Word: arctics
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...foreseeable future is no easy task. The fact is that there is a finite and rapidly diminishing quantity of oil in the earth, and the United States simply doesn’t have much of it—about 3 percent, to be exact—even counting the Arctic. As our energy consumption continues to increase, we will be forced to import ever-greater quantities of oil. And as domestic reserves dry up these imports will comprise an ever-greater proportion of total consumption...
...splash. But Shishmaref and other Alaskan settlements are attracting national attention because scientists see them as gloomy harbingers. "Shishmaref is the canary in the coal mine--an indicator of what's to come elsewhere," says Gunter Weller, director of the University of Alaska's Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research...
...temperature has risen 4°F to 5°F in the past three decades--compared with an average of just under 1°F worldwide. As a result, the state's glaciers are melting; insects are destroying vast swaths of forest; and thawing permafrost is sinking roads, pipelines and homes. Arctic Ocean ice has shrunk 5% to 10%, at an accelerating rate. Says Weller: "There is natural variability, but the evidence is overwhelming that humanity has altered the climate...
...have a great value in themselves, especially because Europe is so densely populated," says Arni Finnsson, chairman of the Iceland Nature Conservation Association, a leading opponent of the Kárahnjúkar project. "This area is far too beautiful to destroy." Environmentalists like Finnsson, supported by the WWF Arctic Program, the International Rivers Network and others, argue that construction will ruin this beauty by redirecting rivers, wiping out waterfalls and wildlife habitats and encouraging soil erosion. But Sigurdur Arnalds, spokesman for Landsvirkjun, the national power company, which is developing the Kárahnjúkar project, downplays the environmental...
Picture an ocean as vast as continental Australia. Then double it. You're looking at an area larger than either the Arctic Ocean or Antarctica. It's certainly not as chilly as those two extremities, but that's the size of the ocean and continental shelf over which Australia claims control. While a 15 million-sq.-km maritime zone cannot possibly be protected in the usual sense, the fact that this briny buffer exists offers some peace of mind in an era of terrorism and illegal immigrants. A tight border-control regime means shuffling money, people, electronics, boats and airplanes...