Antarctica 2041: My Quest to Save the Earth’s Last Wilderness
by Robert Swan with Gil Reavill. Broadway. 2009. 290 pages. $24.99.
Antarctica’s long-term survival is in question, warns Robert Swan, a researcher who has led expeditions to both the North and South poles. In 2041, he explains, the international treaty protecting Antarctica from human development is up for review. He fears that human development might win, due to the continent’s vast oil, natural gas, and mineral resources, and the likelihood that—if current consumption trends continue—existing oil wells will be mostly drained and no longer sufficient to sustain industrialized civilization.
Swan tells of his ventures on the tundra and his observations about its already-troubled health: disintegrating ice, accumulating trash, and the permanent discoloration of his own eyes from the solar radiation that penetrated the depleted ozone layer above. He expresses his hope that human civilization will find the will to protect this last wilderness.
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