The presentation concerning ”changes in the Arctic”

这篇essay主要讲诉了作者在2014年10月17日星期五，参加了一场由来自PCAR 192的Astrid Ogilvie教授主持的讲座，这场讲座主要是由华盛顿大学斯堪的纳维亚学系赞助的。环境问题是当今社会讨论的热点话题。

  On Friday October 17, 2014 I attended the presentation given by Dr. Astrid Ogilvie in PCAR 192. The presentation was mainly sponsored by the Department of Scandinavian Studies, University of Washington. Environmental problems are frequently talked about nowadays. Authorities are trying their best to arouse the public awareness of the change in the climate of earth as well as the following changes in the Arctic. These issues are indeed worth following up, which is the central idea of this presentation.
  The presentation was divided into three main parts which respectively were “the background information”, “the old debates of the changes in the Arctic” and “the current debates”. The first and foremost part was introducing the basic knowledge regarding the Arctic. Using the Arctic circle, three lines and the temperature can define the Arctic. Dr. Astrid Ogilvie also introduced a great man named Fridtjof Nansen who was an explorer, scientist as well as politician. The story between the Arctic and him was impressive. Apart from the one mentioned above, in the following part, Dr. Ogilvie talked about debates regarding the climate of the medieval period during early 21st century, which was also called the old debates. “Medieval warm period” and “little ice age” were too out-of-date to mention, so she skipped these two aspects. She centered with two old views, one was the uniformitarian view which was proved to be wrong, and the other was the deterioration view which was also not quite right. Dr. Ogilvie summed this part up by stressing the importance lied in how the Arctic changed and how fast it changed rather than which view was more favorable. In the final part, current urgent issues were proposed to us. For the ecology environment, there was more greenhouse gas; habitats for animals in the Arctic had been deteriorated; environment for plants was largely changed. For residents near the Arctic, especially as they related to Iceland and Norway, changes included new alternative shipping routes, new tourism industry, social and economical transformations. The most urgent issue was the significantly less sea-ice in the Arctic due to not only natural climate change but also global warming. Dr. Astrid Ogilvie delivered this presentation with a logical and well organized structure, so it was clear for us to follow. 
  Taking the content of this presentation into deliberate consideration, I am inclined to maintain that except for the natural climate change which is uncontrollable, man-made interference to the Arctic can and should be restricted. Indeed, human can adapt to the current condition in the Arctic. However, the influence to the animals, plants and the ecological environment will probably trouble the sustainable development in the Arctic. The lost is irreversible, so drastic measures should be taken to prevent things going from bad to worse. The protection of environment is closely related not only to our personal life, but also to the entire human race and the further development of the world. For one thing, back to our daily life, more greenhouse gas due to growing amount of the cars, unrestricted exhaust emission and so on results in global warming which is one of the reasons for the significantly less sea-ice in the Arctic. Consequently, sea-level will rise due to melted sea-ice, which may swallow up low countries along the coast and influence pure water supplement in cities. For another thing, in a broader sense, the environment plays a decisive role in the fate to both mankind and all the creatures in earth. As is known to us all, the earth is human being’s sole dwelling place at present. We may expect that someday we can live on another planet, but I doubt that this day will come earlier than the day when the sea-ice is nearly completely melted in the Arctic and the sea overwhelm most of  the lands if attempts are not made to protect the Arctic.