The Earth contains two frosty, cold ends: the northern Arctic Circle — more commonly known as the “North Pole” and home to the beloved Santa Claus — and the opposite, southern continent of Antarctica. Global climate change is affecting both poles; the Arctic is changing, melting faster and warming quicker than anywhere else in the world, and the South Pole’s sea ice is following suit as it diminishes at an increasing rate.
Despite the large-scale climate effects these regions face due to global warming, society consistently neglects their prominent environments and ecosystems which deserve research funding and public attention. The rapid melting of the Arctic and Antarctica bring societal abandonment to their icy surfaces, proving how important the study of these regions is to preventing global climate change.
A lot of people are unfamiliar with what these two places actually are, and in turn, what they mean to the rest of the world. Antarctica’s inhabitability and the Arctic’s limited population bring their locations a sense of vastness, distance and isolation from society. But what actually goes on in these regions is another story — a story that society needs to start listening to, and it’s not about a red-nosed reindeer.
The sun beats down on both these frozen terrains as 2025 became the third hottest year on record, only behind 2024 and 2023. This crisis shows no signs of slowing down; the beautiful landscapes of glaciers and mountains, and their icy yet biologically diverse oceans are in grave danger.
Ecosystems around the world feel the effects of climate change. Climate determines how living things interact in all environments, what thrives and what survives. When climate changes, it impacts current, long-standing systems. The Arctic and Antarctica experience this greatly as global warming substantially melts the Earth’s two largest icesheets. The Antarctic ice sheet is losing mass at a rate of 135 billion tons per year.
The Greenland ice sheet, however, beats that number at a staggering rate of 266 billion tons per year. For wildlife in these ecosystems, the staple of their environments are disappearing, and for scientists, their research resources are running low. Polar bears in the northern Arctic are losing their habitat, 96% of which is sea ice. In Antarctica, penguins’ platform for laying eggs is dwindling, resulting in the most unsuccessful breeding season in colony history. However, these climate effects aren’t just local; they ultimately stretch worldwide.
The problem with amplified climate change in the Earth’s poles is that they are regulators of the planet’s climate. Warm and cold air naturally move across the Earth, circling from the poles to the equator in a gradient through oceanic or atmospheric circulation. Usually, the high reflexivity of the ice mass in the poles slows heat absorption, naturally cooling the planet. However, global warming melts massive amounts of the ice, exposing dark ocean waters and land. Reflexivity is lost, and the earth absorbs more solar energy, raising temperature in the poles and therefore the whole planet.
The prominence of the poles to global climate gives cause for scientists to study them. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, a U.S. federal agency for understanding and predicting climate, performs research that ranges from satellites of sea ice coverage to weather and natural disaster forecasting.
Scientists specifically study the ice layers or cores in these sheets, and the sediment and rock below, as they maintain a paleoclimate record, allowing analyses of gas and particle levels, timestamps of how the Earth’s climate has changed. This unique polar laboratory allows scientists to claim that a certain degree of climate change can equal a certain amount of ice volume fluctuation, helping them figure out current and future patterns. These examples also prove why research is urgent; with sea ice melting, scientists are essentially losing data and time.
In a more advanced and capable world than ever, neglecting proper environmental focus is problematic. Even when scientists understand the prominence of the Arctic and Antarctica to the globe, other people stop valuing climate change, abandoning certain values to protect, conserve and conduct research in these vulnerable ecosystems. There can be no lack of urgency in preserving these global indicators with the direction that the planet is heading.
As Earth deals with a litany of environmental issues, studying the poles may seem unimportant. After all, it makes more sense to pursue efforts where humans see the effects, and in turn, the benefits. With a lack of human habitation in the poles, mainstream society could argue that there are more pressing global issues, even environmental ones. However, this mindset doesn’t give the Arctic and Antarctic regions the global credibility they deserve. Yes, the Earth is divided by hemispheres, countries, states and towns, but they all still have something in common: This is one planet with a climate system that relies on both polar regions for regulation of the globe, and when climate change impacts them, it affects environments everywhere.
The New York Times recently sent a team of journalists and scientists to document climate, and its changes, in Antarctica. This is exactly the type of action needed: scientific and written collaboration in order to truthfully educate society on what’s going on in the poles. People need to be aware of the value the Arctic and Antarctic bring to ecosystems worldwide.
Currently, as President Donald Trump’s administration tries to take over Greenland, they are prioritizing political, industrial and military power in the Arctic region over its dire environmental situation and importance to climate change. Oil, rare earth elements and other natural resources lie in the Arctic, and the world is watching — not because of climate degradation, but because global warming is starting to reveal these treasures beneath the ice.
The Arctic and Antarctica may seem far away, but in reality, they bring global issues to a head. They are indicators of the past, present and future of the planet, and they deserve adequate attention and study before the ice is all gone. Society needs to comprehend that viable answers to the world’s looming concerns could very well lie in its abandoned ends.
Emma Margaron is an Opinion Columnist from Holland, Michigan who writes about science, the environment and justice in her column “Environment Everywhere.” She can be reached at margaron@umich.edu.
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