The Ecologist  Arctic ice melt  Take action to stop oil
exploration in the Arctic Ocean (Image: Peter Prokosch/UNEP -
More articles about Related Articles  Arctic special TAKE ACTION
to stop Arctic oil drilling  Hannah Corr  19th October, 2011
Nowhere else on the planet are the effects of climate change
more visible than the Arctic Circle and the future of this
fragile eco-system rests a on a knife edge. The ice cap is
melting at an unprecedented rate, hunting and fishing has
reduced some species of marine life to near extinction and
habitat loss has displaced hundreds of polar bears and
indigenous people.   However, while the ice cap melts, oil
companies like Exxon Mobil and Rosneft are taking advantage of
the waters once covered by ice and are moving in to the Arctic
Circle in their search to drill for more oil – oblivious it
seems to the irony that the use of fossil fuels is responsible
for the melting in the first place.  Campaigners are concerned
that an oil spill in this area would be impossible to c