WEBVTT - CLASSIC: The Race to the Arctic: Who will control the poles? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:04.520 Whobody. Twenty nineteen was a different time, and in the 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:07.600 middle of that time, we are returning to you with 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:12.200 a classic episode, the Race to the Arctic. For a 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:17.160 long time, even now, technically the Arctic has been one 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:20.919 of those inaccessible regions of the world map. It's a 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:23.040 why would you go there kind of place. 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:25.400 Yeah, but there are a lot of countries that have 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.720 territory that head right up into the old Arctic. So 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.559 there are reasons to be up there, right. You got 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.479 to defend your space. You got to make sure nobody 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.320 else is coming up onto your lands and waters even. 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:45.320 And waters even, and you're underwater lands. Oh right. Because 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:50.000 when we were looking at this, the writing was already 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:52.680 on the wall. There was something already in the wind. 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:58.000 As the ice in the North Pole evaporates, we're looking 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:03.800 at the possibility of enormous profitable trade routes, billions upon 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:09.240 billions of dollars of freight transit, but also untold billions 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:13.080 of dollars of previously inaccessible resources. 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:18.080 Ooh, it's the raw stuff up there. Watch out, watch out. 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:22.880 People will do terrible things to get those sweet, sweet resources. 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.040 True story. Yeah, and when you tune into this one, folks, 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.200 please please reach out to us because we want to 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.360 know your thoughts. Who will control the Arctic? 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:39.840 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies, history is 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:44.240 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.280 learn this stuff they don't want you to know. 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.080 Welcome back to the show. My name is Matt Noel 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:03.120 Is on an adventure. 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.240 They call me Ben. We are joined with our super 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:11.120 producer Paul Michig, controlled decand and most importantly, you are you. 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.360 You are here that makes this stuff they don't want 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.320 you to know. On a previous episode, Matt Man, we 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:22.200 opened this show, you and I asking each other where 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:26.000 we would travel, if we could travel anywhere in the world. Yes, 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.919 and we you know, we don't talk about it too 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:35.240 explicitly on the air here, but we whether for work 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.840 or for other endeavors, we end up traveling like as 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.720 a group and as individuals more often than not. You 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:42.280 know what I mean? 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:46.320 Yes, correct, And I cannot remember the verdict or our 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.160 answers to the question of where we would travel. I'm 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.120 going to change mine now to Germany. I want to 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:52.840 go back to Germany. I just want to see what 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:53.560 that place is like. 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:55.040 You want to see what their whole thing is. 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.480 Yeah, I have a friend named Holger who lived with 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:58.640 us for a while who lives out there. 0:02:58.680 --> 0:02:59.560 I want to go visit him. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.600 That's great. It's always great to visit a country where 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:04.760 you have a connection with someone who lives there. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:05.799 Yes, exactly. 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.800 And you know, on other previous episodes, Man, we talked 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:10.639 about the shape of our planet. 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:14.200 We did? We did? Is that foreshadowy? 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:14.760 It is? 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.320 Well, just to you know, remind people that yes, this 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:22.680 is a large, spherical like structured planet, as most of 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.760 the planets are, at least the ones we've observed, and 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:29.240 that means that our planet has these two things on 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:30.639 it called poles. 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.200 Right, why would you go to the poles? In that 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:38.840 conversation that I've had about traveling anywhere on the world, 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.960 anywhere terrestrially, one of the questions I would get is 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.840 why on Earth would you want to go to the 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.200 North Pole? Or why on Earth would you want to 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:53.520 go to Antarctica. You know, it's a valid question. I 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:57.440 would say. One of the coolest things about going to 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:02.920 Antarctica is that so few people throughout human history have 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:04.760 ever made it there and returned alive. 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:06.280 There you go that's worth it. 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.640 So, you know, bragging rights neat little stamp on your passport, 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.280 which is very dodgy from a legal perspective. 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:16.640 Or maybe you just really enjoy the cold. 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:18.640 Or maybe you're just super into the cold. You know, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.680 sleeping in your fridge isn't cutting it anymore. It's true, Matt, 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.320 You're absolutely right. Planet Earth is very basic information. Planet 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:31.560 Earth has two poles, and they are both cold inhospitable 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:36.560 alien environments. These poles are places where human beings are 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:39.560 not built to be. To the far far north, we 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:43.200 have the Arctic surrounded by the Arctic Circle. To the 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:47.599 far far south, we have the continent of Antarctica. We've 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:52.000 done several episodes on Antarctica. I was surprised to remember 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:56.440 we did one. Let's see, what's our most recent one 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.560 we did? 0:04:58.600 --> 0:04:59.400 I couldn't tell you. 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:03.960 I know we've discussed several times the various attempts to 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:07.400 get to Antarctica and set up bases of oh yeah, 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:08.880 from the World Wars. 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.920 On, Yeah, what happens if there's a murder in Antarctica? 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:13.600 That was one of our most recent. 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.080 Ones, something yeah, something along that way. 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:20.320 And then my favorite one to date has been what's 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.000 beneath the Arctic Ice, which is one of the videos 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:24.120 on our YouTube channel. 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.680 That was a great one talking about this too, the 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.960 strange research that could be going on there, because that's 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:31.440 really all that happens there. 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.839 Right, or the lethal diseases that may just wake up 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.599 you know, there's something almost love craftying about it. But 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.159 for the bulk of human history, very very few people, 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.960 relatively few people have managed to visit these parts of 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.600 the world. Even fewer people have managed to visit these 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:54.799 parts of the world and return alive to tell the tale. 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:56.960 And you have to ask yourself, of course, it makes 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.600 sense that few people have managed to visit the Pollwyarth, 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:03.880 would you let's talk a little bit about the Arctic 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.440 and the Arctic Circle, which is going to be the 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:11.120 primary focus for today's show. The Arctic is a region 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.000 of the planet. It's north of the Arctic Circle, which 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:18.520 will define in a moment, and it includes the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:22.000 Bath and Island, other smaller islands in the north and 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:27.839 the very very northern areas of Europe, Russia, Alaska, and Canada. 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:33.200 That's right, And really when you're talking about the Arctic, 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.719 you're talking about stuff that is around the Arctic Ocean. 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:40.440 So there are several seas that are up there along 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:44.359 the Russian coast and several other bodies of water, but 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:49.280 it's really the Arctic Ocean up there. And you know, 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.800 there are really five nations that you're talking about if 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:54.839 you're talking about the Arctic Powers or the Arctic countries, 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.719 the controlling powers up there. You've got Russia, the United 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:03.320 States with Alaska, Norway, Denmark and slash, Greenland and Canada. 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:05.680 These are these are the people or the powers you're 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.120 talking about when you're when you're going to be discussing 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.600 maybe land rights and usage rights of that area. 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.560 And that's the that's by the narrowest definition of the 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:20.480 Arctic as a whole. Yes, just just top down Arctic 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:25.680 Ocean and the five closest nations around it. Yes, the 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.920 region has also been defined as the area above the 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:34.880 Arctic Circle. And in Russia this area is referred to 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:38.760 as something that translates to the High North. And if 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.800 we if we go by that definition, then we add 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:47.040 some other countries to the mix. Iceland, Sweden and Finland 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:51.080 also become Arctic Powers, even though they don't have a 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:54.800 coast on the Arctic Ocean. So these eight nations together 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.600 they form what's called the Arctic Council. 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.400 And they've got a great website you can check out 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:03.200 by the way they do the Arctic Council. It's an 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:05.240 arcticdh Council dot org. 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:08.080 What makes the website great, Matt. 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.520 It's very difficult to read because of the color choices 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:16.520 that they've made, but it's also it's got a lot 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.280 of cool information in there, and I don't know, just 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.600 check it out if you're interested in exactly what that is. 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:28.280 And when we talk about when we talk about the polls, 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.360 one thing that makes the Arctic Circle very, very different 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:37.400 from Antarctica is that this is pretty populated. I mean 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.440 sparsely populated, but pretty populated. There are about four million 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:45.400 people who live there. Of those four million people, about 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.280 half a Russian and this is still the case despite 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:54.200 the fact that living in the High North, living in 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.640 the High North of Russia is a rough life and 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:01.040 the area has been losing population for the several decades. 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.679 So we've mentioned the Arctic Circle. What is that It 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.840 is essentially an imaginary line. Our species has created it. 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:12.480 We all agree that that's a bully idea and so 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.640 we're going to keep it around. It's located at sixty 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:20.640 six point six degrees north latitude, and we use that 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.920 latitude as a way to define or demarcate the southernmost 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.800 part of the Arctic. Every part of the land and 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.559 sea within the Arctic Circle is very, very cold, and 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.160 historically speaking, much of it has just been covered with ice. 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:41.959 In addition to the temperature, just the regular weather sucks too. 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:43.000 Yeah, it really does. 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.040 If you see a picture of the Arctic Circle, why 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.880 it's called the Arctic Circle because that latitude makes this 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:52.200 really nice circle there, and the ice is the defining 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.400 factor that Ben is talking about here. If you're looking 0:09:55.520 --> 0:10:00.000 at an image of it from the top down, it's 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.440 it's a rough place. So in the midwinter months in 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.400 this area, the sun never really rises at all, It 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.559 just doesn't. You just don't have sun essentially, in Temperatures 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:12.120 stay very very low because of that, and then they 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.760 reach massive lows to about negative fifty degrees fahrenheit at 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.000 the higher latitudes in this region because you know, you 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.839 do have varying latitudes there, and then in the summer months, 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:24.920 like if you go a little bit further south, you 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:28.480 get twenty four hours of sunlight a day, and that 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.680 has a pretty big effect on that region because it's 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.679 going to melt all the sea. You know, the ice 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.199 that's coming up right that's being formed there from the 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.440 super cold region, and this is one of the main 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.080 reasons that icebergs end up breaking off from this like 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:49.360 frozen northern area and then floating south. And now this 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.160 right here is one of the big things we're going 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.640 to talk about later when it comes to the economics 0:10:55.640 --> 0:11:00.480 of this region and some of the the reasons powers 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.040 are fighting to control this region because of this ice. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.480 As it's melting from the north and goes south, you 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.200 can't it's very difficult to get ships through there. 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.400 And these these crushing temperatures. Just to put this in 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:19.000 perspective for everybody outside of what the United States, mianmar 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:26.920 and Namibia. Sure, negative fifty degrees fahrenheit is negative forty 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:32.560 five point five degrees celsius. So I hope that some 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:35.520 of us listening were like, negative fifty it's cold, but 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.240 what is that. I hope that really impacted you. We've 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:39.400 brought it over to Celsia. 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.720 Here are freezing temperatures where my hand is around my 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.199 chest and down there near the floor is where negative 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:46.599 fifty is. 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:52.839 Yes, yeah, that's great. You're absolutely right. The icebergs breaking off, 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.720 the rogue ice floating around, I call it rogue, but yeah, 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:00.640 really humans are the rogue element here. This stuff makes 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:06.720 it very difficult and dangerous to move ships through, to 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.360 move vessels across the water, or it has historically. That 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.520 has not stopped people from living in the Arctic Circle. 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.880 This is not new territory. There's not a brand new suburb. 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.480 People have lived there for thousands and thousands of years. 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.960 If we wanted a ballpark, we could say the earliest 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:27.760 people were around nine thousand years ago. It's an ancient land, 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.880 and while they have lived there, it hasn't been easy 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:34.439 to do so. It turned out that despite the thousands 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.160 of years of human civilization, admittedly sparse human civilization, but 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:42.959 human civilization nonetheless, no one actually reached the northernmost point. 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.360 No one reached the North Pole until the beginning of 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.760 the twentieth century, as far as we know. Officially, in 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.680 nineteen oh nine, a guy named Robert E. Perry became 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:55.880 the first documented human being to physically reach the North 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:00.719 Pole again, this brutal part of the world. He was not, 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.640 by any means the first guy to try it. He 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.240 was just the first to make it that we know of. 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:08.960 That's right and well. 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:13.120 And when we say that's what we know is because 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:18.440 this guy, Robert E. Piery Perry, Robert E. Perry, he 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:20.439 was well known to us. There were a lot of 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.120 other indigenous peoples that were living around this area far 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:27.360 before that, at least that we understand. So if you're 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.240 talking about the four million people that currently exist and 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.840 live there, you're talking about mostly Inuit, Sammy, and you 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:36.280 know people who live in. 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:42.320 Russia and navigating the Arctic because of the ice that 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:46.400 you mentioned, Matt, and because of the temperatures, it's incredibly 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:51.760 dangerous and potentially incredibly rewarding on a couple of fronts. First, 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:56.000 the realm of commerce, the ability to transport goods across 0:13:56.120 --> 0:14:00.720 this area of ocean can present tremendous economic advantage to 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:04.760 any nation or corporation controlling shipping routes. 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.960 Yeah, because you're also going to have problems navigating this 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:13.079 by air this area because of the temperature, sometimes because 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.280 of other issues that you're dealing with at the northern Pole. 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.840 So having a giant ship getting through the water with 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.400 all of the freight that it could carry, that would 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:28.280 be hugely advantageous. The other problem here is the realm 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.600 of military might, because if you could, let's say you're 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.920 Russia and you already have roughly fifty percent of the 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:39.240 surrounding land mass of the Arctic Circle, if you can 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.640 move forward and fully navigate the entire Arctic Ocean well 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:48.640 and easily, then it really changes something that we've mentioned 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:52.000 before over here called force projection, which is just having 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:56.120 the ability to have a ship with weapons on it 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:58.040 wherever you want it to be at any time. 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.960 And up until recently, the present of all that ice 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:07.560 made both of these goals thought exercises, you know what 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:13.400 I mean, hypothetical scenarios. Yeah, not attainable things. And let's 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.800 take a brief, a brief side trip all the way 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.680 down south to Antarctica, just to mention it, because a 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:22.840 lot of these things will apply to Antarctic as well. 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:27.680 Southernmost continent on Earth. It's the least populous surprise surprise 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:32.400 by far. That's because it's also the possessor of several superlatives. 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.080 It is not only the driest place in the world, 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.440 it is also the coldest place in the world and sorry, 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:42.200 Chicago the windiest place in the world. It's not a country. 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.720 It has no government, there is no native population. The 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:50.600 entire continent is set aside for now as a scientific preserve, 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:57.920 but that hasn't stopped countries from laying territorial claims. Britain, France, Norway, Australia, 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:03.760 New Zealand, Chile and Argentine have all laid claims. The 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.600 Nazi Party or Germany did as well. During World War Two, 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.680 military activities banned on this continent, and it's also a 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:17.960 legal to prospect for minerals or oil. Fifty different nations, 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.120 including Russia, China, and the US, have agreed with this 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:25.880 Antarctic treaty, but everybody's all about bending the rules, especially 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.800 as it gets easier and easier to find stuff there. 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:31.680 So that's how it stands now. We're going to spend 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.360 most of our time on the Arctic today. But it's 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:36.960 important to note that some of the same concerns that 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.800 apply to the North Pole apply or at least will 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:44.520 apply to the South Pole. And the big question is 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:47.640 what happens when all this changes. 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.960 So yeah, we've really been just looking at the background 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:52.920 for a lot of this stuff. But what happens when 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:56.520 when some of the ice melts, when it gets a 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:01.320 little warmer, when some of these things that were just 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.600 bubble thought bubbles in someone's head in a situation room, 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:06.960 become an actual actionable plan. 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.080 That's what we're looking at today. Right. 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.080 We've explored a bit of the history. We've taken a 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.480 brief look at the present day situation. Yet we are 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:22.800 living in a time rife with Malcolm Gladwell esque tipping points. 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:28.160 They're dangling, lumering, capering, swinging wildly on the horizon. Yes, sure, 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:32.360 the climate in these areas is changing, but the economic, geopolitical, 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.760 and military landscapes are changing as well. And the race 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:40.359 began years ago, it was just not on your mainstream 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:45.080 news networks. It's becoming increasingly apparent that this may well 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:48.560 be one of the next great global contests, and the 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.240 outcome of this race may well determine the course of 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:56.600 human affairs for decades, perhaps centuries to come. In short, 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.399 who will control the Arctic? 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:01.760 And we'll get to that right after a word from 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:02.360 our sponsor. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:13.200 Here's where it gets crazy. Everybody wants a piece, that's it. 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:16.640 Yeah, there are a lot of powers that are interested, 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.800 and not just the ones who are immediately adjacent to 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:20.520 the Arctic. 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:26.520 Circle right, right, So we know that different countries have 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:30.320 historically laid claim to the Arctic, right, and there have 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:34.240 been numerous disputes about this, which we can explore. But 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:40.560 the accelerated trend of changing climate or temperatures in these 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:45.720 areas is also accelerating the rate of change in geopolitics 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:46.760 of the Arctic. 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:49.000 So yeah, if we want to take a quick. 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:55.560 Look at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations twenty eighteen 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:59.720 report cards, specifically the Arctic report Card, you can find 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.439 that at Arctic DOAA dot gov if you want to 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.480 follow along here. But in their highlights, they're talking about 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:10.120 surface air temperatures in the Arctic. They've continued to warm 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:12.399 at twice the rate relative to the rest of the globe, 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.960 which is troubling. The air temperatures there for the past 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:21.359 five years have exceeded all previous records since nineteen hundred, 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:24.320 And there's a whole bunch of other stuff in here 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.639 that you can look at, specifically talking about sea ice. 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:29.760 Let's see, sea ice. 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:33.200 Remained younger, thinner, and covered less area than in the past. 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.800 The twelve lowest extents of the satellite record have occurred 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.520 in the last twelve years in the Arctic, And there's 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:42.360 a toime like, if you really want to dig deep 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:44.199 into the information, you can find it there on the 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:48.320 report card. But essentially it's just saying that the ice 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.280 is receding. There's less of it, it's younger ice, it's 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:53.840 not building up the thick levels that it used to. 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:57.560 It really is happening, and it's happening now and it 0:19:57.600 --> 0:19:58.440 has been happening. 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:05.280 And this is catastrophic for the creatures, for the wildlife 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:09.560 that have adapted over millions and millions of years to 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.440 live in this environment. It's terrible for those. This is 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:18.720 one of the worst times in polar bear history to 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:24.280 be a polar bear. However, for humans in the short term, 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.639 if we look at the checkers game rather than the 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:33.040 chess game, this could be a bonanza, a cavalcade of 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:37.720 money to be made, assuming that we still practice the 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:41.320 economic ideology of money in the near future, which we 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:45.679 probably will because we're not a super creative species. This development, 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:51.879 should it continue, will unlock massive hydrocarbon and mineral resources 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:56.040 in the Arctic and in the Continental Shelf. This could also, 0:20:56.560 --> 0:20:59.960 at the same time make a year round northern sea 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:06.159 route practical via two ways Russia's Northeast Passage or Canada's 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:10.639 Northwest Passage. And the reason this is important is because 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:14.320 it could cut transit time to ship from somewhere in 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.480 East Asia to Europe or North America's east coast by 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:22.800 thirty percent, which may not sound like a lot, but 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:23.520 it's huge. 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:24.560 Oh yeah, it's huge. 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:27.119 Like if you ever get a check and taxes are 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:30.439 thirty percent of that, you know you'll really feel it. 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:31.120 Yeah. 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:35.119 Well, yes, And as we're thinking about this, it's not 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:39.359 you know, we mentioned Canada's Northwest Passage and Russia, Russia's 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:43.080 Northeast Passage. It's not just those countries those nations that 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:47.879 would be using those passages. It's this has wider implications. 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:51.399 Yes, yes, this has wider implications. It goes down to 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:55.040 the argument of what should be considered international waters and 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:57.200 what should be considered sovereign waters. 0:21:57.000 --> 0:21:59.680 Right well, and then even if it's not international waters, 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:05.000 countries and nations working together with trade deals to use 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.920 those waters, right And it's just there's so many there's 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:09.680 so many things to think about with it. 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:12.040 A lot of you know what. Now you mentioned it, Matt, 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:14.520 A lot of lawyers are gonna make a ton of 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:19.360 cash off this, too, y. So the thing is that 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:24.920 this could economically be very good for a ton of 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:28.560 nations and a ton of people throughout the world, depending 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:34.280 on how it's played out. However, without sounding too skeptical 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:37.679 of our ability to work together, we do have to 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:42.400 point out that one of the first possibilities on the horizon, 0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:45.000 let's say all this ice melts, one of the first 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:47.160 possibilities on the horizon is going. 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:50.320 To be war, or at least the threat of war, right, 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:52.239 the posturing. 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:55.560 Well, let's call it, yeah, posturing, rivalry, brinksmanship, whatever you 0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:57.840 want to call it. What you know what, why don't 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:01.040 we call it Russia and America too? Oh go electric 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:02.000 Arctic boogaloo. 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:03.760 Okay, that's great. 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:06.600 Oh yeah, Well, if you're listening and you're in the 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.359 un please feel free to use that just credit our show. 0:23:09.880 --> 0:23:13.399 The disappearance of ice in the Arctic immediately changes the 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:16.720 status quo for Russia and the United States in the 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:20.000 following ways, in ways that are very very good for 0:23:20.600 --> 0:23:25.600 the Federated States of Russia. Moscow suddenly gets access to 0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:30.119 more than four thousand miles of Arctic coastline, and that 0:23:30.200 --> 0:23:34.920 would fundamentally transform Russia from a continental to a maritime power. 0:23:35.560 --> 0:23:42.240 Russia would have access to all weather bases and immediately 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:43.199 start constructing them. 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:45.240 By the way, Yeah, it would be a no brainer 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:45.679 to do that. 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:48.920 It would be ridiculous not to do it. This also 0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:53.679 creates security risk along Russia's northern border, Alaska and Russia 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:59.920 being very close together, and previously these concerns just didn't apply. 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:04.000 They're not applicable because of the area's harsh climate. It's 0:24:04.040 --> 0:24:07.719 just too much of pain to do stuff there. So, 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:12.920 the prospect of the Arctic Ocean emerging as a new 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:16.840 theater of military rivalry or what did you call it? 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:19.800 Met naughty boats? 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:26.160