True. OK.. they didn’t discover it, but Russian submarines planted a flag on the floor of the North Pole. Why? There are vast amounts of resources up there and now that the ice has melted to such a point, it’s now possible (or at least the countries are predicting that it will be possible) to explore that area for its resources.

So what? Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bciOToY2M2E&feature=dir (or use one of the many sites that allow you to download it) and show it to your senior high students. It’s a BBC-produced video about this very thing. How do the students feel about Russia planting that flag? What do they think it means? Then read/listen to this news article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14092469 It, too, talks of the rush to claim the arctic. What are the implications of this?

I won’t take sides with the global warming issue, nor, perhaps, should you with your students. But, the discussion about countries trying to claim the arctic floor is a fascinating one, I think, and a topic that their generation will have to deal with, won’t they?