hiatus." The band had broken up after arguments regarding their future and recording process. DeLonge desired to work only at his San Diego home and record his contributions there. Unresolved feelings from the Box Car Racer side project emerged too, creating rifts. The band abruptly canceled a performance at a Music for Relief benefit show after rehearsals grew more heated.^[ Jordan Schur, the former president of Geffen Records, reportedly told Barker: "any press you do, make sure you say everything is cool," opting to instead issue a statement calling the band's break-up an indefinite hiatus. DeLonge would later recall back to the events in an interview: "My biggest failure was the breakup of Blink. That was a failure of friendships, businesses and communications. In our hearts, we thought that was forever and gone. What's funny is, at the time, I looked at it as a triumph."

In the interim, Hoppus and Barker continued playing music together in +44. Barker starred in the MTV reality series Meet the Barkers with his then-wife, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler. Their later split, reconciliation and subsequent breakup made them tabloid favorites. Meanwhile, DeLonge disappeared from public eye, making no appearances, granting no interviews and remaining silent until September 2005, when he announced his new project, Angels & Airwaves, promising "the greatest rock and roll revolution for this generation." DeLonge later revealed he was addicted to painkillers at the time, recalling "I was losing my mind, I was on thousands of painkillers, and I almost killed myself," not realizing his statement sounded highly ambitious.During the hiatus, Hoppus shifted his attention to producing albums and hosting his podcast, HiMyNameisMark, while Barker launched a shoe line and worked on three other musical projects—the Transplants, +44, and TRV$DJAM, a collaboration with friend Adam Goldstein (DJ AM).

The band members did not speak for many years, until 2008. That August, Jerry Finn suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was taken off life support. On September 19, Barker and Goldstein, were involved in a plane crash that killed four people, leaving the two the only survivors. Barker sustained second and third degree burns and developed post-traumatic stress disorder, and the accident resulted in sixteen surgeries and 48-hour blood transfusions. DeLonge reached out to Barker, and eventually started visiting him in the hospital together with Hoppus, laying the grounds for what was going to be the band's reunion. Eventually, an arrangement was made for the trio to meet up at Hoppus and Barker's Los Angeles studio in October 2008. The three opened up, discussing the events of the hiatus and their break-up, with DeLonge asking what is next for them, to which Hoppus replied they "should continue with what [they’ve] been doing for the past 17 years."  . Regarding Barker's incident, in 2010 Tom DeLonge stated that "if that accident hadn't happened, we wouldn't be a band. Plain and simple. That was fate."

[edit]Reformation and 20th Anniversary Tour (2009–present)

Eventually, the band appeared for the first time on stage together in nearly five years as presenters at the 51st Grammy Awards in February 2009. The band's official website was updated with a statement: "To put it simply, We're back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy." The Blinkumentary, a documentary film about the band's reunion, is also in production. Blink-182 embarked on a reunion tourof North America from July to October 2009, supported by Weezer and Fall Out Boy. A European festival tour followed from August to September 2010, and another spring European tour was scheduled for 2011, but was cancelled in order to complete the band's promised comeback album.

The recording process for Neighborhoods, the band's sixth studio album, was stalled by the band's studio autonomy, tours, managers and personal projects. The band self-produced the record after the death of Jerry Finn. The record was recorded at both DeLonge's studio in San Diego and in Los Angeles by Hoppus and Barker. Completion was delayed several times, which Hoppus attributed to the band learning to work by themselves without Finn, and both DeLonge and Hoppus expressed frustration during the sessions at the band's cabal of publicists, managers and attorneys (which DeLonge described as "the absolute diarrhea of bureaucracy"). A result of the band's split was each member hiring his own attorney, and, during the sessions of Neighborhoods, the band had four managers. In addition, Barker was releasing a solo record, DeLonge was involved in Angels & Airwaves, and Hoppus had to fly to New York City once a week to film his television show, Hoppus on Music.DeLonge was also diagnosed with skin cancer during 2010, which was cleared. The record was released in September 2011 and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200.

Blink-182 headlined the 10th Annual Honda Civic Tour with My Chemical Romance, which ran from August to October 2011, with additional dates scheduled in Canada with Rancid and Against Me!. In 2012, the band will travel the world on their 20th Anniversary Tour. A music video for the single "After Midnight" has been filmed. The band was scheduled to headline the Bamboozle 2012 Music Festival, however plans were cancelled due to Barker's medical operation, which took place because of his tonsilitus. On July 10, 2012 it was announced that Blink-182 will tour Australia in February 2013. This will be the band's first Australian tour since 2004. They will also be contributing to the Soundwave 2013 line-up.

"Shocking" Greenland Ice Melt: Global Warming or Just Heat Wave?

After just a few days of intense melting this month, nearly the entire of the surface of Greenland's massive ice sheet had turned to slush, NASA  images show—the fastest thaw rate since satellites began keeping score 30 years ago.

It may be tempting to link the event to global warming, but scientists say such melts might occur every 150 years. If such rapid thaws become common, though, they could add to already rising seas, experts say (Greenland satellite picture ).

Most of the thawing occurred in a span of four days. Melt maps from satellites show that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet's surface had melted. By July 12 that figure had jumped to 97 percent. (Best Satellite Pictures: Winning "Earth as Art" Shots From NASA.)

For comparison, satellite records from the past three decades show that, on average, about half of Greenland's ice sheet surface melts at some point each July (interactive: Greenland's vanishing ice ).

The swiftness and extent of the July thaw surprised some scientists. "This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result: Was this real or was it due to a data error?" study team member Son Nghiem  of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

The melt even reached Greenland's coldest and highest place, Summit Station, 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) above sea level.

"As far as we can tell, that hasn't occurred during the satellite era. In fact, it hasn't occurred during our lifetime," study team member Thomas Mote , a climatologist at the University of Georgia, told National Geographic News.

(Pictures: "Changing Greenland"  in National Geographic magazine.)

Greenland Flash Thaw Part of Natural Cycle?

Lora Koenig , a glaciologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, noted that such events are known to have happened before, in the pre-satellite era.

"Ice cores from Summit show that melting events of this type occur about once every 150 years on average," with the last one happening in 1889, Koenig, a member of the NASA team analyzing the satellite data, said in a statement.

(Also see "Greenland Ice Shows Rapid Climate Flips.")

Because of this, it's difficult to say whether global warming was a factor in this latest event. Given the decades-old ice-core evidence, "you could make the case that it's not unexpected to see it now," the University of Georgia's Mote said.

Making it even harder to pin down a cause, the big thaw coincided with the formation of a high-pressure ridge over Greenland, which pulled in warm air from over the central Atlantic Ocean.

"So you had this warm pool of air just sitting literally over the top of the ice sheet," Mote said. "It's similar in character, but not in magnitude or duration, to what we're seeing over the Great Plains that's associated with the drought" in the United States.

(Related: "Not So Fast: Greenland Ice Melting, But Slower Than Thought" [2006].)

Further Rapid Melts Could Affect Sea Levels

Glaciologist Alexander Robinson, who wasn't involved in the satellite study, called the extent and speed of the recent thawing "shocking."

"I think it's an intriguing result," added Robinson, of Germany's

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research . "And I think it's going to provoke some studies to investigate whether this type of weather pattern could've been provoked by global warming."

So far any effects of the vast thaw seem just as hard to pinpoint as the causes. In July, for example, flooding plagued some Greenland rivers, but, Mote said, "we cannot tie it to this event."

But if this kind of widespread thawing does occur more frequently due to climate change, scientists say it could contribute to rising seas.

Such widespread melts would make it harder for the so-called firn—compacted snow on the outside of an ice sheet—to reabsorb the melted ice water.

"If you get some melt at the surface and you have a thick firn layer, then it can refreeze, and the refrozen water turns into ice again," Robinson explained.

"But if you have repeated melting and refreezing of the ice sheet, what ends up happening in the long term is you reduce the thickness of the firn layer, and that reduces the capacity of the ice sheet to refreeze."

Scientists estimate that if all of Greenland's ice sheet were to melt, the global sea level would rise by 23 feet (7 meters).

"To be perfectly clear, that is not what we're seeing," Mote said. "Greenland is losing mass, but it would take a very long time to lose all of that mass."

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