CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL EXPLAINED - AT LAST

I don’t know about you, but I’ve often wondered why supposedly smart people like, let’s say, GOP members of Congress, are climate change deniers. I know why Donald Trump is a denier - he’s an idiot. But the rest of them...?

Yesterday it all became clear. Actually, the hints have been there for some time, like this article from 2017: “Russian tanker sails througn Arctic without icebreaker for first time.” But a speech by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a couple of days ago at the annual Arctic Council meeting (the Council members are: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) left no doubts about what motivates climate change deniers.

 As Time.com reports: “For the Trump administration, disappearing sea ice in the world’s “high north” appears to be first and foremost an economic opportunity to exploit rather than a crisis to mitigate.” Not once in his speech did Pompeo mention climate change. He did extol the effects of climate change, however, as providing new opportunities for commerce, including easier and faster shipping through the Arctic due to reduced sea ice, and new ice-free land areas to exploit for natural resources - oil and gas. And prior to the meeting, the United States insisted that the term “climate change” should not appear in any official documents of the meeting. 

I heard a radio report about this, and it included statements by a petroleum industry person about these new and wonderful opportunities to exploit the natural resources of the far north.

Take a look at this map of the world:

 

(Map source: geology.com)

Nothing on that map looks very familiar, does it? Yes, it is Earth from above the North Pole, and it shows the nations that have coastal areas in the Arctic. Think about what it means to have the Arctic Ocean ice free for a longer time during the year than previously, and have thinner ice, and have shrinking ice margins that expose more and more coastal areas; all a result of a warming climate. Get used to seeing this view of the world, because more and more news will be coming from there as competition for commercial routes and natural resources heats up between the Arctic Council members. It has already begun.

Russia has been building a large fleet of icebreakers, the most recent being a jumbo nuclear-powered vessel. The Russians have 40 ice breakers; the United States has 2. The Russians are building tanker and freighter ships designed to navigate the Arctic waters even when there is ice - thinner ice than “normal.” The article above about the Russian tanker reported that the trip from Norway to Korea with a load of liquified natural gas took 30% less time traveling the Arctic route than going the usual way through the Suez Canal. Russia is developing oil and gas resources along its northern coast. 

Think about it; the Republicans in the US Congress and the Trump administration deny human-induced climate change (or don’t want to talk about it), they are pushing a relaxation of oil and gas development rules, including environmental regulations, and they want to open all U.S. coastal areas to oil and gas development. Does having an ice-free Arctic have anything to do with this? What do you think? 

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