Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Arctic Becomes Tourism Hot Spot,

Yesterday, Mark Gongloff, posting at the WSJ's Energy Roundup, pointed us to a trend that seems, simply, ridiculous (in the sense that it should be the subject of ridicule).

Interest in Global Warming
Is Now a Selling Point;
Seeing Glaciers 'Calve'

DISKO BAY, Greenland -- James Brusslan is an environmental lawyer with climate change on his mind. He cycles to the office and works at a Chicago law firm that offsets its carbon emissions. He plasters friends' SUVs with stickers that say: "I'm changing the climate! Ask me how!"

To get a first-hand glimpse of such changes, Mr. Brusslan, 50 years old, recently spent $2,800 on a week's camping trip here, about 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. "I wanted to see what was happening," he said, as he gazed at an ice fiord where a glacier was splintering into icebergs. "In 10 years, it probably will be gone." He next plans to see the melting glaciers of Sichuan, China.

Global warming has given rise to a new niche in the booming eco-tourism business: climate tourists. These visitors seek out places where a long-term warming trend -- subject of a global summit hosted by the United Nations this week -- is starting to have a discernible impact. Yet some say there's a big irony in this kind of travel: Any trip by train, plane or cruise ship pumps carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and potentially contributes to the warming of the planet....MORE

Here's one of the sillier headlines I recall. From May 16
Arctic islands invite tourists to see climate woes

I've got 30 or 40 press releases in the link-vault that struck me as incongruous:

Senator McCain:
U.S. SENATORS VISIT GREENLAND, TURKEY, GEORGIA, MONTENEGRO, AND ITALY

Senator Cardin:
SENATOR CARDIN VISITS GREENLAND TO WITNESS EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

Angela Merkel:
Germany's Merkel heads to Greenland for talks on global warming

Represenative McNerney:
Bipartisan Science Committee trip to Greenland

Senator Sanders:
Trip to Greenland and the Sanders/Boxer Bill

Jose Manuel Barroso:
EU president calls for action against climate change during visit to Greenland

From President Barosso's visit:

/images from p-013000/p-013032-00-22
View of the ice floe

/images from p-013000/p-013032-00-11
José Manuel Barroso, on the right, and his wife, Margarida Sousa Uva