| Summary: | The Arctic has reacted more quickly and dramatically to global warming than many had anticipated. Scientists are urgently trying to predict just how the Arctic will change and how those changes will in turn affect the rest of the planet. But plenty of other people, driven by profit rather than data, are interested as well. The riches of the world's last virgin territory have spurred the reawakening of old geopolitical rivalries. The United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, and Denmark all control areas around the Arctic Ocean. We face a new era of oil rigs and drill ships, of shipping shortcuts, and fights over the Arctic's treasures. Alongside the winners are the many losers, from nomadic reindeer herders to Inuit hunters. Other creatures that rely on the vast expanses of sea ice, including seals, birds, and whales, may disappear or be replaced. Combining science, business, politics, and adventure, Alun Anderson takes the reader to the ends of the earth in a narrative portrait of this rapidly changing land of unparalleled global significance.--From publisher description.
|
|---|
