But for what price?

The Northwest Passage is a route through the Canadian Arctic Arphipelago that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, a route that has virtually been impossible due to the think layers of sea ice coating the passage year round. Satellite images have now confirmed that the passage is most definitely opening up.

This opening creates a 4000 km shorter ship route from China to Europe. Also oil production in Alaska would move much more quickly to the European markets. For a long while the resources in Northern Canada have been extremely hard to get to, and even harder to ship - but this passage will open up the possibility of increased exports. The passage opening up could saved billions of dollars on transport costs and save money like mad crazy.

The map above shows one of the possible routes through the passage. Ships that travel through would enter into Baffin Bay and exit into the Beaufort Sea after going through various Canadian Arctic Archipelago routes. The travel would end with an exit through Chukchi and Bering sea that open into the Pacific Ocean. But who owns the passage? Seeing as it’s in Canada, Canadian’s would like to claim it as their own, but for years the United States has been passing through it claiming that the passage is actually International Waters.

In fact three United States ships were the first to cross the Passage in 1957. The first ship that actually carried significant cargo passed in 1969, the SS Manhattan. The trip was taken, with Sir John A MacDonald (he was my hero in grade 6) on board to see if it was a reliable alternative to the Alaska Pipeline - obviously, it wasn’t seen fit as the pipeline has been long since built.

1979:

2003:

2005:

Year by year the ice in the Arctic has been in a steady decline. The ice concentrations seen in the photos above are obviously different - the top one (the old picture) having significantly more ice than the 2003 and 2005 pictures.

The black lines in the graph above indicate the decline rate of maximum sea ice cover and the red line are the minimum of sea ice covered. The decline rate, based on this graph and produced by studies funded by NASA is an average decrease of 7% per decade.

We need to watch the Arctic Ice carefully, it is the “canary in the coal mine” if you will. The region is sensitive and is showing some of the most drastic changes and events due to global warming. Scientists warn that what is happening to the Arctic now, is just a glimpse of what is to come in the future. The average temperature in the Arctic is rising twice as fast as anywhere else in the world. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, the largest ice block in the Arctic has split.

The melting of ice in this region may seem like its having no effect on how we live and the people of the world, but Native people are being affected greatly. Its disrupting their hunting patterns, their homes and their way of life. Their homes and villages are being flooded and swamped. On top of that it is disrupting the migratory paths of animals such as the Polar Bear, whale and seal - it is also affecting the way these animals hunt. Entire ecosystems are being lost such as the lake enclosed in the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, it drained into the ocean.

If that’s still not enough to convince you that this is your problem as well… it will add to the over all increase in sea levels world wide. Areas that are low lying are in such risk of being flooded and displaced. As much as a 3 foot rise in sea level would happen in the next 80 years thus effecting Louisiana, Texas, Florida, NC, the Maritime provinces and the Western coast of Canada. Also the melting ice of the Arctic is speeding up global warming. Snow and ice, logically, make the world cooler and create a sort of protective layer on the Earth. These rising temperatures are affecting Alaska, most greatly seen in the spruce bark beetles who have had an increase in breeding due to the temperature rise and have eaten up 3.4 million acres of Alaskan Forest.

So sure, maybe we’re getting a nice big trade route opening up up there - but we really need to realize that this passage opening is signifying a lot of really scary events that are taking place right before our eyes. What’s better? A nice open passage for us to ship our crappy consumer goods back and forth? Or a healthy earth that isn’t dying in front of our eyes?

(cross posted at appletree)