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The Northwest Passage along the northern coast of is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean North America via the waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.[1][2] The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and the Canadian mainland by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages or Northwestern Passages.
Sought by explorers for centuries as a possible trade route, it was first navigated by Roald Amundsen in 1903-6. The Arctic pack ice prevents regular marine shipping throughout the year, but due to global warming, the pack ice is being reduced and may eventually make the waterways more navigable. This and the contested sovereignty claims over the waters may complicate future shipping through the region.
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Eventually happened last week, September 14th - the Scandanavian space agency announced that their satellite data shows the last square mile of ice has melted year round, opening the Northwest Passage once and forever. We've been looking for how to navigate ships through the North Pole to reach from Europe to Asia faster since 1497 when Henry VII sent John Cabbot. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Passage)
For this reason, business is looking at this as a very positive development. Global Warming = cheaper, faster shipping. It also means a reinforcing cycle, as the ships we send goods across the globe on are big time polluters. This could be a viable alternative to the Panama Canal, companies are saying. Canadian firms are hopeful that the loss of arctic ice cover will open more diamond mines and allow move overland roads.
Natives and environmentalists disagree. Many Inuit still keep their meet stored in small ice caves, and fear their way of adapting to the harsh weather is at its end. Animals and plants are being pushed out of the arctic by warmer-weather species. Polar bears are drowning looking for food, at a rate much faster than whales beaching themselves. Ice reflects heat in the form of sunlight while pools of water absorb it, so as the ice shelf melts, the problem will compound. Worse, there's a tremendous amount of methane gas trapped under the ice that will be released into the atmosphere and become a greenhouse insulator.
What are your thoughts? Is global warming a good thing or a bad thing? Does it have its upside? Have we already gone beyond the point of no return?
This is the Northwest Passage - there are a series of different routes a person could attempt to take.
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