Arctic permafrost is melting at an increasing rate, impacting lives and jeopardizing the planet’s future. Photographer Katie Orlinsky has documented this drastic shift in Siberia and Alaska
Category Archives: Alaska
‘He really packed on the pounds’: Fat Bear Week crowns 747 the winner
747, one of more than 2,200 brown bears roaming Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, won after a week of online voting
In Alaska’s annual battle of furry heavyweights, a salmon-chomping bruin nicknamed 747 – like the jumbo jet - has emerged as the people’s choice as the most fabulously fat.
The bear, one of more than 2,200 brown bears roaming Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, was victorious late Tuesday after a week of frenzied online voting (by humans) in what has become an international sensation: Fat Bear Week.
Continue reading...Tsunami warning sirens ring out after 7.8-magnitude quake in Alaska – video
An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck off the south-east coast of the Alaskan peninsula on Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The quake, whose focus was at a depth of 10 km (six miles), prompted the US National Tsunami Warning Center to issue a tsunami warning for the region - with many residents on social media posting videos of alert sirens ringing out in their areas.
The Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami warning was in effect for South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula, Pacific coasts from Kennedy Entrance, Alaska to Unimak Pass, Alaska
Continue reading...Most polar bears to disappear by 2100, study predicts
Melting Arctic sea ice could cause starvation and reproductive failure for many as early as 2040, scientists warn
Scientists have predicted for the first time when, where and how polar bears are likely to disappear, warning that if greenhouse gas emissions stay on their current trajectory all but a few polar bear populations in the Arctic will probably be gone by 2100.
By as early as 2040, it is very likely that many polar bears will begin to experience reproductive failure, leading to local extinctions, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.
Continue reading...Into the Wild abandoned bus airlifted from Alaska back country – video
An abandoned bus in the Alaska back country, made popular by the book Into the Wild and film of the same name, was airlifted on Thursday as a public safety measure.
The bus has long attracted adventurers to the area, which is affected by unpredictable weather and sometimes swollen rivers where some have had to be rescued or have died.
The Alaska army national guard moved the bus as part of a training mission 'at no cost to the public or additional cost to the state' using a heavy-lift helicopter
Continue reading...Abandoned bus made famous by movie Into the Wild removed by Alaska authorities
Helicopter removed the bus where adventurer Christopher McCandless died of starvation in 1992, to prevent others trying to reach it
An abandoned bus in the Alaska back country, popularized by the book Into the Wild and movie of the same name, was removed on Thursday as a public safety measure, state officials said.
The bus has long attracted adventurers to an area without cellphone service and marked by unpredictable weather and at-times swollen rivers. Some have had to be rescued or have died. Christopher McCandless, the subject of the book and movie, died of starvation there in 1992.
Continue reading...Americans reportedly find ‘loophole’ to violate Canada’s Covid-19 border closure
Officials investigating reports that US citizens are crossing border on pretext of visiting Alaska, only to stay in Canada
For some Americans, the prospect of visiting the Rocky Mountains without hordes of visitors cramming its picturesque trails and alpine towns, is so tempting that they’re prepared to risk arrest.
Canadian officials are investigating reports that American tourists are making covert forays into the country, violating a border closure imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Continue reading...Dentist who pulled teeth while riding hoverboard is grounded
Unconventional extraction concerned only one of the 46 charges for which Dr Seth Lookhart was convicted in Alaska
Those who feel a little queasy going to the dentist will have further cause for concern, after a practitioner was convicted for extracting teeth on a sedated patient while on a hoverboard.
Related: Trump impeachment: Democrats decry 'White House-driven and rigged process' – live
Continue reading...Pacific seals at risk as Arctic ice melt lets deadly disease spread from Atlantic
Study finds seal and sea otter populations in Alaska hit by killer infection that migrated from North Atlantic
A potentially deadly disease affecting marine mammals, including seals and sea otters, has been passed from the North Atlantic Ocean to the northern Pacific thanks to the melting of the Arctic sea ice.
Experts have long been concerned that sea ice melting in the northern oceans, caused by global climate heating, could allow previously geographically limited diseases to be transmitted between the two oceans.
Continue reading...‘We depend on the Tongass’: Alaskans fight to save US’s largest national forest
Tribal leaders to testify before Congress in battle against Trump administration’s assault on environmental protections
Tribal leaders, fishermen and environmentalists from Alaska will testify before Congress on Wednesday in a bid to save America’s biggest national forest – the latest battle against the Trump administration’s assault on environmental protections.
The Tongass national forest, one of the world’s last intact temperate rainforests which plays a crucial role in fighting the climate crisis, is under threat of logging as Alaska seeks exemption from the Roadless Rule, which protects millions of acres of pristine forests across the US. The Tongass is considered the “crown jewel” of the national forest system, sequestering huge amounts of carbon dioxide to keep the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere.
Continue reading...Trump opens protected Alaskan Arctic refuge to oil drillers
The Bureau of Land Management will offer leases to the 1.6m-acre coastal plain which is home to threatened polar bears
The Trump administration is finalizing plans to allow oil and gas drilling in a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that has been protected for decades.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will offer leases on essentially the entire 1.6m-acre coastal plain, which includes places where threatened polar bears have dens and porcupine caribou visit for calving. Drilling operations are expected to be problematic for Indigenous populations, many of which rely on subsistence hunting and fishing.
Continue reading...‘Unprecedented’: more than 100 Arctic wildfires burn in worst ever season
Huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia and Alaska are producing plumes of smoke that can be seen from space
The Arctic is suffering its worst wildfire season on record, with huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia and Alaska producing plumes of smoke that can be seen from space.
The Arctic region has recorded its hottest June ever. Since the start of that month, more than 100 wildfires have burned in the Arctic circle. In Russia, 11 of 49 regions are experiencing wildfires.
Continue reading...Australian man one of six dead after midair seaplane collision in Alaska
Four Americans and a Canadian also among those killed after crash involving cruise ship sightseeing planes
An Australian man has been confirmed as among six people killed after two sightseeing seaplanes crashed midair in Alaska.
Four Americans and one Canadian were also among those killed when two planes carrying 16 people – including the two pilots – collided and plunged into the icy cold waters of a inlet near the south-eastern Alaskan town of Ketchikan on Monday, the US coast guard said.
Continue reading...‘Essential first step’: Congress moves to act on crisis of violence against Native women
Senator Lisa Murkowksi tells the Guardian ‘justice was not there’ for indigenous families, but says change is coming
For generations, the deaths and disappearances of Native American women and girls have haunted Indian country. Despite the alarming number of indigenous women who vanish each year from tribal land, rural communities and cities, there is no official accounting of the murdered and missing.
Now, amid a growing demand for answers in the era of #MeToo, political momentum is building on Capitol Hill to finally address these tragedies – and to prevent future ones.
Continue reading...Trump’s EPA wants to put a toxic mine in pristine Alaska. What could go wrong? | Kim Heacox
Pebble Mine is just the latest story of greedy men exploiting nature for profit, and leaving us with the nasty side-effects
Back in my youth, while in Montana, I came across Berkeley Pit, called “the richest hill on earth.” There, churches and historic neighborhoods were bulldozed to expand the pit so greedy men could make their fortunes mining copper, silver and gold. After the riches were extracted, and problems arose, those men absolved themselves of any wrongdoing, and left. Over time, the mine closed and the pit began to fill with an acidic brew so toxic that when snow geese landed there, they died. As it threatened Montana’s groundwater, the pit became an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) superfund site that would cost American taxpayers billions of dollars for generations.
I fear the same awaits Alaska’s Pebble Mine, a nightmare proposed by the Canadian mining company, Northern Dynasty. Don’t be fooled by the name. For many Alaskans, Pebble is a boulder on their heart. If built, it would be a massive pit one mile in diameter and 600ft deep. It would obliterate 3,500 acres of wetlands and 80-plus miles of salmon streams, and produce an estimated 10 billion tons of waste. Earthen dams would hold back toxic mine tailings, all in earthquake country, in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, the richest sockeye salmon run in the world. What could go wrong?
Continue reading...Meet the 88-year-old powering his insurgent 2020 bid with teens
Fueled by the ambition of two teenagers, ex-Alaska senator Mike Gravel is running for president with the explicit intention of entering Democratic debates
In 2008’s Democratic race for the White House, a little-known former senator from Alaska, Mike Gravel, barnstormed the party debates, railing against America’s foreign wars and slamming his rival candidates as elitists out-of-touch with ordinary Americans.
Related: Who is running for president? The full list of 2020 Democratic candidates
Continue reading...Alaska GOP to weigh potential action against Murkowski
Alaska Republican party leaders plan to consider whether to reprimand U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski for opposing Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation.
GOP response to Murkowski shows why most Alaska voters are independent
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski forgot to ask Tuckerman Babcock, the head of the Republican Party, for his instructions on how she should vote on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Fairbanks Native woman among those who protested Judge Kavanaugh in Washington, D.C.
Rina Kowalski stands with other Alaska women who traveled to Washington, D.C., to protest the Kavanaugh nomination and share their stories.
Collins and Murkowski offer contrast on Kavanaugh vote
Longtime friends and Republican senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins displayed vastly different styles Friday, reaching opposite conclusions on the crucial question of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. Murkowski, in her fourth term representing Alaska, quietly uttered a single word - "no" - as she turned against President Donald Trump's choice for a seat on the high court.