A four-man crew is embarking today to row through the Northwest Passage in about 80 days. The feat has been made possible by global warming, which has freed Arctic waterways of more ice than ever.
The rowers hope to draw attention to the effects of climate change, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
In 2007, however, U.S. scientists reported that the Northwest Passage was completely free of ice for the first time since satellite tracking began in 1978.
Climate Change Enables A Summer-Long Rowboat Trip Through The Northwest Passage | Popular Science
This is what their ice-free route looked like yesterday.
Steve, is the wind blowing on shore?
never mind…I see it is…you can see the ice pulling away from the leeward side of Banks Island
If they can row through there in February then I’ll take heed of their warm-mongery. Until then they are full of crap.
Did the rowers certify that they are 100% carbon free in their lives or are they just corporate shills like Al Gore pretending to care when they are only interested in PR for some green rent seeking corporation?
Check out their website . . This is a pure commercial venture and these guys plan to monetize their excellent adventure with books and movies and speaking tours.
Such good little greenies.
I think it’s just four guys…into extreme sports…..thought this would be really cool…and figured out a way to have someone else pay for it
That is about it! It is Summertime so they want to Party On OPM!
And this is much of what Progtards are all about: Arrogant, parasitic self indulgence.
Normal members of the Chicken Little Brigade and their wannabe followers!
I suspect they typo’d in the report. It should have said, “towing”. I hope they enjoy towing their way across the ice for most of the 250 mile trek.
They are still a very long way from the Ocean, and he trendline on arctic ice is heading south just as it did last year. Maybe by the time they get to the Ocean, the ice will have melted enough for them to squeeze through near the shore.
They’ll need hovercraft to get through. 80 days puts them into late September. And it’s gonna get cold quickly then. Poor guys. I hope they survive. Plenty of boat people have died this year already especially in the Indian Ocean. They don’t want to end up a statistic.
F**k ’em I say. I hope these bastards get jammed up in ice and their frozen solid preserved stiffs make the headlines the world over.
At best this is a publicity seeking circus act. We have no way of knowing how they will rig this game.
Kissing toe
I tried to find the blog for these guys in the Vancouver Sun….and failed. I did find an article there however which mentioned that the NW passage crossing has been done several times and at least as far back as 1903.
Article gone.
The Mackenzie empties a lot of warmish water into the Beaufort sea this time of year, they might be OK till they get past Tuk, but look out after that.
http://lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r05c02.2013183.aqua.250m
If they were in the water today (which they aren’t) they’d have quite a bit of open water, and still some areas where they should be hugging the coast. These should be melting out by the time they arrive in those locations. 100% concentration of MYI? Not so much…
I have an idea for you David.
They have a map on their web site showing that the Beaufort Sea and NW passage are ice free. Why don’t you go over there and complain to them about wildly misrepresenting the state of Arctic ice, rather than counting angels on the head of a pin over here.
BTW : Next time you lie about things I didn’t say, you are gone.
Maps.google.com also shows the Arctic to be ice free. I suppose it makes sense if you are trying to show routes, not current conditions. If they were going to include ice, what extent should they show? It is a static image, but the ice is constantly changing, especially during these months of the year.
I understand their sponsor – Mainstream Renewables has put up $250,000 for this trip. Mainstream are a green wind and solar company but privately held. They’ve been selling private investments in govt subsidized renewable power. Nothing is finished yet despite promises to have been up and running last year. Being private their finances are not on the record, (lucky for them) as in the last couple of years the publicly listed green companies were the absolute worst market performers as scrutiny of the books showed little hope for real financial returns.
With Germany and the UK re-thinking their renewable subsidies, we’ll see if they survive in economic reality. That would leave Obama as the last big handout.
mikegeo,
” publicly listed green companies were the absolute worst market performers” Really? I wonder how many more public green companies will under perform on the way to the number 1 position?
Electricity generated from renewable energy is expected to grow by 40 percent over the next five years, and may surpass natural gas to become the world’s second-largest power source by 2016, according to the latest projections from the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report, released Wednesday, the Paris-based IEA said renewables such as wind, solar, and biothermal will comprise a quarter of the world’s energy mix by 2018, up from 20 percent in 2011. If the projections hold true, renewables would be second only to coal as the world’s leading source of electricity.
The agency attributed much of this growth to an overall decline in costs — particularly for wind and solar technologies — though it urged industrialized nations to continue investing in cleaner sources of energy. According to the report, countries outside of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are expected to account for 58 percent of renewable energy generation by 2018, up from 54 percent in 2012.
Projections and what-ifs! Just more BS to fool the gullible fools like TOO! The EU is getting out of the phony renewable business because it makes no sense to waste money they no longer have. If wind and solar were such a money making proposition they could do with out the government subsidies. These companies are going out of business with government funding! By 2018 most of the solar panels and turbines will be out of service due to malfunction and poor quality products.
miked,
These are business projections for the energy sector — you know, those type of projections which tell governments, stockholders and companies where to invest their money and resources.
That 2018 solar panel and wind turbine projection of yours is very interesting. Where I can I read more on it?
@TOO
Never take the word of these bureaucratic bastards.
Often they’ll quote nameplate capacity as opposed to actual generation. And often they’ll quietly include hydro in their numbers.
Considering the numbers of coal fired power stations China and India are building each year, I can’t see how those numbers stack up. (Even Germany is building coal fired PSs to get away from nuclear)
Baa Humbug,
If you dont trust the numbers, why don’t you see what the other side is saying? Here is the report as written on the World Oil website: http://www.worldoil.com/IEA_report_Renewables_to_surpass_gas_by_2016_in_the_global_power_mix.htm
@TOO
Why did you bother to link the WorldOil site when all it does is present the IEA report without comment of their own?
The same document reported on 2 sites lends it more credibility?
By the way, interesting to read that “renewables” except hydro is estimated to reach just 8% by 2018, a far cry from the 25% total renewables.
I stress again, there is a big difference between power actually generated and nameplate capacity. have you checked which of these the numbers represent?
Also, is it surprising that renewables are on the increase considering the heavy subsidies they get? Given enough subsidies and red/green tape passes, I reckon we can get the old horse n cart to reach 8% too.
But how many coal fired power stations have they replaced? Have global temperatures dropped due to these renewables?
Yes Baa Humbug,
It does lend more credibility. If an industry website that, is direct competition with renewable energy for power generation, posts the report on its website, then I would expect they believe the report has validity.
Furthermore, if the report, itself, is generated by an orginization (IEA) founded in response to the 1973/4 oil crisis in order to help countries co-ordinate a collective response to major disruptions in oil supply and whose stated aim is energy security, economic development, and engagement worldwide, I would think that they would now a thing or two about power generation.
But hey, like you say, they are bureaucratic bastards.
IEA is a government funded propaganda promoter. Just another way to spend your money and increase government jobs. As I said before the only reason those reports are generated is to promote people like you feeling good about being ripped off. The numbers look impressive but solar and wind are more environmentally destructive watt for watt produced during the operating life of the generating equipment than the dirtiest form of energy generation. That is from clearing the ground to erect the structure to getting the energy to the end user. The decommissioning the generator / converter.
I guess the IEA fooled you into believing their sales pitch. It is like believing our own Department of Energy.
miked,
What I enjoy so much from all your comments is the free and breezy style you have. It must be so liberating to be able to say anything at all without having to be constrained by proof or evidence.
TOO at least I am not repeating the latest sales pitch from the renewable rip off artists.
miked,
Yes there are few companies in the world more benevolent than the multinational oil and coal companies.
They are some of the groups pushing the AGW scam as it means more money for them.
Miked,
I hear the Salvation Army and the Boy Scouts of America are in on it as well.
They’ve got 3 chances: Buckleys, fuckall and none. Shame they didn’t try and kill themselves a few years back when there was less ice.
I like Marc’s coverage of rowers are bringing a shotgun to kill polar bears:)
If they have need to shoot to preserve their health, they better not hit bone, especially with a measly 2.75″ 12 gauge slug…
Let’s all play “Spot the difference” again shall we? Firstly this year versus last year:
http://www.arctic.io/split-zoom/2012-07-02;2013-07-02/0.282748963;0.388174811;4.726015548
then yesterday versus the day before:
http://www.arctic.io/split-zoom/2013-07-01;2013-07-02/0.282748963;0.388174811;4.726015548
What’s your prognosis?
Jim,
Where exactly am I looking at?
It’s such a shame we can’t include images in comments here?
If the arctic.io links work the same for you as they do for me you should be looking in the same place as the image at the top of the thread. The gap between Banks Island and the mainland, AKA the Amundsen Gulf, AKA “the ice-free route” of our intrepid adventurers.
Hi Jim,
Compared to last year, the melting is obviously far less. Last year the Beaufort in front of the Mackenzie River was already green with algal blooms, and the southern part of the NWP clear for quite a ways, shore to shore. However, the ice in the various channels of the CAA looked more solid. That ice this year is colored an amazing blue, with a crackling pattern visible in it.
For rowing, it seems that they won’t be going down the center of the channel, but so what? It does look like they will have water ahead of them at each stage.
“T.O.O says:
July 3, 2013 at 1:57 pm
miked, What I enjoy so much from all your comments is the free and breezy style you have. It must be so liberating to be able to say anything at all without having to be constrained by proof or evidence.”
“T.O.O says:
July 3, 2013 at 3:35 pm
Miked, I hear the Salvation Army and the Boy Scouts of America are in on it as well.”
Not surprising, coming from someone with multiple personality disorder, and a doomer complex. 😆