Geo-engineering the Earth’s Atmosphere: Is Seward’s Icebox Becoming America’s Oven?
Mickey Glantz
January 5, 2011
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
This is a story in three parts.
1) In 1867, the US bought Alaska from the Russian Empire for $7.2 million in gold. Here’s a photo of the original check used to pay for it. 
At the time, opponents of the purchase labeled it Seward’s Folly. William Seward was then the US Secretary of State, and he negotiated the sale. The land that he purchased (now Alaska) was then a territory completely unexplored by any but its native populations. It was perceived by the American public as being little more than a cold, snow-covered tundra, inhospitable to any possible future human settlement. Hence, Seward’s Folly. (more…)