For some it's the last place on earth, the seventh check mark on their continent list. But the growing influx of tourists to Antarctica has U.S. leaders thinking about the consequences, and on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the Arctic Council and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting about the need to limit visitors to the region.
"The changes underway in the Arctic will have long-term impacts on our economic future, our energy future, and indeed, again, the future of our planet," she said. "So it is crucial that we work together." In her statement, she proposed new international standards that would limit the number of tourist vessel landings and cited the need to have cooperation in restricting potentially hazardous discharges from ships. She also focused on setting safety standards for tour operations; citing some of the recent cruise ship accidents, she made a recommendation for new requirements for lifeboats on tourist ships "to make sure they can keep passengers alive until rescue comes."
The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators has reported that over 46,000 tourists visited Antarctica in the 2007-2008 tour season -- which is about four times the number of visitors as during the 2000-2001 season. What do you think? What standards would you like to see in place to protect the Arctic?
Read More: In the April National Geographic magazine, Bruce Barcott wrote a feature article about Svalbard, Norway's pristine Arctic archipelago, with photos by Paul Nicklen.
[CNN, DotEarth]
Photo: Dave Walsh via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool
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Of course the she wants to restrict travel now that the ice caps are expanding. She understands that it's easier to tell the greatest lie of our generation when people can't actually see the truth first hand. The last thing that climate change zealots need is a bunch of tourists seeing what is actually happening to the continent. If you believe Hillary is suddenly concerned about the safety of people traveling to the Antarctic and that these restrictions aren’t an attempt to cover the actual truth, I have a bridge to sell you in Alaska.
Yes, we must restrict tourism to the polar regions, because limiting the number of tourists there by a few thousands per year is the only way to keep a lid on crucial information that would debunk global warming.
How do climate change denialists dress themselves in the morning? How do they manage to feed themselves. They seem literally too stupid to breathe.