Hot race for riches in Arctic emerges

[YankeyMCC]

Source: Boston Globe

(snip)
HAMMERFEST, Norway -- Barren and uninhabited, Hans Island is very hard to find on a map.

Yet these days the Frisbee-shaped rock in the Arctic is much in demand -- so much so that Canada and Denmark have both staked their claim to it with flags and warships.

The reason: an international race for oil, fish, diamonds, and shipping routes accelerated by the impact of global warming on earth's frozen north.
(snip)

(snip)
The latest report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the ice cap is warming faster than the rest of the planet and ice is receding, partly due to greenhouse gases. It's a catastrophic scenario for the Arctic ecosystem, for polar bears and other wildlife, and for Inuit populations whose ancient cultures depend on frozen waters.

But some see a lucrative silver lining of riches waiting to be snatched from the deep, and the prospect of timesaving sea lanes that could transform the shipping industry the way the Suez Canal did in the 19th century.
(snip)


(snip)

The climate changes could open the North Pole region to easy navigation for five months a year, according to the latest Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, an intergovernmental group. That could cut sailing time from Germany to Alaska by 60 percent, going through Russia's Arctic instead of the Panama Canal.

Canada, Russia, and Denmark are seeking to claim waters all the way up to the North Pole, saying the seabed is part of their continental shelf under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Canada says the Northwest Passage is its territory, a claim the United States disputes, insisting the waters are neutral.
(snip)


Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/03/25/hot_race_for_riches_in_arctic_emerges/

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The world ecology is collapsing and the only real action is chasing more resources to exploit for profit. I don't know about the rest of you but this sort of story put this general optimist about humanity in a very bad mood.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. It's 300 miles away from the North West Passage

so it really doesn't have anything to do with that. It lies in the Nares Strait, which leads from Baffin Bay to the Arctic Ocean. It could be important for control of that channel, and access to the Arctic for minerals, oil and gas, but not transport between temperate zones.

[Morgana LaFey]

2. Does this seem unseemly to anyone else?

I mean, the planet is in dire straits, dying perhaps. And humans can't wait to rob the body. DIsgusting.

[KingofNewOrleans]

3. Free enterprise believes in global warming

but the Republicans don't.