In the Warming Arctic Seas – Subhankar Banerjee

Following is an excerpt from the article, “In the Warming Arctic Seas,” published in the Summer 2015 Issue “Climate’s Cliff” of the World Policy Journal. To read the full article click here. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge I was standing in the back of the sled when it broke through the ice, plunging into the frigid water of the Hulahula River. Just …

Drilling & Nuclear Power in the Arctic by ROBERT HUNZIKER

In the farthest regions of the north, the Russians have already drilled, but the Americans are coming. Shell makes preparation to drill. So it is, the most distant Northern Hemisphere will never be the same. Not only that, but astonishingly, Russia is doubling down on its risky energy play with grandiose plans to power Arctic drill rigs with floating nuclear …

Mysterious affliction in Alaska polar bears suffering baldness and lesions; Rate spiked nearly 1,000% after Fukushima began — Gov’t: Ongoing reports of unusual number of ‘hairless seals’ with sores — “Seals continue to be reported with hair loss… it makes us nervous”

Alaska Dispatch News, Dec 11, 2014 (emphasis added): Polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea area are suffering hair loss due to a condition called alopecia syndrome… but the precise cause of that stress is yet to be determined, according to a new study… in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases… Over the study period, 3.45 percent of the bears examined had alopecia syndrome — [loss …

The Obama Administration, Shell, and the Fate of the Arctic Ocean

Here’s a Jeopardy!-style question for you: “Eight different species of whales can be seen in these two American seas.” Unless you’re an Iñupiaq, a marine biologist, or an Arctic enthusiast like me, it’s a pretty good guess that you can’t tell me what those seas are or what those whales are either. The answer: the Chukchi Sea and the adjacent Beaufort …