305 Ángel Gómez de Ágreda Climate Change in the Arctic: Beyond the North Pole The change that we are referring to implies simply a displacement of climatic conditions according to a multitude of factors. Nothing is created or destroyed, but rather a transformation is taking place of the specific circumstances of each zone or region. What is relevant in the phenomenon of climate change is precisely that variation, which will bring about the need for the vegetal and animal species to adapt to the new scenarios; and obviously human beings also, both as individuals and as a social group. The fact that the change relates to a global factor such as climate describes the very essence of the change (global in its literal sense, meaning that it takes in the whole extension of our earthly globe). Nevertheless, that same globality of change requires that it be studied in the system as a whole, and not just in a specific region, or confined to a single aspect of this global phenomenon. The importance of this horizontal (in terms of its geographical extension) and vertical (with regard to the associated phenomenona) vision of the whole becomes evident when it comes to identifying the risks which human activity will be subject to –directly or indirectly– and discovering the opportunities that the transformation of current parameters presents worldwide. The inability to disassociate phenomenona and geographical zones could lead to partial viewpoints that will tend to be excessively optimistic or pessimistic, and, in any case, insufficiently grounded in reality. Such targeted studies may well bring about the identification of concrete circumstances that will affect a specific zone or group of regions that will be affected by a given phenomenon; but they will always be insufficient in deciding which will be the most effective lines of activity in order to mitigate such effects and in identifying the opportunities that will gradually appear as meteorological variables begin to modify. It is necessary to analyse reality in its changing environment if we are aiming to achieve a realistic, or, at least, plausible image of the future, so it is not possible for us to keep variables fixed in order to test the evolution of the rest. This dynamic analysis may give rise to an apparently disjointed discourse on account of the overlap of considerations, but, like in an impressionist painting, the vision of all the points in their entirety should allow us distinguish the images being traced. The direct effects of climate change on the Arctic ice floe are, probably, those with the greatest impact at local level. They are also the ones that will bring about the greatest consequences on a universal scale. Many of these variations are looked upon by humans as adverse to their interests, others consider them to be an advantage and others will infer repercussions yet to be revealed. In all cases, however, these are merely Region”, Oxford Bibliographies, 24 July 2013. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/ obo-9780199796953/obo-9780199796953-0090.xml?rskey=k1k4Ox&result=5&q
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