Melting exotica

Believe it or not, as polluters have always argued, there are some up-sides to global warming. As the climate warms, previously frigid lands will become subtropical, they say. Instead of dealing with snow storms, our Canadian children will enjoy summertime all year round, and biodiversity like we've only seen in movies. Imagine...utopia...tropical diseases galore...hockey, no more. And that cottage property on the tundra you bought for a buck...tropical paradise just in time for retirement. Sweet. Sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong! It's already happening.

Scientists in Antarctica are now able to get a clear look at some exotic creatures previously unseen or rarely so, by human eyes because the icesheets that covered their habitats are gone. Blue icefish and orange stars are no longer glimpsed through the lenses of deep diving robots, but rather by human eyes leaning over the railing of polar research vessels, a.k.a. cruise ships. Glaciers, some the size of small nations are breaking off, creating newly exposed and not quite polar environments. It's aesthetically pleasing perhaps, but the overall implications are not. Thank goodness the world seems to be catching on, and is slowly beginning to think beyond this generation.