This is for what may be an overlooked niche market... the healthy skeptics of Global Warming. You can schedule a trip to northern California's Mt Shasta, where you can see a glacier that is actually expanding quite noticeably. Or see the crater of Mt Saint Helens in southern Washington State, where a new glacier is in its infancy. A very rare sight indeed. How about Greenland, where the ice on the central part of the island is thickening? You can take your own core sample and compare data previously taken. Or central Antarctica, where the average temperatures are dropping. Just remember to bring your mittens. You're going to need them.

On the flip side, perhaps another niche market (the Global Warming adherents) is also underappreciated. Take a trip to Glacier (Inter-)National Park, on the US-Canadian border. The number and size of the glaciers there are declining at breathtaking speed, so you'd better get there before they have to change the name. Or how about a summertime cruise to the north Atlantic? You proceed north until you start seeing icebergs. The navigator of the ship can call out the points of average icepack limits along the way. Maybe you'll be in the first boat to make it to 90 deg north? Or how about the Italy/Switz border where melting glaciers have forced a re-draw of the map? Is this kind of international event may be just a taste of what is to come due to global warming? Not sure how to handle the carbon footprint of the necessary vehicles, etc but I will have to leave that to better minds than mine.

Whether (no pun intended) you're an avowed "environ-wacko" or a "denier of the obvious", join with those of the same mindset as you and see these sights together! You'll have first-hand knowledge that you can use in debates with those ninnies on the other side of the controversy.

We at Ice Cold Tours aren't interested in your philosophy, just your money.
-- Gamma48, May 18 2009

Mid-Pacific gyre full of plastic http://discovermaga...worlds-largest-dump
Ocean currents keep floating debris in certain areas [Gamma48, Jun 08 2009]

Kennecott Copper Mine http://www.kennecott.com/?id=MjAwMDEzMQ==
A very large hole in the ground [Gamma48, Jun 08 2009]

Fresh Kills Landfill http://en.wikipedia...resh_Kills_Landfill
Now closed, but it has to go somewhere else [Gamma48, Jun 08 2009]

I think this is why some scientists don't like the term 'global warming' and prefer the term 'climate change'. Although the current theory (or is it a hypothesis?) of human caused climate change is an overall warming of the planet, (counter-intuitively) this does not necessarily imply that all parts of the Earth are warming; and some areas may indeed get colder.

If you renamed it 'climate change ice tours' you could appeal to both deniers and believers. The tourists could see what is happening in these areas and make up their own minds as to the cause.
-- xaviergisz, May 18 2009


Mmyes. Because cherry-picking picturesque datapoints that support your pre-existing bias is the way to do public science education.

//We / aren't interested in your philosophy, just your money.//

Ah. Right you are then.
-- BunsenHoneydew, May 28 2009


To expand on this concept, how about stops at some sites that are undeniably man-made and utterly conspicuous. With no particular political position/solution in mind, I sumbit these sites in order to just see where humanity is at present.(see links):

1. Mid-Pacific gyres full of plastic

2. Kennecott Copper Mine in Utah, USA (only for scale, as I suspect they follow current environmental regs)

3. The former Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, NY, USA.
-- Gamma48, Jun 08 2009



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