northwest nightmare

from yahoo news

Arctic ice melt opens Northwest Passage
By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 6 minutes ago

PARIS - Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest Passage that eluded famous explorers will become an open shipping lane. The European Space Agency said nearly 200 satellite photos this month taken together showed an ice-free passage along northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, and ice retreating to its lowest level since such images were first taken in 1978.

The waters are exposing unexplored resources, and vessels could trim thousands of miles from Europe to Asia by bypassing the Panama Canal. The seasonal ebb and flow of ice levels has already opened up a slim summer window for ships........Pedersen said the extreme [ice] retreat this year suggested the passage could fully open sooner than expected — but ESA did not say when that might be. Efforts to contact ESA officials in Paris and Noordwik, the Netherlands, were unsuccessful Saturday.......
Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States are among countries in a race to secure rights to the Arctic ...... A U.S. study has suggested as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden in the area.....

Associated Press Writer Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm, Sweden, contributed to this report.

can we say SCARY AS HELL!! how can the complete destruction of an entire habitat be viewed in any positive light? hess says that the northwest passage could be a huge reduction in fuel usage, and maybe thats so, but it will also be the end of wild polar bears and seals....what a disaster

Song of the day:

my favorite, lake chad (forgive the sarcasm)

Water find 'may end Darfur war'

Getting enough water is a major struggle in Darfur
A huge underground lake has been found in Sudan's Darfur region, scientists say, which they believe could help end the conflict in the arid region.
Some 1,000 wells will be drilled in the region....Analysts say competition for resources between Darfur's Arab nomads and black African farmers is behind the conflict.

"Much of the unrest in Darfur and the misery is due to water shortages," said geologist Farouk El-Baz, director of the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing, according to the AP news agency.

"Access to fresh water is essential for refugee survival, will help the peace process, and provides the necessary resources for the much needed economic development in Darfur," he said.

The team used radar data to find the ancient lake, which was 30,750 km2 - the size of Lake Erie in North America - the 10th largest lake in the world...The discovery is "very significant" Hafiz Muhamad (said)..."The root cause of the conflict is resources - drought and desertification in North Darfur."...He also said that it has long been known there was water in the area but the government had not paid for it to be exploited....

...ive said for over a year that darfur had something to do with lake chad. truly, outside of america and the western world, survival is the biggest motivator, and water is a key factor for survival, in irrigating crops, in keeping clean, in keeping livestock around....

hess posed that sending in digging equipment ten years ago would have averted the ntire conflict and saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and i mentioned to him that i searched for anyone else who thought water was involved in the crisis and found nothing, so im glad it is finally on the table as an option, it gives more to focus the interventions on

some sudanese history
back to lake chad
lake chad again


Song of the day: