Melting Arctic Ice Could Spark New Energy Conflicts

Reuters AlertNet :

Climate change and rising sea levels pose one of the biggest threats to security in the Pacific and may also spark a global conflict over energy reserves under melting Arctic ice, according to Australia's military.

A confidential security review by Australia's Defence Force, completed in 2007 but obtained in summary by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, said environmental stress had increased the risk of conflicts in the Pacific over resources and food.

But the biggest threat of global conflict currently lay beneath the Arctic as melting icecaps gave rise to an international race for undersea oil and gas deposits, it said.

Read the whole story: Reuters AlertNet

Comments

[Beachrunner]

08:46 AM on 01/15/2009

"Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close.

Ice levels had been tracking lower throughout much of 2008, but rapidly recovered in the last quarter. In fact, the rate of increase from September onward is the fastest rate of change on record, either upwards or downwards.

The data is being reported by the University of Illinois's Arctic Climate Research Center, and is derived from satellite observations of the Northern and Southern hemisphere polar regions."

http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=13834

[MGhamma]

12:12 PM on 01/15/2009

That arguement rests on very thin ice Beachrunner, literally. www.nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/. Better know what you're talking about before you comment.

[LITNUP]

03:13 PM on 01/15/2009

better get a better sci fi website , at least one that shows up to support the globalphoic cult

[ohiomark]

10:23 PM on 01/14/2009

Oops!!

Artic ice is back to 1979 levels.

http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=13834

Global warming is over. It's time for you Libs to think up a new scam.

[MGhamma]

01:04 AM on 01/15/2009

Oops! www.nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/. Better know what you're talking about before you comment, Mark.

[LITNUP]

11:51 AM on 01/14/2009

well there is a positive out of the Arctic ice melt

[wdw505]

10:23 AM on 01/14/2009

good more oil

[KillTheMessenger]

11:56 AM on 01/14/2009

More very expensive oil. If you don't mind paying the price you could just get a shovel and dig up the 50% oil that's left in every oil field of the world after conventional pumping of the liquids stops to work. I doubt there is nearly as much oil in the arctic as there will be left in the US or Saudi Arabia after we shut down our oil economy for cheaper renewables.

[wdw505]

09:02 PM on 01/14/2009

until that day that renewable energies are cheaper..........i'll keep using oil products