“Take Action” or Face a Bleak Future, Warns Climate Scientist After Year of Trapped in Arctic Ice

Johannesburg, South Africa – A huge ship called the RV Polarstern spent 389 days slowly drifting across the Arctic, trapped in ice. It was a scientific mission of unprecedented magnitude, and the people who took part say their findings should serve as a warning that if action isn’t taken, humans all over the world will pay the price.

Just before setting sail over a year ago, Rhode Island native Dr. Alison Fong told CBS News that she and her colleagues at Polarstern were “looking to create a complete picture of what the Arctic was going to do in the years to come. ”

The image that has emerged of their makeshift ice labs and high-tech equipment isn’t pretty. It’s devastating evidence, say scientists, of a dying Arctic Ocean, where ice-free summers could become a reality within decades because of man. greenhouse gases warm the planet.

“As scientists, I think we need to be more candid about the crisis we see ahead of us,” Fong told CBS News. “We know that what we did caused the temperature and carbon dioxide on Earth to rise, causing warming, and warming causing the north and south to melt. And the loss of this ice, both in the north and in the south, causes major changes in how the climate works. ”

Scientists say that it feeds intensified forest fires in the United States, more severe hurricanes, and more extreme floods and droughts around the world.

The search team braved the polar bears, days of total darkness and isolation for months. In addition to the research conducted during the mission, they also brought ice samples home for further study.

But the world they returned to after more than a year locked in ice was very different. They left land before anyone heard of COVID-19, then returned to solid ground last month amid a pandemic.

“Some people think that maybe because of this focus on the global pandemic, we also cannot address the issues of climate and global warming. But they are not exclusive,” Fong said. “We are trying to do things. But the reality is that trying is not enough. We have to act.”

In part, this action boils down to what climate scientists and environmental activists have been calling for for years: to produce clean energy, recycle, recycle and consume less.

“But on another level, we have to speak up and influence those in positions of power so that they recognize that there is a reason to choose something different from what we have chosen over the past 50 to 100. years, ”Fong said. “The choices we need to make about how we support humanity must be different.”

She believes it will take different choices on this scale, nationally and internationally, to help end the damage to our warming world.