Richard Zurawski

Now that climate change is unlocking the frozen Arctic, a place that has been, by and large ignored by industrialized society, we get a chance to turn our destructive ways on the last relatively pristine place on Earth. The Arctic was traditionally the home of a few spectacular animal species, indigenous peoples and a few crazy “explorers” from Europe and North America, mostly Caucasian. But that is all about to change.

Geologic exploitation was always difficult enough as it was and required huge resources  in the best of times and places. But in the Arctic, because of the cold, ice and wind it was almost unthinkable. Trying to find gold, diamonds or other minerals while sitting on a shelf of ice, some it three kilometres thick, separating you from your strike was difficult, if not nigh on impossible. Out on the ocean waters, marauding ice bergs, like some ghostly, midnight destuctors could turn any rig into scrap metal with just a shift of the winds. So by and large we stayed away, with notable exception.

But now the tendrils of our industrial greed and might has shifted the climate of the world and the North, more than any other region of the globe, is undergoing massive changes. The ice is melting and we see opportunity and money and exploitation in them thar formerly frozen wastes.

As the planet burns, instead of taking note and trying to undo the damage, we find another place where we can mine, poison, pollute and grab for the sake of a consumer lifestyle that has put us in this pickle in the first place.

There is oil and natural gas under the sea of the North and its another opportunity to continue along, business as usual, fueling our SUVs, a consumer society and increase the CO2 burden another few gigatons and ignore the pleas of all sane people and the thousands of scientists begging us to stop our fossil fuel addiction.

The business papers and newspapers are chock ablock with stories about how we have  new access to oil and gas under what used to be ice, and so much of it, that we can extend our wanton ways another couple of decades, as easily as you please. You see with all that ice melting, we can grow rich! rich! rich!

What in goodness name are we doing??? Have we learned nothing? How on Earth can you mine, drill and use fossil fuels, grow rich on the destruction of a planet and then say out of that same mouth “We care about the planet!”