As the arctic ice cap melts, a new race begins: the race to claim the arctic oil.

Step aside, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge! The meager oil that might be found there is nothing compared to the riches of oil that wait under the frozen ice at the north pole! Geologists estimate that one-quarter of the remaining oil on the planet can be found there.

Until now, the oil has been inaccessible because of the arctic ice sheet. But other nations are seeing the ice melting, and even though it will likely be decades before the area is reasonably accessible for oil exploration, they are laying claim to the territory now.

 A recent article in the Chicago Tribune tells the tale of a new "klondike" emerging in the arctic. The link to the article actually will take you to a website called "Rigzone" - your gateway to the oil & gas industry!

Consider the irony: 
1. By burning fossil fuels for the last 160 years (or so) people have been releasing carbon that was trapped deep in the earth in the form of coal, oil, gas, etc.
2. The release of all this carbon (in the form of gases such as carbon dioxide [CO2] & methane [CH4]) is accelerating the "greenhouse" effect in the earth's atmosphere, by upsetting the balance of carbon compounds in the atmospere.
3. The rapid warming is causing the arctic ice to melt at an alarming rate, which in turn will make new areas of the arctic open to oil exploration.
 4. The oil pumped out of the arctic will result in more carbon being released into the atmosphere, and the trend will only continue...

I'm not sure how else to say this, but how stupid can we be?

Many nations (except for the US) signed on to the Kyoto Treaty committing to reducing their carbon emissions. Russia is one of the treaty signators. Now Russia is claiming that about 1/4 of the arctic icecap is connected to their "continental shelf," so -basically - they get the oil once the ice melts. So, I have to ask: what is going to be more important to a country, slowing global warming, or getting the trapped oil faster?

Isn't it time to move beyond fossil fuels and switch over to renewable resources?

I am all for an international treaty that puts the arctic oil off-limits to everyone. It would be kind of like a nuclear non-proliferation treaty (which the US seems to think applies to everyone but us...). Nations would agree that it is in the planet's best interest - in humankind's best interest - to "just say no" to arctic oil.

And it might save some polar bears too.