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April 23, 2008

Cold rush

One of the greatest concerns facing ocean activists is the potential opening of the Northwest Passage from Greenland to the Chukchi Sea as Arctic ice continues to recede, leading to more oil and gas development and increased shipping traffic.Here, however, is a different kind of northwest passage: in a testament to human endurance, Lynne Cox swam portions of the passage amidst icebergs while wearing just a regular Lycra swimsuit. You can read about it in this week’s New Yorker. Curiously, Cox finds herself thinking of “the frozen waterways that were now opening up to exploration” as “so tempting.” I tend to think of them as harbingers of the global warming that is rapidly changing our earth’s landscape, but then again, I don’t share Cox’s risk-taking personality.