Posts Tagged ‘Antarctica Cruise’
March 26th, 2010
Antarctica and all of its emperor penguins, leopard seals, blue whales, and towering mountains have been set aside for protection under international agreements. This agreement was enacted in 1998, and makes mining and drilling on one the of the globe’s most frigid areas for natural resources illegal for a period of 50 years.It has been agreed that this continent be used for conservation and science, not for development.Dogs and pesticides are prohibited by these policies, including other threats to the wildlife.
The agreement in question is titled the Environmental Protection Protocol to the Antarctica Treaty.Essentially, this means that all of the countries in the world have agreed to set aside one area that is not commercialized or industrialized.Approval was gained in 1991 by the twenty-six leading countries having scientific interests in the area, including the United States, Russia, China, India, Japan, Argentina, Brazil and most of the main European countries.To find antarctica travel adventures information see this resource.
The treaty stopped the arguing that was going on for more than 15 years about regulating the area.The rules banned oil drilling and mining. It requires that the nations who run Antarctica’s 35 scientific research outposts clean out their garbage dumps.The scientific outposts and cruise ships are prohibited from the disposal of raw sewage into the sea around Antarctica.
When the first person to reach the South Pole, Roald Amundsen, got there in 1911, he got around the continent with sled dogs.The accord, however, prohibits any dogs on the continent, as penguins and other native fowl have been killed by pets belonging to researchers.Pesticides, polystyrene packaging, and non-sterile soil are also forbade.
The land is beneath an ice layer which averages one mile in thickness and supports only limited plant life, such and moss and grasses close to the shoreline.Almost three-quarters of the Earth’s fresh water is in the Antarctic ice.Many kinds of sea life also live in or near Antarctica.If you want more comprehensive info on adventure antarctica tours that site will help you.
Antarctica is a very fragile ecosystem.With its air temperature continuously below zero, any growth is extremely slow.Recovering from trauma can take years.You might see the same footprint you left ten years ago still around today.
The original treaty, which was signed in 1959, also banned any military activity and nuclear testing near the Arctic area. In addition, it decreed that Antarctica did not belong to any one country, and made stipulations for land use.No one nation can claim all of Antarctica but every inch is claimed some country.
Once scientists learned in the early 1980’s that oil, coal, gold, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, uranium and more were present in and around Antarctica, environmental entities started to pressure their governments for regulation of land use.During the energy crisis of the 1970s, some companies began discussions on the feasibility of drilling in Antarctica.With the price of oil going up and technology becoming more advanced, it’s possible that further interest will be felt.
Each of the 26 nations involved will enforce the rules on their own.If the country’s government refuses to intervene when its citizens violate the rules, the other nations would apply pressure to solve the issue.This agreement has been considered a success story for the environment by a lot of people.
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March 17th, 2010
Antarctica is a one of a kind land that is both beautiful and brutal.It remains the only continent in the world that has never seen the face of war.However, even though Antarctica encompasses a larger area than the United States and Europe together, violent deaths are more common that those by natural causes, as the temperatures are too low to accommodate most germs.
Today Antarctica is a place where people from various countries, and conflicting political views, can come together to work in harmony, warmth, and comfort, while outside the labs are temperatures of 100 degrees below which could kill them within seconds.This cold land produces one of the more voracious appetites where Americans can consume four whole meals a day and not see any weight gain whatsoever due to the low temperatures.
Also, a special type of illness called the “Big Eye” afflicts many of the population. Due to the long days and 3-am sunshine, many people find it very difficult to sleep.Bombastically the people who live in the Antarctic claim the rights to being part of the 300 Degree Club.It holds claim to the cheapest and southernmost bar on the planet, located at the South Pole. Here it is possible to get a 12 year old scotch or a cognac for the same exact price and still have a huge bar tab by the time you are ready to leave.The nights end in September. Why a month instead of an hour count? That’s because the night’s begin in April.antarctica cruise adventures
Even though the heartland of this continent has a 9,000-foot shield of moving ice, it is believe to hold enough oil, gas, and coal to heat the entire world.Lacking most laws, ones that it does have is quite peculiar, not a single fugitive could be arrested. If capable of surviving such harsh environments and temperatures a criminal would have massive valleys and mountain ranges to hide in.
Even though it has such a lack of laws, Antarctica actually has the lowest rate of crime out of any continent on the world.Even if a murder had been preformed in Antarctica, it has not once been prosecuted, so who knows exactly what happens there.No international laws or treaties are in place to stop a murderer, anywhere on this vast land.Recommended Antarctica Cruises
Even though more than ten nations work in the Antarctic, no one actually owns any of the continent.No effort to establish a long term colony in this primitive land has yet been mounted, and even so, the South Pole is home to the most complex scientific instrumentation and computers.
Even though they are only temporary, its inhabitants account for the greatest per capita IQ on earth.As a matter of fact there are more people on this continent that have university degrees than simple high school diplomas.The scientific knowledge on the continent exceeds that of any university, and the climate of the research is more peaceful than can be found in any capital on earth.Unlike any other land mass in the world, no nuclear experiments of any kind can take place on this continent.
It has the most stringent environmental protection of all the land masses.Because of the slaughtering that both sealers and whalers did nearly a century ago, you need a special type of licenses in order to kill animals.Present day Antarctica is the playground of the world’s top scientists who are strenuously involved in keeping it pristine.
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February 8th, 2010
A hundred years ago or so, a whaling ship known as the Antarctic came to a halt off the volcanic, wind-battered coast and sent one of their longboats through the through the rough ocean of the Ross Sea to reach the shore.On January 24, 1895, Captain Leonard Kristensen and the landing party of the “Antarctic” left the first trace of human kind on the frozen continent in their quest to slaughter whales in these, as yet, unclaimed waters.
Antarctica proceeded to be baptized with blood.While seals were being slaughtered for their fur, whales and penguins were being killed for their oil which was then used to grease the machinery developed during the Industrial Revolution.It was on Macquarie Island that countless penguins were rounded up and forced up planks that lead into large pots of boiling oil so that they would fall in and add their own oil to the mix.
However, after 100 years of journeys to this Frozen Continent, humans have decided to stop using it to make a quick buck by killing the animals and have chosen to make Antarctica into a preserve of nature and science.There is even discussions about making a world park on this continent.For science, Antarctica serves as a base for studying pollutant threats that affect the whole world, including ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect.The change to preservation was extraordinarily fast when you think about how short of a time people actually spent exploring Antarctica.Small areas of the coastline, some trails to the South Pole and a few islands were explored up until 1958.antarctic cruise
From the very first, the appearance of men on this continent has resulted in a convoluted story of nationalism, aggression, idealism, and unchecked slaughter, with sporadic, cavalier attempts toward scientific research.Whaling was stepped up in World War I, as refined oil was used to make glycerin for artillery shells.Jet engines required extra-fine oil as a lubricant, which led the Americans and Soviets to seek out sperm whales after World War II.Up until the IGY, the majority of Antarctica was still known as “Terra Australia Incognita,” which is the name given this theoretical southern continent by the medieval map makers.
Antarctica’s first native birth has only recently reached adulthood, the birth itself having international repercussions.As a matter of fact, Emilio Marcus Palmer was born at Argentina’s Esperanza Base in 1978, where his mother was brought for the sole purpose of emphasizing Argentina’s claim to this area of Antarctic territory.antarctic cruise reviews
This was similar to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon nine years earlier and placing the American flag on the moon as a symbol of its dominance. Norway’s Roald Amundsen 1911 race to the South Pole was done explicitly to honor King Haakon VII, and make a direct claim on the territory.For the honor of the British Empire, a similar trek was made by Robert F. Scott and a team of explorers, who themselves, collected and physically hauled rock and fossil samples employing the use of sledges.
It is believed that between the discouragement felt when they found out that Amundsen reached the Pole a month sooner, eating a poor diet, having to haul the rocks and fossils, and utter bad luck caused Scott and his team to perish on the return trip, making them the first people to die in Antarctica for the sake of science.America was able to claim interest in the South Pole when Richard Byrd flew over it in 1929 in a Ford Trimotor airplane.In 1821, the soviets utilized Russian Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen’s voyage passed Antarctica in 1821 to justify their interests in the continent.
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