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[ISL] "Last mammoths on Alaska island likely died of thirst"
CBC reported on the grim findings of the researchers who determined why the mammoths of Alaska's Saint Paul Island, last of their kind, died out.
St. Paul Island's mammoths were a vulnerable population that probably never numbered more than 30, [one researcher] estimates. Pinpointing the cause of their extinction "just sort of underscores the ( Read more... ) -
[LINK] "#SpeakGwichinToMe: Using social media to reclaim language"
CBC notes a social media campaign intended to revive an indigenous language of Canada, Gwich'in.
A Gwich'in woman is using social media to get people speaking one of the most endangered languages in Canada ( Read more... ) -
[LINK] On the impending defrosting of the permafrost of Alaska
The Dragon's Tales linked to Andrea Thompson's Scientific American report noting that the Alaska permafrost is set to melt, with potentially catastrophic results for climate.
Up to a quarter of the permafrost that lies just under the ground surface in Alaska could thaw by the end of the century, releasing long-trapped carbon that could make its ( Read more... ) -
[LINK] "Greenland May Seek UN Climate Deal Opt-Out Amid Emissions Goal"
Bloomberg's Peter Levring explains what I think is Greenland's perfectly justifiable exemption from the global climate deal. The major issue is that other Arctic areas lacking comparable near-independent states--Russia, the United States, and Canada come to mind--can't claim this.
The ink hasn’t yet dried on the UN climate accord and one of the ( Read more... ) -
[LINK] National Geographic on the melting ice cellars of the Arctic
Eli Kintisch's National Geographic report notes one minor, but still life-complicating, change in Alaska consequent to global warming.
Building an underground ice cellar to store bowhead whale and other meat in Barrow, Alaska, is no small task. Even in the summertime, permafrost is hard as a rock a foot or so below the surface ( Read more... ) -
[LINK] "Amid US-Russia chill, Natives struggle to connect across Maritime border"
Al Jazeera America's Ryan Schuessler notes how the Aleuts of the Bering Strait area, who in the two decades after the end of the Cold War began to restore their ties, are now facing division as Russian-American relations deteriorate.
Patricia Lekanoff-Gregory remembers when a delegation of American Unangax flew to Russia’s Komandorski Islands to ( Read more... ) -
[LINK] "Obama's Denali Divide"
Jonathan Bernstein at Bloomberg View takes a look at the controversy surrounding the restoration of Denali as the name of the highest peak in Alaska.
For decades, this has been a low-profile dispute pitting Ohio Republicans (who have been loyal to the assassinated president from the Buckeye State) against Alaskans of all political stripes -- most ( Read more... ) -
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
- The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about the simple pleasures of her life.
- Centauri Dreams discusses 2014 MU69.
- The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper suggesting that less that 0.3% of galaxies could host Kardashev III civilizations.
- Kieran Healy shares his paper "Fuck Nuance."
- Joe. My. God. notes the unhappiness of one American conservative with the ( Read more... )
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[LINK] On Rhodiola rosea agriculture in Alaska
In her Slate article "The Soviet Military Secret That Could Become Alaska’s Most Valuable Crop", Sarah Laskow took a look at an apparent upsurge in interest in Alaska in cultivating Rhodiola rosea as a cash crop suited for the harsh climate.
Al Poindexter’s front yard in the south-central plain of Alaska has been taken over by a spread of more ( Read more... ) -
[LINK] "Kamchatka, Home to Russian Version of Alaska’s Iditarod, Frets Over Growth"
Neil MacFarqhar in- The New York Times took an intruiging look at Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, positioning the remote territory as being on the verge of being the next Alaska.
When Vladislav Revenok, an Orthodox priest, first participated in the obscure Russian version of Alaska’s Iditarod, he found himself in places so isolated that he was mobbed ( Read more... ) - The New York Times took an intruiging look at Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, positioning the remote territory as being on the verge of being the next Alaska.