Episode 7: Hello, Central!
Episode Length: 30:47
Focus
The icebreaking industry and the impacts of the loss of sea ice on tourism and fossil fuel development
Locations
Finland; Nome, Alaska
Keywords
ice breaking, sea routes, tourism, mining and fossil fuel development, climate change
Episode Outline
These outlines are intended to help you locate ideas and topics more easily, but these are narrative episodes with many interlocking themes and ideas, so you may want to share segments that cross multiple points in the outline.
MINUTES: 00:00 - 03:53
Icebreakers cut channels in the ice to let ships through the polar ocean:
Loss of sea ice is a threat and an opportunity
03:54 - 05:54
Basics of sea ice: what it is, how it changes, and how it moves.
05:55 - 10:11
Growth of sea ice cover has been dropping and ice is getting thinner with warming:
Ice reflects solar energy away but as ice melts, more solar energy is absorbed
Sea ice cover has an impact on the whole planet, including the jet stream
10:12 - 16:29
Less ice in the Arctic creates new economic opportunities for places like Nome, Alaska:
More cruise ships in the Arctic bring money but also pollution and disturbance to wildlife
BREAK
16:30 - 21:14
Icebreaking is a big business in Finland and climate change is creating more demand for ice breakers:
Shipping routes opening up in Russia/Northern Sea Route (connects Europe to Asia), Canada/Northwest Passage, and TransPolar Sea Route (goes straight across the top of the world—not open right now)
21:15 - 25:54
Arctic holds a lot of potential development in fossil fuels, metals, and minerals:
Also potential for developing renewable energy in the Arctic
Russia already extracting natural gas from Siberia
25:55 - 30:47
Arctic is place where climate change and politics are intertwined:
Feedback loop where a warming planet caused by fossil fuels has opened up more land for more fossil fuel development