POLAR REGIONS

Polar Politics

Footprints in the Snow

E arly explorers such as Amundsen and Franklin left only footprints in the polar snows. Today scientists have discovered how much the rest of us have affected the poles. Our lifestyles have changed the composition of the atmosphere over the poles. This is called the ozone hole. It was first noticed in the Antarctic. We have caused the atmosphere over the whole planet to become warmer. Such climate change could melt the polar ice caps. The four worst years for ice-cap size reduction have come since 2007. Great rivers flow from Russia into the Arctic Ocean. They carry waste and pollution from factories far to the south. The Arctic is surrounded by nations with factories— USA, Canada, countries of Europe, and Russia. During summer a haze lies over the Arctic Ocean caused by dust and pollution from factories around the Arctic. Native Arctic peoples have been disturbed many times by others, first by explorers claiming the land and pushing them out. Oil exploration and mining has completely changed the Inuit life style. Animals and plants have been disturbed just as much. Native peoples now want their land back and a share of the wealth. The poles are important to the state of the Earth. They are called a life-support system of the planet. At the poles we can check what effects we are having on the Earth. A 1.2 mile (2,000 m) ice core was drilled in Antarctica. At its deepest point the ice dated back to 160,000 years ago. Traces of factory-made chemicals and pollution were found in the core. These traces were of things never used in Antarctica. They were used elsewhere in the world and brought to Antarctica by winds.

P eople have been careless in the polar regions, often leaving trash behind.

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