Arctic Ice Shrinking...Is This a Good Thing?

According to a recent Associated Press article and other news stories, arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest levels on record, raising the possibility that the northwest passage (Canada, Alaska, and Greenland), will become an "open shipping lane." I am shocked that the news slant of this recent story is on new possibilities for shipping, when what we really should be concerned about is the rapid rate of global warming. What's the point of shipping anything if no one is alive to receive it? I doubt that the tradeoff of less polution is enough to make this new routing environmentally worthwhile, particularly when you consider the potential damage for oil spills and the harm to our natural resources. At least one Norwegian researcher is quoted as saying: “Shorter transport routes means less pollution if you can ship products from A to B on the shortest route,” he said, “but the fact that the polar ice is melting away is not good for the world in that we’re losing the Arctic and the animal life there.”

What do you think about this growing problem, and how can we change the media focus?