This just in: A newfound terror is upon us! It’s terrifying, it’s inhumane, it’s smaller than the eye can see! It’s a terror that comes from beneath our very feet! It is an old menace that emerged from the melting ice of Siberia! It never rests, it never sleeps, it never eats, it never stops! It’s… Anthrax.
You heard that right, folks. Anthrax. "Oh, dear." At least that’s what the deer are probably saying, as already over 2,000 deer have been infected with this 75-year-old strain of anthrax. This strain, many scientists have theorized, was re-awoken from a deer that died and was buried under the ice fields in Siberia. As temperatures continue to rise, the ice caps are melting, like the ice fields in Siberia. We all probably know how with the ice caps melting, it has been raising the ocean levels. But now, we have been introduced to a new onset of dangers from the re-emergence of long-dormant diseases. To make matters worse, dozens of people have caught this strain of anthrax from the deer, and one child has died.
Luckily the disease is only anthrax, which, despite its age, wasn't too hard to adapt a a vaccine for, especially considering modern medicine. Not to mention that since many scientists as far back as 2014 have been warning people about this very situation, and Russian has divisions in the military trained for biological warfare, quarantine control was able to get the disease under control. Deers and people are being vaccinated, the infected area has been quarantined off, and the dead deers killed by the disease are being burned. Although, many scientists believe other diseases are under the Arctic Circle, like 1918 Spanish flu, the bubonic plague, and smallpox. Hell, they’ve already found bacteria over 30,000 years old. Granted, most bacteria and microorganisms that are being reanimated are harmless.
Despite this reassuring fact, in the other part of the Arctic Circle, in Greenland, there is concern about the reemergence of an old American base called Camp Century. Back in 1959, America built a military base, broadcasted as an amazing underground city in the ice. However, it was actually meant to build a pathway to launch nuclear missiles at Russia. Due to the constant shifting of the ice, the project was deemed impossible, and was subsequently abandoned. The ice fields in Greenland buried the military base. Now with the ice caps melting, scientists are predicting that within the century, the military base will emerge, full of its abandoned waste, bacteria and everything else. It’s quite literally a stinking pile of waste, which would contaminate the melting ice, which would then flow into and pollute the ocean. To make matters worse, America is trying to pass off the responsibility onto Greenland since it is on their soil, while Greenland is trying to make America claim responsibility because it was their military base.
The ice caps melting has clearly shown within this past week that raising the ocean levels isn’t the only problem that is arising. Many environmentally conscious cities have been trying to speak out and make first-world countries pay for the damage they are doing to the environment, especially since most of it has been caused by them. Whatever the solution, it has become clear that the ice caps melting are causing more problems than we originally expected, and something needs to be done. Continuing to harm the environment as we are isn’t self-sustainable and simply isn’t cool. Pun intended.
