Module VI

How are the Earth, atmosphere and cultures all connected?

EXPLAIN: Dangerous pollutants accumulate in the Arctic due to the fact that cold air sinks. I know this even from my own house- if both thermostat zones are set to the identical temperature, the upstairs will inevitably be a couple degrees warmer. Unfortunately for the Arctic, this means that once pollutants find their way North, they will become trapped. High pressure and low pressure systems catch the pollutants from Asia and Europe and pull them into the Arctic. In the video Arctic Haze, an Alaskan Native elder reports that the sky used to be blue, but now is white. I live on the top of a mountain in Eagle River with a view of Anchorage and can attest to the fact that often in the winter a dull brown haze hangs over much of Alaska's biggest city, unfortunately the victim of the world's industry.

EXTEND: The video Contaminants in the Arctic Food Chain points out that herbiverous animals at the bottom or middle of the food chain tend to have low levels of PCB's. However, those animals at the top of the food chain have much higher levels. This is the result of PCB accumulation in fat. When carnivores, like polar bears, eat animals like caribou, they ingest the PCB's. This adds to the PCB's already in their body from the environment.

Because human breast milk is extremely high in fat, this would mean that infants breastfed in populations with high PCB levels would ingest large doses of the contaminants from their mother's breast milk. I would be interested to see a study on infant health with babies breastfed in a control environment, those with high levels of PCB's and babies fed on formula. I like to think breastfeeding would still be more beneficial than formula, regardless of the PCB levels.

EVALUATE: I honestly can't guess what the responsibilities of industrial nations contributing to Arctic pollution should be. I know that often in the Anchorage area we are told the haze is due to pollutants from China, and sometimes Russia. My thought is that this would be extremely hard to prove to demand restitution from those countries. Perhaps a better idea would be to make clean energy more profitable and encourage those countries to make the transition from fossil fuel based industries to wind, solar, and geothermal power. However, as America has yet to make that transition, it would be hypocritical of us to expect it of others.

And now for the awards!

BEST DESIGN: Dave's Explore Alaska Blog
BEST LINKS: Geo Integrations
BEST WRITING: Life in Alaska

Image from River Daughter.