By Erica Dingman In a very broad sense the Arctic is predictably unpredictable. Temperatures in Anchorage, Alaska rose to a high of 86 F in June 2015 on a day with a historical average of 65 F. And the highly cited U.S. Geological Survey oil and gas report states that the Arctic region accounts for

By Will Becker On Tuesday June 23, World Policy Institute and the Government of Québec held a private breakfast and discussion featuring the Premier of Québec, Philippe Couillard. The event was part of the Arctic Deeply Roundtables initiative, which seeks to engage leading experts and investors on the most pressing issues of our time, including sustainable development

By Kevin McGwin  “It comes from here,” Anne-Sofie Hardenberg says, pointing to the small of her back with one hand while waving a chef’s knife at a box-shaped roast on a cutting board. We decide that if it had come from a pig, it would probably be a loin, or perhaps a rump roast. Hardenberg

By Tim Reilly With Shell obtaining its drilling license in the North American Arctic, and an increasing number of Asian countries applying for Observer status at the Arctic Council (AC), the shape and governance of the U.S. AC chairmanship is cause for both celebration and caution. Yet despite increased activity and attention being paid to

By Heidar Gudjonsson and Egill Thor Nielsson Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962), an Arctic explorer and anthropologist born in Canada to Icelandic parents and later a U.S. citizen, represents in many ways the internationality of today’s Arctic. Over half a century after his death and a century since his first Arctic expedition, the Harvard-educated proponent of a

By Willy Østreng  Until recently, international trade and shipping was closed off to the Arctic because of its harsh climatic conditions. However, in 1922, Arctic explorer Villjamur Stefansson projected this reality to change. “We have not come to the northward limits of communal progress. There is no northern boundary beyond which productive enterprise cannot go

By Sophie des Beauvais On August 2, 2007, the Russian expedition Arktika 2007 planted a Russian flag on the North Pole seabed, descending more than two miles under the ice cap in a pair of submersible vessels. Notably, one third of Russia lies within the Arctic Circle, a region full of natural energy that plays a

By Rob Huebert The Arctic faces a transformation of epic proportions. Formerly a region of isolation from the rest of the world, it was home to only a small number of northern inhabitants such as the Inuit, who had adapted to a very specialized way of life to live there. For the rest of humanity,

By Michael Byers How many Americans realize that one of their country’s most pristine maritime areas is threatened by the unregulated passage of more than 5,000 tankers and cargo ships each year? Since the Earth is a sphere, the shortest shipping route from the Northwest United States and Western Canada to China, Japan, and South

By Shauna Morgan It is often said that resource extraction is the “cornerstone“ of northern Canadian economies. The gritty pursuit of minerals, oil, and gas shaped a ‘frontier’ culture, and in the modern era is said to be the only way northerners—particularly indigenous people—can make a decent living, despite the environmental trade-offs. Indeed, perhaps more