In June of 2020 there was a record high temperature recorded in the Arctic, of 100℉. In that same month, a storage tank collapsed in Siberia, presumably from the melting permafrost, spilling 20,000 tons of diesel. The thawing ice had caused the bottom of the tanker to corrode. The polar ice cap is melting. As the ice disappears, polar bears, arctic foxes, snowy owls, walruses, and reindeer are severely threatened, as are the animals that they depend on. Do you suppose that if these reindeer were actually Santa’s reindeer, that more people might care? Could we implore the children, as they sit on Santa’s lap to make their request, that we need their help to save Santa’s reindeer? If we do not do something to save them, Santa will not be able to make his annual visit to all of their houses. Would the children be willing to give up their toys, if it meant saving the reindeer?
For those of you who think that these rising temperatures will not affect us, I would like to enlighten you. The ice in both the arctic and the antarctic help to balance the atmosphere, which creates our weather. Without them, we will continue to see extreme heat waves in summer and bitter cold winters. It is causing sea levels to rise, which in turn threatens coastal towns, causing floods. The change in weather patterns is affecting the food that is grown, threatening global food systems, which will make the cost of food continue to rise. As the shippers navigate new routes for moving product to stores, they face an increased chance of shipwrecks. Oil spills will become more frequent due to the rising water. Wildlife, in its desperate attempt to survive as its habitat disappears, will face extinction – or they will become more frequent visitors to human towns and cities. Methane, a greenhouse gas that has been stored in the ice, is released as the ice melts, accelerating the warming. It is not a pretty picture.
While the media distracts us with the ever constant news of COVID19 and its vaccines, let’s not lose sight of this much bigger problem that we are facing. We have the freedom, numerous times a day, to make choices. Let’s make choices that will lift the world up, rather than resigning ourselves to the inevitability of disaster. We have opportunities every single day to make a difference. For those of us who have brought children into the world, should we not do all we can, to protect the earth on which they must live their lives? If not for the reindeer (and so many other species) can we do this for our children?
