Melting Arctic

Students in my environmental classes always express fear and alarm about the problem of melting ice causing the seas to rise. But is this really a problem? Sea ice fluctuates over time. As I've pointed out, the recent predictions of a "death spiral" in the Arctic have not materialized. The projections started in 1978 at a peak of Arctic ice, so of course the ice would be expected to decline. So is this a problem, or is it an example of alarmism intended to frighten the public into accepting higher energy costs and a lower standard of living, while also repressing the poor in developing countries?

Here's a graph of total sea ice on the planet:

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/iphone/images/iphone.anomaly.global.png

Just to provide some historical perspective, here are some headlines over the years raising fears of ice melting and flooding the coastlines:

2014:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/science/earth/collapse-of-parts-of-west-antarctica-ice-sheet-has-begun-scientists-say.html?_r=0

1947:

http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/05/30/87757175.html?pageNumber=23

1932:

http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/05/15/100739680.html?pageNumber=159