For the first time in recorded history the Arctic Circle may well be free of ice in the summer. The full implications of this run the gamut from newer shipping routes for industry to less territory for already endangered polar bears, with many scientists seeing the new conditions as something to warrant fretting over. Most leading climate experts are predicting a total elimination of the sea ice in the Arctic anytime from this coming summer to four or five years from now, with even the most conservative estimates acknowledging a 25% chance that the melt will occur this summer. more »

A high-ranking military, official Russia must be ready to fight wars in the Arctic to protect its national interests in an Arctic region that contains large and unused deposits of natural resources.

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov, who heads the Defense Ministry’s combat training directorate said, “After several countries contested Russia’s rights for the resource-rich continental shelf in the Arctic, they have immediately started a review for their combat training programs for military units that may be sent to the Arctic in case a battle occurs.”

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Eighteen young Advocates from nine countries have been chosen to set sail on a 12-day Arctic voyage. These young advocates will learn more about climate change and its effects on the brittle Arctic ecosystem.

The 18 advocates have been chosen as “Ambassadors for the Future”, and will use what they learn during the voyage to help WWF convince political leaders that they must act quickly to avert dangerous climate change.

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In a landmark ruling sure to have lasting implications for corporate law, the Supreme Court has decided in favor of setting limits to punitive damages in relation to compensatory damages by reducing the amount of Exxon’s fines for the Valdez spill from what was $5 billion to $500 million. Punitive damages, ordered in addition to compensatory damages which help make a situation right financially, are a favored method of punishing large corporations of particularly egregious behavior and were ordered against Exxon due to the shocking nature of the circumstances surrounding the spill. more »

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian general says Russia will conduct military exercises in the Arctic to uphold the country’s claim to the region’s vast natural resources.

Gen. Vladimir Shamanov, in charge of military training at Russia’s Defense Ministry, also said planning for the exercises began after several nations disputed Russia’s Arctic claims.

“Modern wars are won or lost long before they start,” Shamanov told the military daily Krasnaya Zvezda in an interview published Tuesday.

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Warming temperatures in the Arctic are being hailed as a signal of the urgency of climate change by one of the earliest proponents of the concept, citing the region’s melting ice as an example of the devastations in store if immediate action is not taken. James Hansen, head of Goddard Institute of Space Sciences, testified to Congress just Monday that if drastic measures are not employed the planet will see shocking changes coming in just the next ten to twenty years.

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Russia claims the after effect of melting ice, leads to an increase in the value of land as the arctic water leads to boundary disputes

Bad news people! The disputes about ownership in the Arctic lands are not improving at all.  The Warm Arctic is changing the boundaries of land, causing them to increase and this is causing more problems for the arctic regions because certain political figures believe they have the rights to claim ownership of the land.  How ridiculous is that statement.

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According to experts, any drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be of no immediate benefit to easing the current oil prices. Oil recently went beyond $130.00 a barrel for the first time in history.

Congress has fought long and hard for many years as to whether or not oil companies should be permitted to access to Alaska’s 1 1/2 million acres of coastal plain. The area is a habitat for Caribou, Seabirds and Polar Bears as well. Congress recently called oil executives more »