Hillary Clinton urges tougher controls on South Pole tourists
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Independent Minds
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Washington wants tighter controls on tourism in Antarctica to prevent further environmental damage.
Speaking at conference of Antarctic and Arctic powers and polar experts, Mrs Clinton said more needed to be done to prevent further degradation of the environment around Antarctica caused by the increasing numbers of vessels going to the region. "We have submitted a resolution that would place limits on landings from ships carrying large number of tourists," she said. "We have also proposed new requirements for lifeboats on tour ships to make sure they can keep passengers alive until rescue comes," she added.
Tourism to the Antarctic has increased five-fold since the early 1990s as thousands of people cruise to see icebergs and wildlife.
Last year saw a record 46,000 visitors, the majority in cruise ships. There are growing fears that it is only a matter of time before the boom results in a major maritime disaster. In the last five years there have been four incidents involving cruise ships in the Antarctic of which the sinking of the MV Explorer was the most serious.
Tourism groups argue there is no evidence that tourism damages Antarctica and point to its good safety record until the sinking of the Explorer. Nevertheless, though many government and environmental critics agree that tour operators have set themselves strict standards for operating in the area, they fear it is only time before disaster strikes.
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Comments
Humans are at the point as a species where we have a choice; either learn to cooperate with each other or face extintion from the planet. It's that simple. All mother nature has to do is change the magnetic poles, create some volcanoes blowing up, or severe storms and 90% of us are gone in a instant. Global warming or new ice age, it's all the same thing. When the planet warms and the artic and antartic ice begins to go, the melted water goes into the ocean and moves oceanic streams which affect weather. If the gulf stream moves east, most of the eastren and middle atlantic states and europe will be in ice, thus your ice age.
What a shame that we are so caught in a materialistic world that we have lost our ability to connect with nature, the universe or each other, or anything outside of our selfish selves. We are destroying our planet and ourselves and are unconscious spiritually, no matter how many times we claim Jesus as Lord. We will not listen to the wisdom of others who have come before us and are more spiritually conscious than we are. Jesus was a man of wisdom and truth who preached and died as a man of peace, but his teachings have been so polluted by man made doctrine/dogma that it now has little left of what he taught and little if any value except political and spiritual control in a material world gy the organized churches.
It's time for mankind to grow spiritually, become awake/mature, overcome outdated chimp tribal thinking or be done with. Humans have faced a number of extinctions in history accoring to the achients, at least five or six. Mother nature will keep a balance regardless of what we think or what we do. It is our arrogance to think we can get away with this rape of the planet without there being consequences. It is our collective ego and denial that refuses to do anything about it.
Let the learned understand...
Sholom,
Tzehanyahu
from taxpayers, restrict liberty, create a police state, but let's save
the fragile South Pole from tourists!
Antarctica is a powerful machine that does not need any saving.
It can produce ferocious weather that no man can acclimate to.
190 mph winds and 90 degrees below 0.
There is no end to Antarctica. It goes on.. and on.. and on.. and on.