New Continent?

Discussion in 'Earth Science' started by Eman Resu, Jan 31, 2004.

  1. Eman Resu Registered Senior Member

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    I saw the title ... CNN ... Is Antarctica the "last" frontier?

    Give me a break! Now we're using the media to usurp te resources of the uninhabited continent(s)?

    Where on this planet does this game end?
     
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  3. sargentlard Save the whales motherfucker Valued Senior Member

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    It doesn't. As long as we exist it doesn't end.
     
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  5. machaon Registered Senior Member

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    Give me a break! Now we're using the media to usurp te resources of the uninhabited continent(s)?

    Uh, I'm sorry Eman Resu. I did'nt realize you were using Antartica. I will put it back right away.
     
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  7. Rappaccini Redoubtable Registered Senior Member

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    Is there really anything there to use?
     
  8. Ozymandias Unregistered User Registered Senior Member

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    The penguins, of course. We will harness their brute power to drive our machines. Or just use them as indentured servants.*evil laughter*

    Just don't tell the penguins. They're still oblivious.
     
  9. Hastein Welcome To Kampuchea Registered Senior Member

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    Antarctica is atually a huge tourist attraction, beleive it or not. People are profiting a lot off of it already.
     
  10. Tristan Leave your World Behind Valued Senior Member

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    Im sure there is tons of resources below the like 1/2 mile thick sheet of ice on top. Not to mention, because its a frozen wasteland, actually its technically a Desert, that alot of things could be frozen in the ice. Expeditions are always there looking for meteorites that have come from Mars. There is value there, we just have to find where.
     
  11. Rappaccini Redoubtable Registered Senior Member

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    1,192
    Drilling through an unthinkably thick ice-sheet in order to grab a few goodies?

    Sounds like reaching through your legs to scratch your back, if you ask me, but you don't have to... don't feel pressed.
     
  12. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

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    How, exactly, is the media being used in this manner
    in your example? You are a little thin on details...

    :m: Peace.
     
  13. Princess Science Dork Registered Senior Member

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    Can you provide a link to this story?

    Also, I am curious what the natural resources are in Antartica.
     
  14. Eman Resu Registered Senior Member

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    My point - and not so many details - is that if this place is the Final Frontier it opens the door to every scientific nut to start drilling for anything and everything they can. If it ain't broke - don't fix it! We can't figure-out how to fix the things wrong with our current inhabited land masses so now we will try to conquer another - and undoubtedly fark it up. It's a lack of respect for Maw earth ... again ...

    This link isn't working (at least not for me and my antiquated machine) - but it does take you to the page at CNN where you should be able to access it ... Let me know if you can open the page ... Maybe someone more successful can post the article ...

    http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/CNN/Programs/presents/index.harsh.continent.html
     
  15. Princess Science Dork Registered Senior Member

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    I see your point. There's too much valuable science to be gleaned to open it up for commercialism.

    I doubt any commercial entity (oil company, mining company, etc.) would find it very profitable to work there. The climate is too extreme. There is times where there is no daylight. Transportation either by air or by water is too expensive and unpredictable. Not to mention there's a hell of a lot of ice sitting on top of it all. I doubt there's anything there that we can't get cheaper and easier elsewhere. (At least I hope that's the case.)
     
  16. did the math:
    land area of antarctica=5,100,000 sq miles
    bag of ice= 1.89
    5,100,000X1.89=alot of money
    those aren't oil tankers they're, ice tankers trust me

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  17. Princess Science Dork Registered Senior Member

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    173
    Damn! I should have thought about that.

    Don't let David Mayes know that you're talking about getting rid of the ice caps lest we both get a stern lecture about global warming.
     
  18. ScRaMbLe Chaos Inc. Registered Senior Member

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    Get your greasy mits and greedy eyes the fuck away from Antarctica.

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  19. Blindman Valued Senior Member

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    The worlds greatest desert ironically seen as the last frontier of the natural world.

    Give me a break. Of course ‘we’ will. Its called growth and unless your happy to move back to the dark ages you will have to put up with ‘our’ policies.

    There is no end. As long as the sun shines there will always be something to protest (opps protect).

    The green movement is an insecure pessimist that it seems, would only be happy if the human race was completely removed from the Earth.


    What I can’t even look.. I’m glad that Australia stands to hold the biggest piece of the pie.

    Ohh thinking about it.. Time for a little jig “Money money money…. Money money money..”
     
  20. ScRaMbLe Chaos Inc. Registered Senior Member

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    So am I. At least we wont build a theme park with little rubber penguins...
     
  21. Deadwood Registered Senior Member

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    Dude, let's get some more convicts on this piece of land first, then we'll think about Antarctica.

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  22. Blindman Valued Senior Member

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    DUDE... X divided by Y... Lets keep Y as low as possible.

    Live every day as if it is your last.
     
  23. Starthane Xyzth returns occasionally... Valued Senior Member

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    Please... that's too harsh. Most of the Greens would rather we simply lived in harmony with te Earth, maintaining our standard of living without exterminating other life forms - this cold be done, if mankind can achieve a stable population and appropriate technology.

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    As for Antarctica: there's immense edible biomass in the ocean surrounding it, and the bedrock beneath the ice sheets must contain some awesome mineral riches - just like other continents. If those minerals can be exploited economically (big if) , there would be no associated risk to the local ecosystem - because, with miles of pack ice above, there is no ecosystem.

    The fish, squid and other food in the Southern Ocean could be exploited far more than they are at present - yet still in a sustainable fashion. That's where the biggest risk lies, of course... in ensuring sustainability.
     

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