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| Subject: Arctic warming, arctic war | |
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Author: jw |
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Date Posted: 20:41:31 08/01/07 Wed First, the good news. China has no arctic coast, and therefore no claim to arctic waters. Also, being that bush is a global warming denier, he doesn't seem to be too concerned about fighting for economic rights for america in the arctic ocean as the ice cap melts. Now for the bad news, big business and the governments that serve them seem to be most concerned about drilling for oil in a liquid arctic, not what happens to the other 6 billion of us who will face the greatest natural catastrophe in at least a million years when the ice cap melts. Those who are running our civilization seem to think we will still treasure oil pollution and the great progress of capitalism when the modern climate collapses because of our economy's pollution. Our leaders are fighting for barrels of oil in a searing hot desert or an infested swamp, this is becoming like the "mad max beyond thunderdome" movies, but in real life global warming replaces nuclear war. If the arctic ice cap melts, the oil will either be inaccessable or useless. If the climate only warms a few degrees world wide, there will likely still be winter sea ice, which will be smashed into oil platforms with incredible force from winter storms. If positive climate feedback and additional pollution from our economy make the arctic ice free in winter also, it means a sub-tropical arctic ocean, most of the world will become to hot to fast, and face total catastrophe, we will have no use for oil or fast shipping from china. The last time we had a warming of this magnitude was 55 million years ago during the pleocene-eocene thermal maximum, which took 1,000 years and caused the most massive extinction since the end of the dinasaurs, this global warming will happen in 100 years or less. The arctic oil will be incredibally expensive, as it is 2 miles or more deep, and very remote, this is not the gulf of mexico. Our leaders are chasing after fool's black gold. _______________________________________________________ Coast Guard's tasks grow with Arctic traffic Updated 2d 1h ago | Comment | Recommend E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — When the commander of the U.S. Coast Guard thinks of future trouble spots, his focus is increasingly to the north — the vast waters around a melting polar ice cap. Once almost totally inaccessible to shipping and oil drilling, the region poses new opportunities for economic activity, as well as new challenges for those who patrol its frigid seas. "If you go into a life raft 20 miles off the coast of North Carolina, chances are you are going to see the Coast Guard in a few hours," Adm. Thad Allen says. "If you go into life rafts at the edge of the Arctic ice cap, there are questions about when you should expect help to arrive." The Arctic is still relatively empty but stands to become more crowded in coming years as several countries stake their claim to its rich oil and gas reserves. The increased maritime traffic has made the Arctic a more significant focus for the Coast Guard in the past six months, Allen says. "We're like the cop on the beat up there," he says. That beat is massive — about half of the USA's 90,000 total miles of coastline is in Alaska. FIND MORE STORIES IN: Coast Guard | Allen | Arctic | Coast Guard cutter The Guard is responsible for policing maritime traffic, chasing off foreign fishermen that cross into U.S. waters, pursuing drug traffickers, rescuing seamen in distress, protecting indigenous people and responding to oil spills and other environmental accidents. The Coast Guard cutter Healy, one of three Guard icebreakers, transports scientists into the Arctic in the summer for research on global warming and its repercussions. Ice in the Arctic sea has decreased by nearly 20% over the past two decades, and "it would not be beyond the realm of possibility to have an ice-free route across the top of Russia sometime in the next five or 10 years," Allen says. Such a route would shave up to 5,000 miles — a week's sailing time — off the journey between the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, he says, attracting ships that otherwise would have transited the Panama or Suez canals. Allen says there has also been heavier traffic in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia. He says it could become an international waterway similar to the English Channel or the Straits of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia. The reduction in ice sparks competing claims among the eight nations that border the Arctic: the United States, Russia, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark (which controls Greenland). Russia claims 460,000 square miles of the Arctic as an extension of its continental shelf under a 1982 treaty that set guidelines for dividing undersea resources. On July 9, Canada announced plans to build up to eight icebreakers and to establish a deep water port in its far north. Douglas Bancroft, director of the Canadian Ice Service, told a conference in Washington this month that Hudson Bay has seen a 50% decrease in ice since 1971. "Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. "We can either use it or lose it. And make no mistake, this government intends to use it." John Bellinger, the State Department's top lawyer, says the United States could submit a claim to seabed up to 600 miles off the coast of Alaska. First, he says, the Senate has to ratify the treaty, which created a commission for establishing such claims. The United States doesn't have a seat on the commission. 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| Subject | Author | Date |
| Arctic sea ice has melted to a new record low, with at least a month left to the melting season | jw | 20:36:57 08/09/07 Thu |
| Re: Bush is to busy selling off America | L. | 21:32:06 08/22/07 Wed |
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