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Five centuries after the Cape of Good Hope were named and a hundred or so years after the Suez Canal were open, we will soon be looking at a new sea route between Europe and Asia - on the top of the world.

It’s probably already stale news that people are talking about the “Northeast Passage”. Referring to the picture above, the new shipping route via the Arctic will shorten the travel distance between Europe and the northern cities in Asia by about 1/3.   

Ironically, this new triumph to us logistic professionals should all thanks to the infamous global warming effect – the ice once covered the Arctic has melted so much that large scale cargo vessels can now navigate through the cold water.

This BBC website offers a tool to see the ice melting of the Arctic over years. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6995999.stm

This new shipping route could mean enormous cost saving for the global ocean transportation. It also means large investment on stronger ships which can journey through the cold water and harsh environment in the Arctic. It will bring more strategic importance to the sea ports in the northern Asia cities, such as Shanghai and Yokohama. Meanwhile, the status of Singapore and Hong Kong as transshipment hub will be marginalized.

As usual, the “kiasu” Singaporeans had noticed this long ago. See this article in the Straits Times: http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_158368.html

Soon the countries that are doing carbon trade will have something to fight about. As the Arctic is mainly bordered by two countries: Canada and Russia, whoever else that want to go through the water need to ask whether the two are happy about it. While nobody cares about the cold continent a decade ago, now the fight on the ownership of the land is hot.

“Canada says it has full rights over those parts of the Northwest Passage that pass through its territory and that it can bar transit there.

But this has been disputed by the US and the European Union. They argue that the new route should be an international strait that any vessel can use.”

Anyway, I guess Canada may own those land when the land was still ice, but when ice becr the Arctic ice than there are human. While more ships are going across the Arctic for the shorter route, the pollution from oil and noise of the ships are going to be detrimental to the marine life in the Arctic.  

I remembered the first time when I heard that polar bears are drowning to death. Everyone knows polar bears are strong swimmers, saying they are drowning to death is like saying birds have fears of height – such a cold joke. However, the truth is they are drowning to death because they increasingly have to swim long hours to find food, and there is no resting place for them along the way since ice are melting. Therefore they are too tired during swimming and drown…

The truth leaves me dumbfounded. Mankind is both blissfully and evilly smart. And their smartness could bring so much impact to the living things in this world. When we enjoy the peace and serenity of this picture, remember that this lovely giant beast increasingly have no place to go.

 

Leave them alone, I’d say…

 

Links:

1)      http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/27/russias-northeast-passage-open-to-commercial-shipping/

2)      http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0225_050225_arctic_landrush.html

3)      http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article767459.ece

PS: 写到这里我开始觉得这些话我都在某个地方写过了，却怎么也找不到...再次证明我开始有memory deprivation的迹象...

         在家自隔第三天，证明了我也是可以宅的。爸妈单位又发挥了绝不轻视敌人的优良革命传统，以至于我在家要每天量两次体温向卫生防疫站汇报。这次鸭子同学没有 回来，也就没有人成天拉我逛街，在家无非就是心安理得地躺着，指挥老妈给我买这个那个回来吃吃喝喝。不经意间居然回归了童年的梦想，盛夏的暑假里，抱着一 大盘水果，边吃边看小说：）
        结束了在小米忙碌的半年，很多人问我有什么感想，收获是什么。了解我的人都知道这种问题我最不会回答了。自然是学到了很多，人生经历又丰富了些，可是也明 白了，如果你的心没有变，那么身在何处都相差无几。我也算是东奔西跑了很多地方，曾以为凭借这种流浪能够找到自己的坐标，以为在不同的地方能发现真正的自 己，就那么一个劲想往外跑。还有10天就24岁了，依然天真简单到自己都无语。因此除了感叹时光，我觉得还应该思考更多的事情。
        又或者呢，我还是当闲人，做闲事，说闲话, 在家憋着吧...

    怀念小时候的暑假，舒舒服服地躺在席子上，手里抱着本书，旁边有一大盘新鲜的草莓。伴随着电风扇带来的稍稍湿热的风和电机旋转的声音，不需要刻意专心，很快就沉浸在书里。
    而现在发现自己越来越不能集中精力，越来越少静下来好好读书的时候。不是没有时间，大部分是因为心浮气躁。
    怎样，才能找回到原来那样的专注...

        毫无预兆的，5月即将结束。 转眼离回家或是回新加坡都只有一个月左右。在小米的生活现在还是进行时吧，但很快就要再次成为我感叹何为时间的又一例子。虽然回去的行程排得满满，在UPS的project也终于尘埃落定，但对小米，对新加坡，对国内，突然都说不出是什么 感觉。突然对任何地方都没有归属感，不知道自己现在在哪里，以后想要去哪里。任何地方都只成了我暂时歇脚的地方，只是养精蓄锐，期待下一次的流浪。

    其实人会成长的，就在自己没有意识到的时候，已经长大了这么多，偶尔照照镜子都会吓自己一跳。虽然还是会常常愤愤不平，但要及时打住，以免成为个怨妇。从以前对问题的完全抵制，到现在的不停疑问，不知道是自己被同化了，还是终于学会开始全面而实际地看问题。

    在小米的5个月里，因为太忙没有时间写东西是明显的借口，我还是有时间把武林外传及friends又翻出来看的。拖拖拉拉也终于读完了几个朋友强力推荐的《爱情笔记》，没有像别人说的那么有醍醐灌顶之妙，但可能是我自己体验还不够深。也有可能是想法太多不知道从何说起，因为生活已然忙忙碌碌了，剩下的时间还是少动脑筋的好。

    最近听到了太多朋友结婚的消息，加之仔细反省一下，最近和周围的男生朋友常常因为他们对女生的看法而激烈地争辩。于是我终于不得不承认这些事情对我打击很大。也许那些我跟他们争辩的人在觉得我是个有太多独立思想的难搞的人的时候，根本不知道其实我是痛恨自己跟他们争辩的，因为我对这件事这么在乎的同时证明了我缺乏安全感。往往是潜意识地怀疑自己的立场，才会不停地找人争辩。为了打破这种恶性循环，我决定要真心祝福这些结婚了或是即将结婚的朋友们。虽然你们丢下我，让我越来越找不到人陪我玩，我还是觉得找到自己愿意一辈子陪着的人是比读PhD还要艰难的成就，为此你们是值得领个证书兹彰显你们的伟大成就的。

    生活给了我们太多问号，上帝貌似觉得我们应付养家糊口的问题还不算麻烦一样。反正成天想问题是不能当饭吃的，想问题想到失眠心慌更是不划算的。活得不开心还容易罹患癌或者免疫力下降容易沾染H1N1。诸位看官切记切记...

PS: 6月19号离开小米，21号到家，计划到重庆去一趟。

    7月2号晚上回新加坡，3号学校报到，6号正式在开始实习。

各位想请我吃饭的欢迎踊跃报名:)