Since man can remember, the Northwest passage has been an un-navigable area between the north pole, Greenland, and Canada. However, in light of the rising global temperatures, a lot of that ice that once made the Northwest passage to difficult to sail, has begun to completely dissipate. In fact, some have even begun to make the journey through the passage for the first time in at least the last 400 years, if not more. Sea ice in the northwest passage is currently at its second lowest level, which is a clear indicator of the effects of global warming. The National Snow and Ice Data center found that, "All told, the amount of missing Arctic sea ice was nearly 1 million square miles below the 1979 to 2000 average. In other words, the Arctic was missing enough ice to cover the states of Alaska and Texas combined"(NSIDC 1). Not only does Ice Melting increase aid in increasing global temperatures, but it decreases the salinity in oceans which upsets the ecosystems inside those oceans who are not adapted to lower levels of salt. Additionally, now that this section of the ocean is free to travel, some cruise lines have already begun to book trips. One ship recently took 1,000 people through the passage. This is inherently bad because cruise ships take a huge tole on the environment and are basically traveling garbage dumpers. We need to change our ways in order to prevent, or at the very least, slow down climate change or our children might not have somewhere to live.
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Matthew Hesse16 Years old Archives
May 2017
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