Mashable: Through Sept. 11 of this year, the Arctic -- which serves a crucial role as the Northern Hemisphere's refrigerator -- lost an area of sea ice nearly equal to the states of Texas, California, Montana and New Mexico combined. This led to the fourth-lowest sea ice extent on record since satellite data began in 1979, continuing the long-term decline in summertime ice cover throughout the Arctic.
Both the southerly route of the famed Northwest Passage through Canada and the Northern Sea Route north...