Going for gold via the Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage fascinates sailors everywhere. Ice previously made the route impassable, but that's changed. Last September, two German vessels made history by becoming the first commercial ships to travel from East Asia to Western Europe using the Northwest Passage between Russia and the Arctic. "There was virtually no ice on most of the route," Captain Valeriy Durov told the BBC. "Twenty years ago, when I worked in the eastern part of the Arctic, I couldn't even imagine something like this."

The passage could be a gold mine for the commercial shipping industry, opening up a much shorter and cheaper route from Asia to Europe. But for environmentalists, the news is a sign that climate change may have reached a point of no return.

Scientists say that the Arctic might be largely ice-free during the summer within the next decade. The consequences could be increased flooding in coastal regions around the world. Another result is likely to be geopolitical tension. The newly opened route would bring more business to Russia's eastern ports, and Moscow has already placed its flag beneath the Arctic ice, staking a claim to the natural resources there, much to the annoyance of other states. With the race for the riches of the Arctic heating up, even peaceful Canada has been holding war games to prepare for possible military confrontation.