China, Russia aren’t putting plans to exploit Antarctica’s resources on ice

New York continues to slowly open up after being the nation’s hottest of COVID-19 hotspots while the incidence in Brazil spikes, and cases explode in Latin America and South Asia.

There is one place, however, that has been far from infections and safe from the need for serology testing: Antarctica. It’s not exactly a holiday destination, but this continent is sparsely inhabited, plays an important global research role and, so far, is safe from nearly every disease known to man. If the hot zone is where disease can break out, the frozen zone of the South Pole is where human disease rarely ventures.

Antarctica, however, also happens to be the least hospitable place on Earth. That doesn’t mean that adventurers, researchers and nations stay away. In fact, it is an attractive continent for explorers who care to trek on pristine ice. It’s also a perfect laboratory for investigating geologic history, climate change and whales, and for filming cute movies about penguins. READ MORE

Coronavirus already has changed us for good — and, perhaps, for the better

Is human activity mainly responsible for global climate change? If so, we have just launched an unintentional worldwide experiment to see what happens when productive human activity comes to a screeching halt.

Given the downturn of economic productivity and a shelter-in-place reality for much of the world’s population, the negative effects are likely to outweigh anything positive. As we struggle to find any silver lining in the crisis, we might look to the dramatic reduction of belching factory smokestacks and fuming exhaust pipes. Mother Earth might suddenly and unexpectedly get a much needed and well-deserved rest.

All kinds of bad are happening as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The volatile stock market eats up 401k account balances. Jobs are lost. Social inequality is broadly exposed. Hospital beds are filled. People are dying.

What’s worse is that we are only beginning to feel the painful and lethal effects of this pandemic. There is no way to sugarcoat this. READ MORE

The Europeans have a different, darker Green New Deal

Continental elections last weekend gave anti-nuclear Green Parties a huge boost, installing the Greens into a European Parliament kingmaker role. As a result, the rest of Europe is likely to follow the lead of Germany’s environmental party and movement, turning further against civilian nuclear energy and, especially, against coal-fired plants. 

The effect will be not only to clean up local air, but also to hand over Europe’s hard-earned cash and hard fought independence to Russia — a nearby nation with abundant and available natural gas. Tragically, a Europe without nuclear power plants and absent dirty, polluting coal-fired plants is a geopolitically weakened Europe dependent on Russia. READ MORE

Think doomsday scenarios are just some film fantasy? Think again.

Security threats do not always come from a determined adversary or sworn enemy. What if, like in the age of dinosaurs, we faced an external threat? A huge, hurtling meteor, for example, that could destroy most life on Earth as it did 66 million years ago?

It’s a scary thought to contemplate this early in the new year, but the question of whether we humans could deal with a real and credible global threat to our species is both timely and real. 

Global threats, however, just aren’t very high up on today’s worldwide political agenda, where nationalism is on the rise - whether Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda or Xi Jinping’s “Made in China 2025” domination strategy.

But what happens if - or when - the entire Earth’s existence is threatened? If a meteor is hurtling toward this blue marble of a planet and only collective action and coordinated efforts can save humanity? When dollars can’t buy you out of a survival fix and opposing militaries can’t fight for primacy in a world left for ashes. READ MORE