In this compellingly written article, Los Angeles Times reporter Marla Cone provides a troubling introduction to toxic pollution in the Far North -- the subject that will be examined in her forthcoming book, Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic. It's scheduled for publication in May. If this piece in Mother Jones is a fair indication, Silent Snow will be a gripping and potentially influential volume, worthy of a title that echoes the name of the most famous book in environmental journalism history.

The traditional marine-based diet of people in the Arctic region is "among the world's healthiest," Cone writes. "Yet the ocean diet of that gives these people life and defines their culture also threatens them. Despite living amid pristine ice and glacier-carved bedrock, people like Mamarut, Tukummeq, and Gedion are more vulnerable to pollution than anyone else on earth." The reason? "The Arctic has been transformed into the planet's chemical trash can, the final destination for toxic waste that originates thousands of miles away. Atmospheric and oceanic currents conspire to send industrial chemicals, pesticides, and power-plant emissions on a journey to the Far North. Many airborne chemicals tend to migrate to, and precipitate in, cold climates, where they then endure for decades, perhaps centuries, slow to break down in the frigid temperatures and low sunlight. The Arctic Ocean is a deep-freeze archive, holding the memories of the world's past and present mistakes. It's wildlife, too, are archives, as poisonous chemicals accumulate in the fat that Arctic animals need to survive." The article's appearance -- and the book's approaching publication -- are particularly timely in the context of the continuing debate in Washington, D.C., about how the federal government should deal with the long-range reach of mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants. As Cone reports, "Mercury concentrations in Qaanaaq mothers are the highest ever recorded, 12 times greater than the level that poses neurological risks to fetuses, according to U.S. standards."

See:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/01/12_402.html