We can now see accelerated climate change occurring year
by
year, so this timely consideration of the future of the
Arctic lands and ocean with shrinking ice makes a
fascinating read. FUTURE ARCTIC looks at how land and
water
alike are opening up and changing, with associated loss of
environment for the specialised wildlife but opportunities
for exploitation. Subtitled 'Field Notes From A World On
The Edge', the contents make sobering reading.
Edward Struzik, a journalist and explorer, interviewed
many
climate-related scientists such as glaciologists, fire
scientists and ecologists. Their words are necessarily
peppered with terms like boreal forest and mid-latitude
marine environment, so a small basis in the terminology is
required to understand the contents easily (but we can
Google new words). The message from each section is clear
however; change is underway, and we'd better prepare. For
instance, wildfires have rioted through areas of North
America as the continent heats and dries. The northern
tundra is no longer permanently frozen, and tundra fires
can follow. In 2007, more than 400 square miles of tundra
burned in Alaska. Moderate fire scientist Mike Flannigan
expects to see tundra fires covering one to two million
hectares, spreading smoke and soot into the air and adding
to the sooting of Greenland, where studies have seen
blackened ice absorbing heat that melts the ice cap
faster.
Polar bears are expected to be two-thirds gone by 2050,
Struzik tells us, with a permanent summer seaway through
the North Passage as early as 2040. What will this mean to
the indigenous people? Numbers of caribou and reindeer are
collapsing all around the Arctic Circle and the societies
who depended on them have to eat store-bought meats. The
receding ice is opening up 22 percent of undeveloped
hydrocarbon and other resources. Extracted responsibly,
energy and minerals can provide jobs. However the
inevitable changes brought by outsiders are not always
beneficial; and if an oil spill occurred there is no
infrastructure to clean it.
Oil sand extraction heavily uses and contaminates water,
which cannot be returned to the rivers but is stored in
giant effluent ponds. Along the Athabasca River alone,
Struzik tells us that over one thousand trillion litres
are
being stored in concrete ponds up to 200 feet deep,
covering about 200 square kilometres. Struzik relates a
legal case he observed of an explosion and river
contamination in Canada, in 1981-2, and an Alberta mine
tailings pond breach in 2013. Separately, rising sea
levels, storm surges and saline invasion of ground water
mean preparations are being made to move coastal
populations.
The United States, Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark
along
with some interested nations including China are all
jockeying to claim new Arctic land and sea. Policymakers
need to be informed. Struzik stresses that Arctic
scientists are constantly learning about the ancient past
of this area, and a preserved stand of dawn redwoods was
uncovered in the high Arctic, as well as bones of beavers,
rhinos, three-toed horses and camels, showing that the
climate was vastly different in the past. So change is
not
in itself new or bad. The caveat is that today there are
more people moving northwards, with industrial means of
exploitation, including factory ships, and the change in
temperature is happening too fast for species to adapt.
The
massive Peace Athabasca Delta has been drying up and
getting covered in shrubs as glaciers recede. Opportunist
species are already moving north, such as the coyote and
the killer whale, which used to be cut off from the Arctic
Ocean by sea ice but now preys on narwhal and other marine
mammals.
Edward Struzik who previously published a historical
account Northwest Passage has travelled all around the
Arctic lands, meeting people and helping with bird studies
or fish counts. He attended the International Polar
Conference in Montreal. Anyone with an interest in these
matters will see FUTURE ARCTIC as required reading and
those of us in lower latitudes can also find this an
absorbing account of how the world is changing around us.
In one hundred years, or even fifty, the Arctic will look
dramatically different than it does today. As polar ice
retreats and animals and plants migrate northward, the
arctic landscape is morphing into something new and very
different from what it once was. While these changes may
seem remote, they will have a profound impact on a host
of global issues, from international politics to animal
migrations. In Future Arctic, journalist and explorer
Edward Struzik offers a clear-eyed look at the rapidly
shifting dynamics in the Arctic region, a harbinger of
changes that will reverberate throughout our entire
world.
Future Arctic reveals the inside story of how politics
and climate change are altering the polar world in a way
that will have profound effects on economics, culture,
and the environment as we know it. Struzik takes readers
up mountains and cliffs, and along for the ride on
snowmobiles and helicopters, sailboats and icebreakers.
His travel companions, from wildlife scientists to
military strategists to indigenous peoples, share diverse
insights into the science, culture and geopolitical
tensions of this captivating place. With their help,
Struzik begins piecing together an environmental puzzle:
How might the land’s most iconic species—caribou, polar
bears, narwhal—survive? Where will migrating birds flock
to? How will ocean currents shift? And what fundamental
changes will oil and gas exploration have on economies
and ecosystems? How will vast unclaimed regions of the
Arctic be divided?
A unique combination of extensive on-the-ground research,
compelling storytelling, and policy analysis, Future
Arctic offers a new look at the changes occurring in this
remote, mysterious region and their far-reaching effects.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy