It’s a new year. With a new year comes the opportunity for a fresh start, a way to promise to do better and turn over a new leaf. Here in Alaska, the government is considering a fresh start for Alaska’s oil spill prevention and response regulations. Strong regulations help ensure that oil stays out of Alaska waters and off of Alaska’s coastlines. But, I’m concerned that instead of strengthening these regulations, the government will weaken oil spill prevention and put our waters and coastline in harm’s way. Rolling back oil spill prevention regulations would put Alaska’s ocean and coasts at ri ..read more

Grandmothers. The matriarchs of family units, our female elders are some of the most influential individuals in our lives, both as children and as we grow into our own in adulthood. Could this special dynamic be present in other species besides humans? This question became a prominent topic of discussion in the science community in early December, when a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, specifically focused on a fascinating finding: Data suggests the theory that orca grandmothers play a crucial role in helping their grandchildren survive. Let’s dive int ..read more

Eight more companies agreed this week not to ship goods through the Arctic Ocean and signed the Arctic Corporate Shipping Pledge launched by Ocean Conservancy and Nike in October 2019. We’re pleased to announce that the new signatories include Ralph Lauren Corporation, Kuehne + Nagel, PUMA, International Direct Packaging, Allbirds, Aritzia, Hudson Shipping Lines and Bureo. Study after study reveals the accelerating impact of climate change on the Arctic marine environment. In 2019, Arctic sea ice declined to its second-lowest summer extent on record, covering just 4.15 million square kilometer ..read more

New shipping lanes open as summer sea ice decreases. Wildfires spread as tundra thaws and forests dry out. Marine debris clumps on rocky shores. Global change is visibly changing Arctic ocean and coastal environments. And at the same time, invisible changes are accumulating. Ten years ago, parts of the cold, wind-tossed Arctic Ocean crossed an ocean acidification threshold. Ice melt and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere made surface seawater chemistry hostile to calcium carbonate minerals, naturally found in the shells of bivalves, marine snails, and some plankton. Ocean acidification in the ..read more

When you think of Arctic animals, there are probably a few that come to mind. You likely picture distinctive critters like polar bears, puffins or narwhals—which is great! These animals deserve to be celebrated. But what about the less charismatic species? The Arctic is packed with weird and wonderful animals, many of whom are found below the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. Today, we’re taking a moment to recognize some of the lesser-known fish that call the ocean home. Read on to meet some of the Arctic’s most unusual fishy residents. Salmon Shark (Lamna ditropis) © Alaska Department of Fi ..read more

Few animals capture the imagination like the thirteen species of great whales, but only recently have we really considered how crucial their conservation is to our fight against climate change. As the International Maritime Organization (IMO) meets this week in London, Ocean Conservancy is working as part of the Clean Shipping Coalition to persuade delegates to adopt a critical measure that would reduce ship speeds. By doing so, we can both address the sector’s staggering greenhouse gas emissions and help these remarkable animals play their part in protecting our ocean and climate. To understa ..read more

For many people, September means the kids are back in school, football season is underway, and the end of summer has come. For Arctic scientists, it is also the time of year that sea ice in the northern hemisphere reaches its minimum extent. This year, scientists announced Arctic sea ice reached its minimum on September 18, when ice covered just 4.15 million square kilometers. Thanks to a slower decline in sea ice extent in the later part of the summer, the Arctic did not end up breaking the all-time record this year. Although the sea ice minimum was not lower than in the 3.4 million square ki ..read more

As the Arctic goes, so goes the world. That line echoes in my mind as I grapple with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate” (SROCC) released this week. It came just after the United Nations Climate Action Summit 2019 in New York and coincides with seven-day Climate Strike that brought hundreds of thousands of youth activists together across 150 countries. © Steve EasonThe SROCC report matters because for once it centers on the vulnerability of our ocean as well as the frozen parts of our planet called the cryosphere. T ..read more

My home state of Alaska is on fire—both figuratively and literally. More than 2 million acres of forest have burned this year, making 2019 one of the worst fire years Alaska has ever experienced. Already, more acreage has burned than in all of the devastating fires in California last year. These fires are direct evidence of climate change, which is causing thawing tundra, drying forests and thunderstorms that cause or exacerbate the fires. They also contribute directly to making climate change worse by releasing millions of tons of stored greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In addition, the ..read more

Summer can be a time of change, especially as people venture out on vacation or get out of school. It’s a time of change for the Arctic, too, especially when it comes to sea ice. As summer progresses, you might hear some talk about the Arctic sea ice minimum. Before the news reports flood in, we’re here to explain a little bit of background of what the sea ice minimum actually is, how it’s changed over time and what it means for the Arctic—and the world. So, what is the sea ice minimum? We all know that warmer temperatures melt ice. So it’s no surprise that an icy place like the Arctic experie ..read more