Pacific Spirit Marine Institute

Northwest Passage Open

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Lief Toudal Pedersen, at the Danish National Space Center is saying we have lost about 1/2 million square miles of Arctic ice since 2005. He is feeling we will loose more ice faster than expected.

The Arctic ice is the at its lowest level since images were first taken in 1978.

Now a lip-smacking development seems to be placed upon the plates of nearly the entire world of commerce. An open Northwest Passage would cut the trip from the eastern Atlantic to the western Pacific in 1/2.

At this point it is believed that the route will not be open all year, but many scientists do believe that will not be the case in the future. There are still vast amounts of sea ice, multi-year ice packs, that remain even throughout the summer. At the rate we are seeing ice disappear this may not be the case in the near future.

Will less miles traveled by ships mean less pollution? This is naturally the case that will be made by commerce. Anyone that has ever passed by the smoking lounge in an airport when the door is being opened can’t agree with that notion.

Ships rolling through the small Passage, in large numbers will no doubt have the same effect on the environment as placing 15 smokers in a contained room.

Without having any science to back up my assertions I see a world of problems that will open up when the Northwest Passage is opened up to regular, reliable shipping schedules. In my mind, it isn’t a far reach to compare Italian Granita to the Arctic ice. In a granita liquid is poured into a container and placed in the freezer. When ice crystals begin to form a fork is run through the crystals before they have a chance to freeze solid. Running a fork over an ice cube that is already frozen certainly has a very different affect on that ice. The constant scraping and agitation never allows the granita to freeze into a solid hunk of ice.

Would not constant shipping through the Northwest passage produce the same result? Now consider constantly stirring the granita with a hot fork.

Beyond not letting the ice rest so that if it can refreeze it might refreeze; what about the dangers of oil spills, accidents and waste being dropped by ships along the way?

There is no question that the hole in the earths protective Ozone layer is in the same neighborhood as well. Burdening the already weakened Ozone layer in that area will have profound and incalculable results. How could there be any doubt that ship after ship spewing pollutants directly under our already weakened protective Ozone layer will only create more problems?

Good for business, bad for the environment and the entire world. It shouldn’t take the worlds scientific community to figure this one out.

Labels: Bisphenol, Environment, Global Warming, Northwest Passage, oil spill