A Cruise Ship Just Sailed the Northwest Passage, Thanks to Climate Change

The famed Northwest Passage is being
opened up because of climate change.

The Northwest Passage originated as an unattainable and lethal legend when Europeans arrived in the Americas and longed for an easy sea route across North America. Now, a cruise ship has successfully traversed the route in only a month.

It wasn’t until 1906 that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen successfully — but with extreme difficulty — navigated what had, until then, been a theoretical journey. In the years since, heavily fortified ships with icebreakers could only make it through the floes of the Arctic in summer, when sea ice was at its lowest.

Now, a massive 14-deck cruise ship has completed the journey that was a pipe dream just over one hundred years ago — and it’s raising a lot of concerns.

It took the Crystal Serenity just a month to glide through the waters from Alaska to New York — Amundsen needed three years.

What made this speedy voyage possible?

Read the Care2 story - “A Cruise Ship Just Sailed the Northwest Passage, Thanks to Climate Change.”