the cold rush

There I was on top of the world in 1975, age 18-almost-19, hiking a path from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen, Switzerland, with pigs. I had never heard of global warming, although the melt at the Arctic had been happening since the 1950s. The Alps don't even look like this any more. (Well, neither do I, but that's another topic.)

Pardon me for huffing here instead of at my huffing blog, but while some of Nature is beautiful and warm and loving, humanity included, some of it isn't, and I don't want to ignore that here.

Have you heard that at least five countries are vying for territorial rights at the Arctic? The United States, Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark (I vote for Denmark, since they're trying to convert to 50% renewable-energy-dependent in the next couple of decades) are arguing about who "owns" the land, tundra, seaways. Ultimately the political import is about the shipping routes and oil under the sea that is becoming more accessible due to ice melt, and who will have rights to harvest and control what could be as much as 25% of the world's remaining fossil fuels, according to this article in Vanity Fair by Alex Shoumatoff. In fact, the Russians sent two Mirs down below to gather geologic samples, and while there they planted a titanium flag (anything less than titanium or something that strong would be compressed under the pressure). And it's not just those five countries. China, Japan, India and others are in place to be part of the highly political regional footholds. Russia is claiming it has sovereignty over some, if not most, of it - nice thought, considering they turned off the gas faucet once to Ukraine.

Okay, so the Arctic ice has been melting at a rate of 10% every decade since the 1950s, which is why it is suddenly a topic of oil drilling: it's accessible because of the melt. And what caused the melt? Well, um, yeah, global warming, caused by burning fossil fuels. What a poetically devastating cycle we humans generate.

It seems that life is replete with the difficult tension of a) wanting things to get better, wishing everyone would wake up and b) knowing in my heart of hearts it probably won't happen in most cases, until absolute desperation and necessity demand it.

Do I believe our powerful countries will turn to alternative eco-friendly sustainable fuel sources rather than turn to what's left of the earth's oil? As long as there is oil, it's not running out, right? And Americans with gas prices above $4/gallon, and Brits with twice that price, are clamoring for their governments to do something about it. So should they drill that precious oil, buy a few more decades of oil dependency? Make their penny-pinched citizens happier?

As "we" embark on this new frontier of exploration, expedition and exploitation, I am sitting here with a stupid, gullible look of disbelief on my face, disappointed that nothing has changed, artificial borders on Mother Earth continue to be drawn, and we suck out her life as if we are entitled, with no respect or acknowledgement for how we were born from Her, will dissolve into her, making us one with her and each other.

I guess we can hope that some Russian scientists are right, that global warming is almost over, that it's getting colder up there again, and that thickening ice will prevent oil drilling.

Or, if that fails, maybe we can fly above the earth like the shamanic Siberian flying reindeer.

Here's another article at The Guardian.