The rate at which the ice in the Arctic is melting has reached record levels this year, setting off numerous predictions, warnings and questions about the future. The ice that melted had an area the size of Canada and Alaska combined, causing the total Arctic ice expanse to dip below 1.4 million square miles, a drastic change from the 2.7 million square miles in 1972. This massive discrepancy is largely due to human activity and the burning of fossil fuels.
“What we are doing as humans is drawing new gases up from under the crust of the earth,” environmental science teacher Wesley Kirpach said. “When we do this and add those new gases into the atmosphere, it changes the chemistry of the atmosphere. That is what allows for the greenhouse gases to accumulate and allows for global warming, because the heat from the earth cannot escape through those gases we are releasing.”
The shrinking ice mass has had several notable effects, including the reopening of the Northwest Passage. The use of this passage would be of benefit to large companies, who would glean bigger savings from a shorter shipping route through the Arctic.
“Economically speaking, this is very good for us,” Kirpach said. “But the problem is, obviously, the global warming aspect.”
Without as much white ice reflecting the sun’s heat, temperatures will rise, causing an amount of global warming equivalent to 20 years of carbon dioxide emissions. The warming is also affecting the jet stream, in which greater fluctuations may cause more extreme climate conditions.
“A warm earth is not necessarily a terrible earth,” Kirpach said. “But it will cause us to have to change, to adapt to it.”
Another major change is the accessibility to the fossil fuel supply the retreating ice has allowed. This also opens the Arctic up to major ecological damage in the case of leaks or explosions. Shell has already been granted permission to drill for oil in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas and is expected to have a $10 billion profit.
“They should prevent oil companies from going to get oil,” junior Ben Chou said. “Drilling could ruin the environment in the Arctic.”
Coastal cities are also at risk, as rising sea levels threaten to encroach on the land. Island nations such as Tuvalu are already considering evacuation plans.
“If water levels are rising, more cities will go under,” senior Raymond Howard said. “We will have less space when that happens.”
Some have predicted the ice will have almost completely melted as soon as 2020. One report predicts that if the earth does not adjust to climate change, over one hundred million lives will be lost by 2030.
“This is just another reason for us to worry about global warming,” junior Sarah Chung said. “If we do not change our habits, we will end up killing ourselves.”
These dire forecasts have environmentalists and other experts in the field clamoring for reform and change in human behavior before it is too late.
“They say that right now if we stopped burning fossil fuels, it would be 150 years before we started to level out the amount of damage that is being done,” Kirpach said. “Whatever warming you and I will see in our lifetime has already been done. The problem is, how far in the future are we willing to continue causing that trouble?”
