HVOLSVOLLUR, ICELAND (AMP) – Even as ash from last week’s spectacular Iclandic volcano eruption continues to spew ash into the atmosphere and ground Europe’s airspace, Vatican sources today confirmed that the pope has dispatched Sister Serena Serghetti to the Arctic to investigate.
Dubbed “Mother Earth” by the media for her environmental extremism and supermodel looks, Dr. Serghetti, 27, is a representative of the Australia-Antarctica Preservation Society and an advisor to the environmental committee of the United Nations Antarctica Commission (UNACOM).
In recent months she has shifted her attention from the bottom of the world to the top of the world as nations race to lay claims to minerals and other energy caches beneath the ice cap.
“The explosion of commercial exploration in the area has only hastened the devastating effects of global warming toward an ice-free Arctic,” she is quoted as saying before departing Sunday, noting a spike in Russian claims and operations. “If the Russians are mining the Arctic, they’ll have to answer to me, the United Nations and God.”
Days after the eruption of Iceland’s glacier-covered Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted, volcanic activity has actually intensified and the plume of ash has risen seven miles into the sky stretched to cover Europe and ground flights for days, stranding millions of travelers.
Airlines have been quick to point out to angry passengers that this “act of God” is “something entirely beyond our control,” even as they push aviation authorities to begin test flights into the ash clouds.
For Sister Serena Serghetti, it’s Deja Vu all over again.
Six years ago seismic activity in Antarctica sent the Vatican official to Antarctica, where glaciers the size of California were breaking off and sending horrific tsunamis across the Southern Ocean that killed hundreds of thousands in Indonesia.
Serghetti had accused the Americans of secret military activities in the interior that caused the breakup of the ice pack. But her final report to UNACOM concluded the tremblers were caused by “natural phenomena.”
