The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska MSN – Powerful Alaska Storm to Rival Strongest on Record A potent storm that will cross the Aleutian Islands of Alaska this weekend could become the strongest recorded storm to impact the region. Audubon – The Inside Story of Shell’s Arctic Assault A months-long investigation shows how the energy giant pressured the Interior Department during the company’s gung-ho Arctic push—and got most of what it wanted (except oil). ADN – Fairbanks couple’s Internet-controlled Christmas lights are back (even I need some light hearted news now and then) For six years, Ken and Rebecca-Ellen Woods have set up Christmas lights at their home in…
The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska ADN.com – Walker administration asks 9th Circuit to pause same-sex marriage appeal pending Supreme Court ruling News that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the fate of same-sex marriages means Alaska is pressing pause on its ongoing challenge to the decision allowing marriage equality in the state. NPR.org – Welcome To Whittier, Alaska, A Community Under One Roof Whittier, Alaska, is a sleepy town on the west side of Prince William Sound, tucked between picturesque mountains. But if you’re picturing a small huddle of houses, think again. Instead, on the edge of town, there stands a 14-story building called Begich Towers…
Starfish Horror Show on PBS Newshour
Like something out of a ecological horror film star starfish are literally tearing themselves apart. A disease that has yet to be classified causes the starfish arms to twist and then rip away from the rest of the body allowing its insides to pour out. Scientists are currently researching what may cause it. Before you go screaming Fukushima read this article from DeepSeaNews.com – it’s been happening long before that. Studies so far believe that there is likely a viral connection. The disease, whatever it is, effects many different types of starfish, though doesn’t seem to spread through close contact. A…
Study Will Not Avert the Crisis
. One of our most dangerous self-deceptions these days is the belief that simply studying the impacts of climate change will somehow avert the crisis. It won’t. Studying climate change will not keep one carbon atom out of the global atmosphere. We already know enough about the disastrous impacts of climate change to know that we need to take bold, urgent action to solve it, and we know exactly what steps to take. Yet many in government, industry, and academia continue to insist that more study is needed before we take difficult steps to solve the crisis. Scientific uncertainty is…
Chasing Ice
It’s always curious to hear protests from the Lower 48 insisting that climate change is a hoax, especially when one lives down the road from glaciers that aren’t—shall we say—what they used to be. I remember when I first moved to Alaska, back in 1991. One of my first “touristy” destinations was Portage Glacier. It’s just a quick drive down the Seward Highway from Anchorage. You could take a quick boat ride up to the face of the glacier, but I pulled up to the Begich-Boggs Visitors’ Center, got out of the car, and spent my time instead wandering the…
Oyster Roundup!
Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more… Palin Quits for Jury Duty? She’ll quit on Republican women’s groups, she’ll quit on pro-life fundraisers, she’ll quit on CPAC, she’ll quit on four colleges, she’ll quit on the great state of Alaksa. Frank Bailey said that trying to get Sarah Palin to commit to anything was like “nailing Jell-O to a tree.” So I found it interesting that her sudden affinity for commitment was for something that everyone else tries to get out of – jury duty. Considering that jury duty comes with a couple…