Antarctic Impact Human Effects on Antarctica

There are many unintended consequences of human activities that have had adverse effects on Antarctica. Global warming, which is all but certainly fueled at least in part by the human use of fossil fuels and the release of carbon and other molecules into the Earth's atmosphere, has had an impact on Antarctica despite the frozen continent's distance from anything resembling true modern industry (Ward 2001). The ice shelves surrounding the continent, which provide living habitats and feeding grounds for many land- and sea-dwelling Antarctic animals, have been melting and disintegrating at an increasing rate (Ward 2001). More direct impacts can be found resulting from commercial human activities, such as the harvesting of krill; though over-harvesting may be a problem in and of itself, this harvest also has the unintended consequence of limiting the food supply of...

On the one hand, greater knowledge about the impact of human activities generally and in the Antarctic specifically have led to modifications in behaviors that could reduce some of the impact had on the region, and helping to restore certain animal populations (Ward 2011). At the same time, the ever-increasing pace of human industry demands the ever-greater consumption of fuel and resources, and even newer technologies demand such resource use (Landcare Research 2001). All of this makes the existing problems in the Antarctic that much worse, as global warming and commercial harvesting continue.
If the scientific method were properly applied to the problems that Antarctic…