| Project Ice-SHARE - Toward The Compassionate Global Society - More relevant today than when first proposed in 1982, Project Ice-SHARE is an effort directed at achieving global water equilibrium on Earth. Sustained progress over time in bringing active freshwater and inactive freshwater into proportional balance on a planetary scale (with consequent increase in the volume of freshwater active in the hydrologic cycle) will be decisive in confronting climate change whether cold or warm. While 70% of Earth's freshwater is inactive on Antarctica (and therefore not at present a participant in the hydrologic cycle), Antarctica and Antarctic ice remain at the core of major water-related challenges in the twenty-first Century. Freshwater quality/availability and the positive generational constant of human empathy and compassion are key to societal sustainability and the Compassionate Global Society: (a) a healthful, sustainabile environment for every planetary citizen, (b) universal health care, publicly supported, (c) education for all based upon individual capability, (d) creative/productive employment for every citizen, (c) financial security upon completion of work career. Fundamental to the goal of global water equilibrium - pursued in conjunction with strategic desalinization approaches - is the practicable conversion of Antarctic freshwater from ice into liquid freshwater and its translocation (directly and via aquifer replenishment) for use in arid and semi-arid regions, taking advantage of surplus marine tanker capacity (coincident with predicted energy trends to hydrogen and solar) and, overland, of existing and proposed pipelines. Returning long-sequestered freshwater to a functional state in the hydrologic cycle by way of forests and other vegetation growing on lands formerly barren and susceptible to desertification - thus mitigating/reversing the impact of Antarctic ice on sea levels - involves science and technology procedurally within the realm of interdisciplinary sustainability science and technology. Forests and all vegetation will be instrumental in the achievement of global water equilibrium on Earth. (50% of Earth's total freshwater active in the hydrologic cycle - potentially available for societal sustainability purposes). Global water equilibrium, together with climate change and the impact of Antarctic ice on sea levels, are appropriate agenda items under Article IX of the Antarctic Treaty and merit particular attention at the Twenty-Sixth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCMXXVI), Cambridge, UK, 18-20 September 2003. ------------- Project Ice-SHARE, a proposal submitted to the United Nations and to Antarctic Treaty Consultative Members, was considered by the 1985 Oregon Legislative Assembly under a measured entitled Oregon Senate Joint Memorial Resolution 14. The resolution, although considered, did not reach hearing status. Portions of Oregon Senate Joint Memorial Resolution 14, updated per www.oocities.org/forelaws/GlobalWaterEquilibrium.html, appear below: AWARE of desertification processes increasingly at work globally, and of the need to replenish aquifers and other subsurface groundwater presently being depleted at rates exceeding natural replenishment, AWARE of the in-placement today of an infrastructure for the logistical translocation of iceberg water to arid locations, AWARE of the oneness of all life, of the essentiality of water to life, and of the feasibility of effecting a balanced water budget for our planet, AWARE of the fact that every dollar and ruble invested in the myth of adversary relationships (in the face of common exigencies) represents a counterproductive investment, a travesty of the reverence for life ethic, an opportunity lost, AWARE of the horrendous suffering and starvation now existing throughout much of the Sahel region of Africa because of water shortages and drought conditions, AWARE of the tremendous accumulation of water as ice in the polar regions and of the calving of icebergs of enormous sizes, particularly the tabular icebergs peculiar to Antarctica, AND, noting the highly successful experience of the Antarctic Treaty, its apolitical nature and its commitment to scientific investigation and research for peaceful purposes, DOES HEREBY call upon Contracting Parties of the Antarctic Treaty, which include the United States and the Soviet Union, at the upcoming XIII Consultative Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, to (1) commence at the earliest possible time under Article IX of the Treaty any and all scientific research and investigation as may be appropriate to effect implementation of the initial stages of Project Ice-SHARE, and (2) to participate in any and all interdisciplinary research and investigation as may be appropriate to effect further implementation of Project Ice-SHARE under United Nations auspices and mandate. "indispensable to the world of science which knows no national or other political boundaries, but it is a document (the Antarctic Treaty) unique in history which may take its place alongside the Magna Carta and other great symbols of man's quest of enlightenment and order." (Dr. Laurence N. Gould, former chairman of the U.S. National Committee on Polar Research at the National Academy of Sciences) |
| last edited 11/30/02 |