[yequalsx]

I don't know about Al Gore's prediction or the basis of it. He is not an expert but perhaps his prediction was based off of the opinion of experts. The opinion piece you linked to hardly qualifies as a valid counter to alarmism.

The variation of the extent of arctic ice is much less during winter than it is during summer. Since 2007 there have been three years where the minimum ice extent has been below 2 standard deviations of the 1981-2010 mean according to the National Snow and Ice Center. Since the 80s the volume of arctic sea ice has been halved.

Al Gore's predication was wrong. Arctic sea ice continues to decline and the arctic experienced an unusually warm winter. This is according to the National Snow and Ice Center. Here is a quote from their blog,

"While the eastern half of the United States has dealt with a cold and snowy winter, temperatures in the Arctic have been distinctly higher than average."

Everything will be fine for the planet as it is an inanimate object. Not everything will be fine for humans.