Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/03/19/arctic-shipping-routes-are-melting-early-its-good-for-trade-but-not-the-planet.html
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It’s also creating new territorial disputes over shipping routes and seafloor resources.
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This is also why we’re seeing increased posturing and confrontations between Russia, China and Finland.
ETA: @gracchus beat me to it. @anon29537550, I think the reasoning for Finland getting involved so early is the realization that they can’t cede sovereignty to two superpowers who will essentially try to create hegemony in arctic shipping and severely damage nations that rely on it as a primary source of economic clout. They were making claims about Arctic sovereignty as early as 2015, iirc.
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Russia, China and… Finland. One of these things is not like the others! If it comes to hardball, I hope the Finns are ready to stand their ground.
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“Not good for the planet” always reminds me of a George Carlin bit about how basically the planet doesn’t care and will shake us off like a bad case of fleas. It’s the critters that crawl on its surface that are f****d. As one of those critters, I’ll admit to wanting to protect the environment to delay that reckoning.
Not sure if it’s aged all that well, but still thought provoking.
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There’s only 4M or so of them but once they get all hopped up on salmiakki, Marksin rypyy, and mämmi, they fight much larger than life! They may appear unassuming, but underneath those Jussi sweaters there lurks the cold and vast rage known as perkele, ready to be tapped into for preternatural fighting prowess (just as soon as they’re done in the sauna).
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Well it is another bad sign, but it does help save fuel and reduce more carbon emissions from these transport ships. (Something else we should be working on to create low emission version.)
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Yes, one does not have territory in the Arctic.
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This “problem” was and is a planned-for feature, not a bug. As early as Dubya’s administration, meetings were held (leaving out Finland or Norway, I forget which, causing a huge stink at the time) to divvy up the trade routes and resources that would be exposed by Arctic melting.
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You’re watching the formation of the Great Circle Sea.
Look at a globe from the top, and realize that the Arctic is all ice. Take that ice away, and you have fast, convenient shipping between all Northern Hemisphere continents: The Great Circle Sea.
This will be the busiest place on the planet in thirty years.
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On the plus side, this likely means an excellent season for the archaeologists working on the Terror and Erebus! I am super jazzed about this.
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