Put Out More Flags

Jeremy Rifkin comments on the news last week that Russian explorers planted a flag not on, but under the North Pole (that is, on the seafloor), in what was seen as an old-fashioned bid to lay claim to the Arctic's potentially vast oil and gas reserves.

A global tragedy of monumental proportions is unfolding at the top of the world, and the human race is all but oblivious to what's happening.

When U.S. astronauts stepped onto the moon in 1969, Neil Armstrong's first words were, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

The Russian aquanauts, landing on the Arctic seabed, might just as well have said, "One small dive for man, one giant leap backward for life on Earth."