By Erica Dingman “Necessity is the mother of invention,” says Chris Rose, CEO of Renewable Energy Alaska Program (REAP), which he founded in 2004. “We have to continue to innovate.” Indeed innovation in renewables may be critical for meeting Alaska’s future economic, environmental, and energy needs. For his part, Rose has championed the benefits of

This is the second in a two-part series about Arctic exploration in the 1970s and 1980s. Read part one, which describes Alaska’s oil rush, here. By Frank Geisel In the late 1970s, a projection of an oil boom offshore Alaska pointed toward unprecedented commercial marine traffic. Envisioned fleets of massive icebreaking tankers would transit to

By Frank Geisel In an era of big growth (commonly observed as massive corporate exploitation of natural resources without much thought about the intended or unintended consequences), decisions and gambles were made based on the available data and the risk tolerance of high-rollers in the oil and gas industry. Today, we have “big data” and

Sergey Rusanov / Russia The Global Arctic Awards host a yearly international photography competition featuring Arctic and Northern images. A panel of judges considers submissions in a wide range of categories, including landscapes, wildlife, and ethnography, as well as more specific categories such as northern lights or iceberg images. The images showcase the diversity of

By Terry Audla  Access to affordable and nutritious food across Canada’s Inuit communities is a longstanding problem. Traditional foods, once the backbone of Inuit nutrition and cultural cohesion associated with hunting and sharing, are increasingly impacted by numerous factors not limited to climate change and  contamination of local food sources as a result of pollutants

By Laurel Jarombek Ice Watch, an installation art project by artist Olafur Eliasson and professor of geology Minik Thorleif Rosing, opened in Paris at Place du Panthéon on Dec. 3. As World Policy Journal previewed last month, Ice Watch comprises twelve pieces of glacier ice from off the coast of Nuuk, Greenland, weighing 80 metric

By Arne Riedel and Katherine Weingartner In an age when technology is often seen as a part of everyday life, it can be easy to forget that not everyone has equal access to technology. The Arctic is a prime example of a region in which access to technology is a significant challenge for a number

By Beth Brown Dispute typically corresponds with discord, civil argument, and difference of opinion. In the Arctic, dispute corresponds with collaboration and compromise. This hasn’t always been the case. Foreign policy in the north has seen a gradual transition over the last half dozen decades, from Cold War-induced apprehension to a continuing trend of circumpolar

By Laurel Jarombek The 2015 Paris Climate Conference, also known as COP21, is rapidly approaching. The 21st annual assembly to be held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 will bring together representatives of member countries of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which came into effect in 1994. The main goal of this

By Kevin McGwin Greenpeace is known for a lot of things. Many of them good. But among those who spend their time thinking about the Arctic, it is perhaps most closely associated with the disastrous impacts its efforts to stop Canada’s commercial seal harvest had on the Inuit and their ability to make a living