Read 'n' Seed 5: Fourth Quarter of "Silent Snow"

I have been reading Silent Snow by Marla Cone, for this read 'n' seed I finished the book reading pages 191-233.

This section of the book was all about solutions and predictions for the future. A chapter was all about a gathering of hundreds of scientists from all over the world at the Polar Environmental Centre in Tromso, Norway. They all had to decide what kind of harm arctic contaminants are doing to the artcic animals and people, then later present their findings to the environmental ministers of the eight arctic nations. This was a very long grueling process, since they had to condense such a high magnitude of information and thousands of pages of research down to just a few pages. 

This section of the book also explained new contaminants that have been rising around the world in the last decade. These include fire retardents that are being used on electronics and household item, especially furniture. Many countries have begun to ban the production of these new items, a small positive step taken, but they are still parts all over the world. A lot of popular furniture manufacturers, including IKEA, have vowed themselves to no longer produce any  of these materials.

There are a lot of implications to society for this section of the book. First, the U.S. was one of the original countries to develop the country-wide ban on the many fire retardent materials. However, once it was finshed they did not sign it, and became the one arctic nation that had not signed it. It was said that Preisdent Bush personally made the decision not to join in. Also, many scientists are dismayed that scoiety has learned nothing from the toxic legacies of the past and appears destined to repeat them over and over. Only the names of the chemicals change.