The Arctic - Drawing lines in melting ice

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9660012

Reading Report 26

Title: The Arctic - Drawing lines in melting ice
Source: http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9660012
Date: Aug 16th 2007


Vocabulary:
Swathe: an enveloping bandage
Seabed: The floor of the sea or the ocean
Icebound: obstructed or shut off by ice
Foray: a quick raid, usually for the purpose of taking plunder
Cacophony: a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds
Trodden: to set down the foot or feet in walking
Hobbled: to impede; hamper the progress of
Preclude: to prevent the presence, existence, or occurrence of; make impossible
Retorts: To reply, especially to answer in a quick, caustic, or witty manner
Tiff: a slight fit of annoyance, bad mood, or the like
Gravel: small stones and pebbles, or a mixture of these with sand
Intractability: not easily controlled or directed; not docile or manageable

Summary:
The Artic is becoming a fashionable destination for tourism. The problem comes when the different countries want to gain possession over it. It is well known the richness of this region, but thanks to the soil’s intractability, this remains safe from exploitation. Nevertheless, day by day The Artic is melting down, which would make possible for the fishing industry to go deeper, and make it a profitable area due to its many resources.


Personal Reaction:
It’s a quite sad image the one that shows a humongous greed over the planet’s virgin soil. Sometimes I cannot believe the way in which the different countries go to war over a piece of land, over its richness. Greed is a capital sin. I wonder why it has become a common disease nowadays.
Sadly enough, I believe that some day in this race of conquer, the biggest countries will end up destroying some parts of the planet for the sake of their own interests. The part that they won’t be able to set their flags on, will be destroyed to avoid someone else’s ownership. I hope the already mentioned greed doesn’t end up killing the beautiful place in which we are living.
Also by exploiting virgin soil, I think we are running out our own resources for future generations. This is closely related to the fact that these countries are drying out all their reservoirs which feed them, and they’ll only realise about the huge damage when it’s too late to revert such consequences.