Sad synchronicity: MSNBC is reporting another rig explosion in the gulf. Mile-Long Oil Sheen
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Every spring the bearded seal sings underwater songs of love to woo his new mate. That tender ritual's days are numbered now that the Arctic is in the cross-hairs of our oil-addicted race.
On August 29th 2001 a Russian ship sailed to the North Pole without need of an icebreaker. It was the first ship ever to have done so. Thanks to global warming and our thirst for hydrocarbons it will not be the last. A recently published Kremlin document announces Russian plans to establish army bases along the Arctic frontier to “guarantee military security in different military-political situations”.
China takes note.
According to, Linda Jakobson, a researcher from SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), “The prospect of the Arctic being navigable during summer months, leading to both shorter shipping routes and access to untapped energy resources, has impelled the Chinese government to allocate more resources to Arctic research.” China now owns the world’s largest non-nuclear icebreaker and one of the strongest polar scientific research programs in the world. However if the current warming trend continues such capabilities may be moot. Trade vessels that now travel between Europe and Asia through the Suez Canal may be able to use the Arctic’s Northwest Passage as early as 2013, shaving 40% of the distance at least during the summer when the passage could well be ice-free. But even then, China's access is not guaranteed.
The Arctic Council
Ten states currently lay claim to the Arctic Territory: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russian and the USA. Five-- Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US have been busy filing suit, hoping to claim control of the coveted Northwest shipping lanes. At the council's urging the "Feuding Five" finally met last May in Greenland and declared their mutual commitment to the rule of law and to behaving peacefully. Seeing what's at stake, I would not be so sure.
Let the Drilling Begin!
Mere weeks after the Deepwater Horizon leak was finally plugged the drill for oil kicked off in Greenland's Arctic waters. The prize went to the U.K.'s Cairn Energy but with the Artic likely to possess 13 per cent of the planet's remaining oil and 30 per cent of its gas it is about to have plenty of company. Never mind that none of those companies have the slightest notion of how to deal with a potential spill.
An even bigger environmental threat is not from the wells but from the oil tankers. Pack ice, storms and icebergs mean that shipping accidents are almost inevitable, and spilt oil takes decades to break down in the cold Arctic waters. Nothing much can be done in the winter beyond tracking the ice, waiting for the oil to surface in the summer melt, then setting it alight. Yet despite the Gulf disaster, calls for an Arctic-wide moratorium on oil exploration until safety measures are in place have gone unheeded.
Holding Course to Destruction
The irony cuts deep to realize that in this market-worshiping age when citizens can no longer be sure that their livelihoods will be defended by their own governments our leaders still manage to cloak their corrupted designs in the robes of tribe and sovereignty. So Russia declares the Arctic to be its 'strategically vital territory' while Canada swears to defend its rightful share. But neither the average Russian nor most Canadians will see any worthwhile benefit. That will belong to our revolving-door politicians, lavishly-rewarded executives and the mega-rich stockholders perched atop the glorified heap. What we working stiffs stand doomed to inherit is the polluted, uninhabitable mess these 'masters of the universe' seemed determined to make of the planet.
Those lover's trills, sweeps, and moans may turn mournful in just a few summers.
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