The ice caps are melting, see, hear or read anything about global warming and you are probably going to hear about it. Maybe there will be a picture of a polar bear stuck on a little lump of ice surrounded by vast expanses of water. Maybe it’ll show glaciers retreating up valleys. Now, here’s the thing. I am not a climate change denier; it is in fact an issue I care greatly about. However, when it comes to the loss of the ice caps in and of themselves, well, frankly I don’t give a damn.
Possibly I should explain this before all credibility is lost. The subsequent rise in sea levels resulting in widespread flooding, food shortages as fertile coastal land is lost, and mass migration of millions of displaced people is an incredibly important issue. As is the release of methane trapped under permafrost which has the capacity to massively exacerbate and accelerate global warming. As is the loss of some of the world’s largest freshwater reserves. As is the loss of Gulf Stream and its subsequent effect on the UK climate (ok I admit that one is more of a local than global issue for me but still, it is an issue). Those are all serious issues that will occur as a direct result of the ice caps receding.
The thing is that, to me, the ice caps are largely dead. Yes they are a landscape “unspoilt by man” but that is largely because they are so useless and difficult for life to exist in. I would far prefer a world where all that land was alive, either with the influence of man or not. It could make an abundance of farm land or provide habitats for countless more species of animals than it does now, or provide space to help alleviate humanity’s overcrowding problems. Any of those options is to me preferable to a large expanse of rock and ice where no plants grow and animals are sparse.
Another frequent problem of the ice caps melting is people hear “warmer winters” and think, ooh lovely. Hell, I’d actually agree with them, but then I have the circulation of a lump of basalt meaning that when the weather gets cold I basically lose the ability to use my hands for anything even remotely dexterous or to touch another human being without them recoiling from my icy touch.
Now, it would seem harsh to deflate this poster child of the environmental movement without offering up a counter, so here it is. What does concern me is not the reduction of the inhospitable ice caps but the spread of the inhospitable deserts. The Sahara is already expanding south at a rate of 30 miles per year and that is only going to increase as the planet heats up. Currently over 2 billion people live in the world’s dry lands, the areas at risk of desertification, and already 10-20% of those have undergone some form of degradation. Yes just like at the ice caps some organisms can survive in the desert as well, but that doesn't stop it from being an environment counter productive to the continuing survival of life.
With food shortages already happening can we really risk a further 40% of the earth’s land area turning into desert? This works on the personal level as well, those lovely warmer winters don’t sound so nice when the price for them is a summer of people dying in the tens of thousands across Europe from heat waves and water becoming a scarce commodity throughout the summer.
So next time you go to highlight the problems of climate change don’t necessarily lean on the old crutch of polar ice melting; because the creation of new hospitable land and warmer winters for all doesn't necessarily carry the same impact as the slowly spreading heat death of the planet.
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