Competition for the Arctic!

     With global warming in effect, this has started to melt the ice and snow in the Arctic. The Arctic is estimated to hold the world's largest remaining untapped gas reserve. Currently only a few countries have a piece of the Arctic to claim to be theirs, but most of the Arctic is neutral ground.

    Why does this matter?

   With millions of people using gas to do their basic needs everyday, natural gas will not last forever. Once gas and oil is used, you cannot get it back. With the Arctic potentially holding the most remaining natural gas left on this planet, this could be an international problem as many countries will be fighting for this land.

How will this effect our environment?

   If an oil spill were to happen in the Arctic, it would truly be almost impossible to clean up as there is no effective way to clean up oil in icy water. Also, it would take days for help to come, as the Arctic is very hard to get to. Finally, ocean noise could injure marine mammals because they use sound to navigate.

   In conclusion, with the Arctic melting it could potentially be a disaster as many countries try to get their natural gas, which could hurt the environment and animals nearby.

- http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2007/10/who_owns_the_arctic.html

- http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/arctic/what_we_do/oil_gas/

- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/12/141217/oil-natural-gas-denmark-north-pole-arctic/