The Artic Gold Rush

Not all that many years ago, we'd take a summer trip annually to the Oregon coast to cool off. I mean, really cool off. In fleece and windbreakers, we'd forget for a time that Portland was undergoing temperatures in the 90s. The icy Pacific water was always alluring to me though, and inevitably I'd run through it, only to emerge a short time later with serious pain in my feet as they went through a thaw.

This week, the water was only cold. After a while, I got used to it and it didn't bother me. How disappointing. How things are different with a little global climate change.

So it makes sense that the people who rule have taken notice. And now another major powers conflict is brewing and this time in that most delicate of ecosystems, the Artic.

As if we don't have enough wars and conflicts going on as is.

And wouldn't you know it would be about energy, namely oil and gas. Global warming caused by an oil addiction is making Artic ice melt, which means now nations can fight over who has the right to drill into the resulting water to feed our oil addiction. How's that for warped logic?

If there are future historians and a planet to write about, oil will go down as a dirty word, our downfall. The stuff of senseless wars, economic servitude, and environmental devastation.

Wouldn't it be saner to take all that money and time and diplomacy and invest it in a non-oil future and leave the Artic waters be?