Melting Arctic

Here's something from the Sunday Times, 12/08/2007.

Well I can't copy and paste or Associated Press will charge me,so the gist of it is below.

Basically, as we all know by know, the Arctic Ice Cap is melting. To some of us, it means rising sea levels, changes in oceanic currents, climate changes; to others, it may mean no more polar bears; to people who like to describe themselves as the following, “intellectual”, “important”, “powerful”, “elite”, “entrepreneurial” and whatever else that they see fit to describe themselves with, it means new oil and natural gas fields, gold, diamond and nickel deposits and a chance to show everyone who bothers and are weak enough follow them who's the boss by winning playground scraps over a share of the Arctic pie.

It is estimated that by 2040 to 2050, the Arctic Ocean will be navigable. In effect, that means little or no ice left. And lots of drilling and boring and rigging and no more wildlife. No polar bears, no seals, no ice, no Eskimos and more flooding in South Asia, more scorching heat waves in Europe and North America. Birders will see no more birds because caterpillar peak seasons will not match hatching seasons and the chicks will all die.

But we get lots of diamonds, and gold to decorate the coffins of those among us who die from heat waves, and drown in floods, and Heaven forbid, the “great” people who found those deposits.