Protect The Wild Beauty of the Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is not all about snow, it is also home to many precious wild creatures and birds. Not just polar bears, but also wild bears, Arctic foxes, moose, blue whales and orcas (killer whales).
Close to the Scottish Highlands (the Shetland Isles are just 400 miles away), what happens in England (through how we live and what we buy) can affect this wonderful area, that is so at risk from pollution and climate change.
John Muir once wrote that ‘When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world’. What is happening in the Arctic Circle right now affects us. So how we live, affects nature and wildlife on ‘top of the world’.
The Arctic Circle covers parts of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Russia and parts of Scandinavia. Alaska (owned by the USA) is the other country that juts into the Arctic Circle.
The Arctic Circle is also home to hundreds of thousands of humans too. Some have developed ‘reindeer vision’ where they can see in the dark and due to vitamin D deficiency, may sometimes babble nonsense (sounds like some of our MPs!)
This area is not as cold as Antarctica, but it’s still very chilly! The Russian town of Oymakon is the world’s coldest (and some say a couple of towns in Siberia are even colder). Some towns are now heavily polluted due to mining run-off.
The Norwegian city of Tromsø is known for having the world’s best views of the northern lights, and nearby Kvaløya Island is known for its wild swimming reindeer!
Nearly all local people suffer mild frostbite on exposed facial areas (beards are popular!) Some people even ‘run to warm bus shelters’ in bad weather, a few have even frozen to death, when stranded in cars with flat batteries. Others die of breathing problems due to icy air, and depression is common, due to lack of daylight. For all these reasons, healthcare is nearly always free.
Environmental Concerns in the Arctic
Despite its issues for humans, The Arctic is home to many wild creatures who adore this freezing land, and The Arctic Ocean (the world’s smallest) is also home to 10% of the world’s fresh water including Greenland’s ice sheet, which is melting due to climate change. This is causing seas to rise and current estimates of a 7.3 metre rise would be catastrophic to all life forms on earth.
Warming temperatures means that polar bears have to swim in warmer waters to hunt seals, for them and their cubs. Nima Sarikhani’s photo of a polar bear sleeping on a tiny iceberg (carving a bed with his paws) has highlighted concerns. One polar bear recently died from bird flu, after feeding on infected birds.
Greenpeace campaigners are concerned on Trump’s election, on how drilling for oil will affect wildlife, as The Arctic Circle contains 160 billion barrels and a third of the world’s natural gas. The Greenpeace Nordic Case is an ongoing battle between six young activists, trying to persuade the Norwegian government to not hand out licenses to drill for more oil.
How Can People in England Help the Arctic?
Live a simple sustainable life (in order to prevent climate change and pollution.
Switch to clean energy. Ecotricity doesn’t make green energy from burning animal carcasses from abattoirs, which some companies do.
Choose recycled or reclaimed wood, to help protect forest habitats:
The world cannot live without the Arctic; it affects every living thing on Earth. And acts as a virtual thermostat, reflecting sunlight and cooling the planet. Philippe Cousteau Jr
The Arctic is a harshly inhospitable place, but the conditions there are precisely what polar bears require to survive – and thrive. ‘Harsh’ to us is ‘home’ for them.
Take away the ice and snow, increase the temperature by even a little, and the realm that makes their lives possible, literally melts away. Sylvia Earle
A Children’s Guide to Arctic Birds is an illustrated guide to birds that live in the Arctic year-round, and the 100 species that travel their each year to lay eggs and raise their young. Learn of 12 birds that call this snowy paradise their home. Learn about each birds’ eggs and nests, laid during short Arctic summers. Including ravens and Tundra swans, that often migrate to England.
Can You See the Northern Lights in England?
The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) are an amazing natural spectacle, when coloured skies fill the sky. Common in Scandinavia, you usually only see them in England after severe storms.
It’s easier to view them in places free from light pollution, as they are far easier to see in dark skies with no cloud cover, and you have to look north!
The colours are caused due to electrons hitting gaseous particles, as they enter earth’s atmosphere. Oxygen generates green lights (lower altitude) and red lights (higher altitude) while nitrogen causes blue and purple lights.
Recently in England, a rare event occurred, when people as far south as London and Kent saw incredible pink displays of the Northern Lights, which hardly ever happens.
Concerns over Blackpool Lighting Plans
Although astronomers are aware that the Blackpool lights bring in substantial tourism income, they are concerned over plans to create an artificial ‘aurora borealis’ (northern lights) by way of a 1KW laser to shine in the sky.
This would not just blight the night sky, but ruin views across the county (and also for Merseyside, Cumbria, North Wales and even Isle of Man).
A Children’s Guide to Arctic Birds is an illustrated guide to birds that live in the Arctic year-round, and the 100 species that travel their each year to lay eggs and raise their young. Learn of 12 birds that call this snowy paradise their home. Learn about each birds’ eggs and nests, laid during short Arctic summers. Including ravens and Tundra swans, that often migrate to England.
Let’s Hope Greenland Gains Independence
Greenland is a unique country with few tourists (apart from watching humpback whales), which is good news for wildlife like caribou and Arctic foxes. A bit like our Isle of Man, this is a self-governing part of another country (in this case, Denmark).
And like Northumberland, the entire northeast of Greenland is a protected National Park, to leave wildlife undisturbed.
80% of Greenland is covered in ice, so few crops grow here. It is mostly in the news due to the massive ice sheet that is already cracking, due to climate change. If melted, it could raise sea levels by around 6 feet worldwide. Just one centimetre of rising seas can cause coastal erosion. of three feet.
There is only one airport (reached from just Iceland or Denmark) and most people travel by boat. And like Finland, its remote location means it has some of the world’s cleanest air and waters.
The super-scary news is that President Trump has now said that he will be prepared to use military action, in order to make Greenland a US territory (presumably because he wants to drill for its oil).
Greenland’s leader Jens-Frederick Nielsen however replied ‘We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders’.
A recent poll found that 85% of the population (mostly native people) and all five party leaders are in favour of a referendum to become an independent country.
Could Trump Really Take Over Greenland?
Unlikely. It’s not like the days when the USA bought Alaska from Russia. Today there are laws in place to consider wishes of local people.
The only advantages for Greenland would be military bases and finance (things locals are not concerned about), and the right to live/work in the US (again, not interested).
Hopefully this will be a good lesson for a world leader to realise, that sometimes money and power are not the most important things in the world, for some countries and people.
Trump has recently appointed the governor of Louisiana as a volunteer envoy, for Greenland. Many Danes, Greenlanders (and Americans) are upset and incensed. One reader on The Independent’s website wrote:
Everyday I coach two-year olds on the unacceptability of ‘I want that’, usually resulting in children throwing themselves on the floor, and flaying arms and legs. Here we have the leader of the supposed free world, who lacks the very basic emotional literacy required to grasp such a concept!
Worst of it is, he’s getting away with it in many instances. We’ll have Trump towers in very town and village at this rate! When is somebody going to grow a pair and find the guts to give him some ‘time out to think’.
