In the 1700s and 1800s seal furs were highly sought for and it was because of this high demand that wiped most of the seal population in the popular commercial sealing areas. One of the first sightings of Antarctica was by an American sealer named Nathan palmer. This led to many people coming to Antarctica just for their own economic benefit. People feared that the dwindling numbers of seals in Antarctica would ruin its bio-system. once it was realized that the number of seals was becoming dangerously low thus the "convention for the conservation of Antarctic seals" CCAS. This group created specific laws concerning sealing and made sure that the seal population would start to grow again. If the research would not have been done by CCAS then the seal community in Antarctica would have been close to extinct today. The regulation of commercial sealing took away economic growth of the commercial sealing industry. Today the Antarctic treaty protects Antarctica from all commercial sealing and hunting of any animals. Without sealing most of Antarctica's economy is based on its scientific use. And even with these industries that have thrived in Antarctica it has no economy of its own. It is instead, a land mass with territories of countries that have their own economic standings. Since Antarctica has no economy of its own it benefits multiple economies around the world with its uniqueness and potential.
In Antarctica there are a few plants that grow although there is no soil shown. Soil is deep down, miles and miles under the ice layer. The temperatures always changing throughout the year causes the ice to melt and refreeze again making the soil that can be shown a thick mushy layer of mud, this is called the active layer. Since this soil is useless to grow anything that is not why scientists can't grow crops outside of their stations. The temperature is too cold and there is no cold adapted plants which scientists had tried to grow before but they all died. Also the Arctic Treaty forbids any soil or materials from elsewhere to be brought incase of any outbreaks of insects, fungi, or bacteria which would be the only way to even try and grow crops. Since scientists cannot grow crops outside of their stations, they set up little hydroponics systems (greenhouses) to grow fresh crops. Still they have to be cautious of any outbreaks or else they have to immediately shut it down and destroy crops. They grow lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, and herbs. The crops produced in the greenhouses are mainly eaten during winter when the only food the scientists have left is rations and non-perishables. During the summer they don't have to worry about that because they get food arrivals once a week and in January they get a delivery of dried and frozen foods. Each station is different on how they proportion the food to each person. Usually, each person gets three meals a day that is cooked by a chef and sometimes gets a midnight snack called "midrat." If a person has worked all day in the snow they have bigger metabolisms because the cold is shown to increase your metabolism so they are told to eat chocolate or pemmican which is a high calorie ration. They also get bigger proportioned plates of food after their long day of work. The reason it's so hard to get the food and can't just use food resources from this continent is because the Treaty of Antarctica strictly forbids anything to be harming the animals. As in eating them, hunting them, etc. Nothing that is originated from Antarctica is allowed to be eaten since 1959. Also it is hard to get food shipments during winter because it is snowing and dark at all hours. Sending food out there can be very risky at times because of the glaciers are always moving under water at a very fast speed. This can be risky to the ships that are coming in, and a few times some of the ships have sunk which impacts the water because of oil spills. Oil pollution in Antarctic waters is not the only problem with pollution they have either. At the American base (McMurdo) they are allowed to leave their trash and waste in the Ross Sea region which has flame retardants chemicals "HBCD." Later research has been found that HBCD was found in many of the animals immune systems. So instead of keeping the animals safe they are also harming them by leaving their waste for animals to scavenge in. If it wasn't for the Arctic Treaty many scientists would have tried to get the resources from Antarctica, as in oils and minerals. The only other problem with that is how they would get it out and bring it back home. There are layers and layers of million year old ice over all the minerals that they would have to drill out which would be expensive, dangerous, and extremely difficult. Even then they still would have problems finding exactly where the resources might be, and they would also have to either pipe it out or ship it own to their destination which could lead to more pollution in the seas. A big impact with the weather has changed in the last 50 years. Although we have no reason to why, the air temperature has increased by 3C degrees. This is ten times faster than the rest of the world's rising temperature. This rising temperature has caused many glaciers to break off and travel underwater, which does not affect the sea level rising until they melt. In the West Antarctic they have the fastest melting ice, if it keeps melting at the rate it is or more icebergs break off that can cause an extra four feet to the sea level. If this extra four feet rises it can impact many countries that is near shores. Since there is no food grown in Antarctica and they have no practices to any labor. They still have many environmental problems and some are even caused by us people. We may not be able to fix the temperature rising, and glaciers breaking off, but I know we can get that trash the we leave in Antarctica out of there that harm the animals. If it was brought in, it can be brought out. We can also even be extra cautious for all these oil spills, though they may not be anyone's fault it still happens and we need to change that. SOURCES: http://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/issue/polar-plants/plants- of-the- arctic-and- antarctic www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20file www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/10/16/food_in_antarctica https://www.gardenculturemagazine.com/growology/indoor-garden- design-build/antarcticas- indoor-gardens/ http://www.crystalinks.com/antarctica.html
As the ice melts in Antarctica, the opportunities for oil and mineral exploitation grow. This will also cause political and economic issues between the twelve countries conducting research in Antarctica. In 1991, an international agreement called the Madrid Protocol, or the Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, banned mining in Antarctica until 2048. Despite this agreement, many countries have other intentions. The belief that Antartica has oil reserves has driven some countries to build research stations in hopes they will have a stake in Antarctica's resources. Some say that Antarctica has the third largest oil reserves in the world. but there is no evidence of this. Even if it is true that icy conditions would make it nearly impossible to mine. China is one of the countries that have an economic interest in Antartica. Over the past two decades China's annual Antarctic budget has increased from twenty million to fifty-five million. The head of China's Arctic and Antarctic administration claims they have increased their budget in order to increase their "influence in order to protect its ‘polar rights.'" This has raised suspicion as to what China is planning to do once the Madrid Protocol Expires. Antarctica is the last unexploited country on our planet. Some view its untapped lands as an opportunity while others aim to protect it. Greenpeace is an organization that believes that this nearly untouched region should not be lost to the exploits of man. Hopefully, in the next thirty-one years the desire for Antarctica's resources will diminish and its vast, icy lands will remain untapped.
Work Cited. Atkin, Micheal. "China's interest in mining Antarctica revealed as evidence points to country's desire to become 'Polar Great Power,"'ABC News, 20 January, 2015. www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-20/chinas-desire-for-antarctic-mining-despite-international-ban/6029414"Human Impacts on Antarctica and Threats to the Environment," Cool Antarctica, 2011. coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/science/threats_mining_oil.php