ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some cases that represent real-life applications of both sides of the environmental security definition: how climate change is motivating security concerns in an undeveloped region of the world, and how extreme events cause security challenges in a developed nation. For the average human being, the Arctic is an inaccessible region inhabited mainly by walruses, polar bears, Santa Claus, Eskimos, and Survivorman. Named for the bear, arktos in Greek, the Arctic is a large region that represents an interestingly variable expanse of Earth's surface. The essential question for the case is to ask how anthropomorphic climate change has begun to change the Arctic region and how those changes may be creating security challenges for the United States. Generally, climate change has produced shorter winter seasons, less ice cover, and warmer temperatures in the Arctic. Complicating the political nature of the Arctic region is the fact that nations disagree on what the Arctic region represents geopolitically.
