I know some of you may be disappointed by a return to the despondent and depressed Josh, but I do try and keep a bit of variety. Just keep in mind my last two posts: a greener Google and a larger, more efficient wind farm. Keep those in mind as we discuss the top end of our planet.

There’s no need to rehash what we already know. The Arctic is melting. It’s a fact that we are going to have to come to grips with. Shipping lanes are being changed, animals and natives are being displaced, and ice is disappearing faster than my friends when I attempt to swing the conversation away from bodily functions to politics.

So it’s no surprise to see five of the nations likely to be hardest hit up north — Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland — come together and issue a cry for help.

"The Arctic and the world cannot wait any longer," environmental ministers from the five nations said in a joint statement after talks in Oslo. "The climate is hurtling towards a turning point after which irreversible processes will have been set in motion."

The Arctic thaw to which they are referring is blamed on heat-trapping gasses emitted by the use and burning of fossil fuels, according to the U.N. Climate Panel.

The five Nordic nations fear that we are closing in on, if we haven’t already passed it, a point of no return. A point in our history’s timeline where once we cross it, there is nothing we can do to reverse the damages that global warming will wreak on our planet.

The five nations also urged other nations to accept a new Kyoto-style agreement before the end of 2009. With only a month to go before many of the world’s nations meet in Bali, Indonesia, to discuss such a plan, this cry for help can only bolster the efforts of people like Al Gore and organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They asked these leaders to agree on "tangible measures to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases."

And though Norway is the fifth highest exporter of oils, the Norwegian Environment Minister Erik Solheim defended their outspoken words on global warming. "We have a special responsibility to be at the technological forefront…" he said, of curbing pollution from oil.

And if the cries of help aren’t enough to underscore the problem at hand, a recent scientific discovery should at the very least bolster the issue.

An inadvertent benefit — loosely termed of course — of global warming is the unearthing of oil and gas reserves in the Arctic Circle. The United States, Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Iceland are all vying for further control of the north, so that access to these valuable resources can be safely secured.

Stories have abound over the northern summer, with Russian ministers, Canadian and Denmark ice-breakers and US submarines all traversing the Arctic seas as if it was a debutante ball. The latest such story is that of a rocky outcropping that was spotted in July of this year.

Located of the coast of Greenland — a territory of Denmark – the outcropping dubbed Stray Dog West is further evidence in Denmark’s eyes of legal claim to the North Pole. For a long time, the search for the northernmost point of land has consumed these Arctic residents, in efforts to narrow down ownership.

Russia has attempted to assert its right by evidence of undersea ledges and plates, extending from the Russian motherland. But the answer may not be undersea… at least, not for long.

"This little island could have a wide international significance," said Stefan Talmon, professor of international law at Oxford University in Britain. "With the ice melting, more and more of these islands could emerge and play a role in maritime delimitations."

The basic scientific goal is to prove that the seabed is a natural extension of one’s own land territory. If this is managed, then that country immediately acquires all right to exploit the natural resources found therein.

"Five potential claim areas have been identified off the Faroe Islands and Greenland, potentially including the North Pole," says Denmark’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The planting of the Russian flag on the seabed at the theoretical North Pole angered officials in Ottawa and Washington. Canada has since announced that they will be mapping the entirety of their seabed, with plans to later build a deep sea port. The hope is to have patrol boats within ranging distance of the eastern entrance to the fabled Northwest Passage, the same passage that, for the first time in recorded history, has become open to travel.

Denmark’s attempt to use Stray Dog West as their foothold in the Arctic all comes down to one tiny issue: whether it is an island or a rock. If it is just a rock — proven by whether it manages to stay above high tide or not — then there are no obligatory fishing rights. As it is only 12 feet above sea level at the moment, rising waters may do in the Danish claims.

The Arctic. For so long it has been — to me at least — a fabled geographical location, like my closer neighbor the Antarctic. But now, just as I’m passing in to a life of hard work, it seems to be disappearing right beneath our proverbial feet. All the more reason to act I say, if for no other reason than for Michael Palin to make a second Pole to Pole journey!

ENN — Nordic nations sound alarm over melting Arctic

MSNBC — Rocky outcrop surfaces in Arctic tug-of-war

Photo Credit — Jeff Shea / Reuters