North looks set for pole position

IN April 2006, a businessman shot a strange animal on Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic, having paid $45,000 for the privilege of doing so.

The victim turned out to be a ‘grizzlar’, the offspring of a female polar bear and a grizzly which had wandered far north of its normal range.

In 2010, another hybrid was shot. For Laurence Smith, these incidents are prophetic. As the Doha Climate Conference demonstrated, governments worldwide have no intention of grasping the greenhouse gas nettle. As we head towards climate catastrophe, what kind of world will emerge? Smith’s The New North, the World in 2050 is one vision of the future.