Warming Revives Dream of Sea Route in Russian Arctic

Jess Brennan

Every year the polar ice caps seem to be getting smaller. This past summer several ships sailed across the Arctic Ocean from one side of Russia to the other, a feat that was previously was extremely rare and dangerous because of the ice. This path can be particularly useful for shipping goods from the north of Europe and Asia because it is much shorter than going through the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea through Egypt. Many people seem to be for this new shipping path including Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, who said, “The Arctic is the shortcut between the largest markets of Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It is an excellent opportunity to optimize costs”. Iceland’s president, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, also is in support for the path but understands that what is causing the depletion of the ice is not good. In a recent Arctic Ocean shipping conference in Russia President Grimsson said, “It is paradoxical that new opportunities are opening for our nations at the same time we understand that the threat of carbon emissions have become imminent.” Not only does this path take less time, but it also can save countries and companies millions of dollars because they are taking fewer days to complete trips, there are more places for oil companies to check for oil, and new fishing grounds. Although this pathway is great tool to use for shipping people still have to worry about avoiding huge chunks of ice in the water so they do not end up like the Titanic. Authorities in the Russia, Norway, and the United States are trying to see if transferring the goods from a regular freighter to vessels that can navigate through the ice chunks.

Not only is this topic prevalent to Earth Science but also to businesses and the economy. It touches on global warming affecting the hydrosphere, not only the atmosphere. Because of this route more people are going to have jobs because there will be more ships going to and from the different ports around the Arctic Circle. There will also be more people able to send out fishing boats to go fishing. I totally agree that this is a smart choice when thinking about shipping goods from Europe to Asia or the United States to European Russia. This pathway will lead to better connections between the countries that utilize it because it will be easier and faster to get goods to the countries that need them. I think that it is unfortunate that the reason this pathway is now opened is due to things that us humans are doing to hurt the Earth.

Article link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/business/global/warming-revives-old-dream-of-sea-route-in-russian-arctic.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&ref=science