The Northwest Passage originated as an unattainable and lethal legend when Europeans arrived in the Americas and longed for an easy sea route across North America. Now, a cruise ship has successfully traversed the route in only a month.
It wasn’t until 1906 that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen successfully — but with extreme difficulty — navigated what had, until then, been a theoretical journey. In the years since, heavily fortified ships with icebreakers could only make it through the floes of the Arctic in summer, when sea ice was at its lowest.
Now, a massive 14-deck cruise ship has completed the journey that was a pipe dream just over one hundred years ago — and it’s raising a lot of concerns.
The Northwest Passage originated as an unattainable and lethal legend when Europeans arrived in the Americas and longed for an easy sea route across North America. Now, a cruise ship has successfully traversed the route in only a month.
It wasn’t until 1906 that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen successfully — but with extreme difficulty — navigated what had, until then, been a theoretical journey. In the years since, heavily fortified ships with icebreakers could only make it through the floes of the Arctic in summer, when sea ice was at its lowest.
Now, a massive 14-deck cruise ship has completed the journey that was a pipe dream just over one hundred years ago — and it’s raising a lot of concerns.
It took the Crystal Serenity just a month to glide through the waters from Alaska to New York — Amundsen needed three years.
What made this speedy voyage possible?
Climate change.
Rising temperatures have contributed to radical shrinkage of Arctic ice in a disturbingly short period of time. Researcher Peter Wadham, who has spent decades in the Arctic, predicts that the region will be free of ice by the middle of the century, which means that cruises like this one could become a lot more common.
“Extinction tourism” may be popular, but it comes at a high cost — and with a bitter legacy.
Arctic nations and indigenous people in the area have expressed concern about an increase in visitors.
Nunavut is already weighing restrictions on cruise ships and considering the impacts of maritime tourism. They’re proposing limits on the number of people allowed ashore to reduce the strain on resources for highly isolated communities — especially since cruise ships only visit during a brief period of the year and cannot be considered a reliable source of income.
Canadian officials are also concerned about what the opening of the passage will mean for maritime sovereignty, as nations like China are eager to exploit the newly-navigable waters of the North.
But this comes with more than just political and social implications. There’s a larger question at hand as we turn climate change into a tourist attraction.
The disappearance of sea ice is an indicator that climate change is progressing at a rate that’s too rapid to stop. This won’t just mean rising sea levels caused by melting ice — it could also speed up the warming of the climate.
Ice is more reflective than water and, thus, bounces radiation off the Earth’s surface rather than absorbing it. The ice also acts like a giant cooler, chilling the air as it passes over and contributing climate control to Arctic nations.
Continue reading at ENN affiliate, Care2.
Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
