Antarctica - history, science and cooperation

 Antarctic Glacier Calving, 2007 - photo by Bill Fintel

As recently as 100 million years ago when Antarctica was at the South Pole, it was a swamp with dinosaurs. At that time, earth's biological and geological processes were involved in consuming huge quantities of atmospheric CO2, and slowly converting them to coal, oil and natural gas. Since the start of the industrial revolution, we humans have been reversing that conversion at an incredible rate. That is just some of what is presented in the engrossing article, The Great Thaw, by Gabrielle Walker in the NY Times Opinion Pages.

Another significant point the author makes is the level of cooperation that currently takes place in Antarctica: "Today Antarctica is officially shared. The Antarctic Treaty System, signed by all of the 49 countries that have a presence there, proclaims the continent a scientific preserve and bans military activity.......On the ice, old enmities mean little. Russians side with South Koreans, British with Argentines. Faced with the dangers of a hostile land, what matters most is that you are human."

It is a long article, but written in a very engaging and informative manner.