Rescuers in Antarctica have safely transferred all 52 passengers stranded on the ice-bound research vessel Akademik Shokalskiy. The Shokalskiy has been trapped since Christmas Eve. Its 22 crew are expected to remain on board to wait until the vessel becomes free. The ice-bound research vessel has been trapped since Christmas Eve. One of the aims is to track how quickly the Antarctic’s sea ice is disappearing. –BBC News, 2 January 2014You know, helicopters aren't the most fuel efficient mode of transportation, so I'm sure the rescue, which is not really a "rescue" if they were safe on the Akademik Shokalskiy, burned a lot of diesel fuel to position the ship, and a lot of aviation gas to make multiple runs in the harsh environment to carry off the non-essential. If they left the crew aboard, it's clearly safe to stay, albeit boring, and irritating to the scientists, tourists and media who chose to be evacuated rather than stay aboard the ice bound vessel and continue to observe, close up, how the ice is lasting longer in this Antarctic Spring.
Reporting on the environmental movement has always required a certain sense of humor. In an earlier age, explorers who so badly underestimated the expanse of polar ice would surely have perished. But the 74 passengers and crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy are thriving. In this season of new beginnings we have here a chance to appreciate the amazing technologies created by free people. For they allow us to laugh at the folly of our fellow humans, rather than having to mourn their passing. –Editorial, The Wall Street Journal, 2 January 2014
If it had come to cannibalism, there's some chunky ones there.
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