It's a wonder we're not more cynical

I'm ashamed to admit that I clicked on this article on the eventual disappearance of Arctic sea ice in the summer half-expecting to find some "global warming can be good!" sentiments to provide some "balance." My cynicism was not to go unrewarded:

Polar bears will struggle, these scientists said, and so will Arctic people who still go out on sea ice to hunt seals. By contrast, countries and businesses pursuing new shipping lanes, energy supplies and fishing grounds could profit.

Whole species and cultures will be threatened with extinction, but opportunities for a few fat rich fucks to get fatter and richer abound!

This would greatly ease the task of maintaining shipping lanes with icebreaking vessels, said Lawson W. Brigham, deputy director of the Arctic Research Commission, which advises the White House on Arctic matters. Mr. Brigham and other experts said the new research raised the urgency of establishing common standards for protecting the Arctic environment and patrolling shipping lanes. The commission plans to deliver letters to the Bush administration and Congress this week urging them to commit at least $1 million to start work on replacing the country’s two aging, ailing polar-class icebreakers.

Here's a nice little Catch-22 for the Bushies. What with all this calamity, displacement, and human suffering, someone - someone who is well positioned at the time - is going to get filthy rich. Being positioned apparently means having the means to maintain year-round Arctic shipping lanes. But the justification for investing in icebreakers is a phenomenon that the Bushies say isn't happening. What sort of contortions will Tony Snow have to go through to wiggle out of that one?

Probably ones that won't be half so impressive as the gyrations he'll have to perform in explaining why the Bush administration would rather profit from than prevent catastrophic global warming.