by Sarah Goodbrand

Created on: April 02, 2010   Last Updated: April 03, 2010

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

- A quotation by Marcel Proust.

Let us consider our world and what we have put it through. In the beginning humankind lived in harmony with nature, we survived the storms and sensed the calm. Humankind was able to live in time with the rhythms of our world. Nowadays, I find myself agreeing with the poet William Wordsworth, “the world is too much with us”. 

Natural vegetation is destroyed daily and townhouses or an office block or another shopping centre consumes once beautiful, natural, breathing spaces. We are beginning to suffer the consequences of our irreverence for our natural world. The climate is changing drastically, pollution is rife and our natural resources are running dry.

The arctic is a vast, cold and snowy wilderness, which is in essence a colossal piece of ice protruding over the Arctic Ocean. It is seemingly abundant with natural resources such as oil and gas which have previously been inaccessible owing to the extensive ice sheets and glaciers.

The earth’s temperatures are rising and the polar ice cap is melting. While this is unfortunate news for the polar bears, it seems to be rather good news for the surrounding countries interested in mineral exploration and exploitation.  

With the arctic sea floor now exposed, it provides opportunities for commerce and research. Analysts state that there may be as much as a quarter of the world’s oil and gas resources beneath the sea floor.  New resources, mean potential power and wealth for surrounding countries. 

A race has developed between five countries: Russia, Norway, USA, Canada and Denmark - and all determined to claim a piece of the Arctic Region.

The Arctic region may end up like Snohvit, a liquefied natural gas facility in Norway that was hoped to be one of the world’s cleanest petroleum projects. Sadly, excess ash and soot from the facility is polluting land and posing a potential health risk.  

People may not be happy with the soot produced, but they seem to accept it, knowing that it is providing wealth for their country.  The Arctic is one of the wonders of the world as it remains untouched by the human race. Our world oil reserves are rapidly running out. 

What interesting times it would be if we were forced to find an alternative and change our ways, instead of looking for new resources to plunder. The race for

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