Treasure in the Ground
Treasure in the Ground. Creased paper, photographed. 2021.
There is no doubt that if Antarctica was warmer, more accessible and more friendly to the persistence of life, human beings would have long ago colonised it and begun the wholesale extraction of its many resources. Although not regularly expressed, let alone admitted, a primary justification for the ongoing presence of human beings in Antarctica might be laid out thus: the protection of the continent from the exploitation of its perceived resources by other human groups, an activity which, politically speaking, amplifies the rights of the former over the latter, in laying claim to said deposits at some future time (once all the ice has melted, perhaps). In other words, given the known giant mineral wealth secreted beneath the ice cap, it may transpire that the word “protection” in this instance has a double and contradictory meaning; the ongoing presence of scientists and military personnel on the continent, who could potentially carry out their work in other places in the world that are cheaper, easier and safer to get to, provide, either explicitly or as a convenient side benefit, rationale for the expense of keeping them there, because of the future cash value of what lays on and in the ground.
This is not to say that there are not very intentioned people who go to Antarctica both to protect it in the real sense, but also to learn from it, because I know some of them and they are the vast majority. Nevertheless, if we are considering the definition of what Antarctican peace means to northeners, it would not be unfair, nor unreasonable, given the feverish history of human extractive industries, to wonder if “peace” is defined here in political terms, or really does mean “left alone; in peace”.
The above object is presented for the contemplation of this question.
