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- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Building a Home for Labrador’s Inuit Cultural Revival
Construction is wrapping up on the Illusuak Cultural Centre, a striking wooden structure being built on the shores of the North Atlantic in Nain, Canada, to celebrate the region’s Inuit heritage.
- Research
- Articles
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Uncovering Clues About the Arctic’s Past Climate in Old Whaling Logs
Arctic cruise passengers are being enlisted to help analyze logbooks kept by whalers nearly two centuries ago in an effort to better understand how sea ice in the region has shrunk.
- Energy & Natural Resources
- Environment
- Infrastructure
- Articles
- General
Proposed Port and Road in Canada’s Central Arctic Raise Caribou Concerns
Nunavut is pushing for federal cash to help advance a mining project that would bring badly needed jobs to the territory’s northwest. But critics – including territorial government biologists – worry about the impact on a nearby barren-ground caribou herd.
- Research
- Articles
- General
Canada’s New Arctic Research Facility Prepares to Open
The Canadian High Arctic Research Station in Cambridge Bay will serve as a base for scientists studying everything from the region’s changing cryosphere to how to best deploy renewable energy projects in northern communities.
- Economy
- Energy & Natural Resources
- Articles
- General
Canada Looks to Build Another Road to Nowhere
Canada’s self-proclaimed environmentalist prime minister has taken a page out of the playbook of his conservative predecessor by cozying up to northern mining interests, writes Mia Bennett, a research fellow in the Department of Geography at UCLA.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
The Case for Creating a Saami Art Museum
A playful experiment performed at Norway’s Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum earlier this year saw the entire premises temporarily transformed into a museum dedicated to Saami art. Now there’s a push underway to create something longer lasting.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Romantic Notions About the Arctic Must Not Forget Indigenous Rights
Canadians’ perceptions of the Arctic are sometimes out of sync with the political and legal realities of the governance of the region, says Danita Catherine Burke, a postdoc at the University of Southern Denmark.
- Environment
- Research
- Articles
- General
What’s in a Name: Hunting the Lichens of the Canadian High Arctic
A recent research expedition should help scientists better understand the botanical diversity of Canada’s rapidly warming Arctic, writes the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Paul Sokoloff.
- Environment
- Research
- Articles
- General
How Rapid Climate Change on Greenland Will Affect Us All
Greenland is an important cog in the global climate system. It’s also especially vulnerable to climate change, writes Kathryn Adamson, a senior lecturer in physical geography at Manchester Metropolitan University.
- Environment
- Research
- Articles
- General
Canary in the Arctic Coal Mine: Warming Harms Migratory Birds
As Arctic snows melt earlier in the year, insects are emerging ahead of schedule. That’s bad news for some migratory songbirds, such as the red knot, that depend on the bugs as fuel before their long flights south.
- Northern People & Health
- Solutions
- Articles
- General
Nunavut’s Capital Aims to Curb Alcoholism by Liberalizing Access
Opening a beer and wine store isn’t an obvious approach to addressing a community’s devastating relationship with drinking. But Iqaluit is taking that step in the hope of reducing consumption of bootlegged hard liquor.
- Northern People & Health
- Research
- Articles
- General
How Are We Now? Inuit Health Survey Returns to Nunavik
A health survey of Inuit communities in northern Quebec found widespread food insecurity and other problems 13 years ago. A follow-up now underway will see how much things have changed.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
No PAME No Gain for Indigenous Groups
The Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment working group gives Indigenous voices a meaningful say over sustainable solutions, making it a model worth emulating, says Steven Fry, a master’s student in international studies from the University of Washington.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
A Look at Russian Reindeer Herders’ Battle with the Bottle
Nenets reindeer herders have some counterintuitive strategies to lessen the harm of heavy drinking, but these approaches are creating problems as nomads settle into villages.
- Northern People & Health
- Solutions
- Articles
- General
Introducing a Saami-Centered Solution to Substance Abuse
The Saami Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Mental Health and Substance Use has found success in a strategy that leans heavily on exposing its clients to the outdoors.
- Articles
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Greenland, the Land of Ice and Snow, Hit By Wildfire
Scientists are not sure what to make of an unprecedented fire raging in western Greenland, but they suspect it is another sign of the impact of climate change in the Arctic.
- Northern People & Health
- Solutions
- Articles
- General
Robots to the Rescue? Drones Could Help With Arctic Search Operations
McGill University’s Climate Change Adaptation Research Group is looking at the potential for using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to assist with search-and-rescue operations in Canada’s eastern Arctic.
- Geopolitics & Security
- Articles
- General
Valuable Lessons About Russia From the Bear’s Role in the Arctic
Russia sometimes behaves badly, but Arctic politics shows us there is a way to work multilaterally with the country, writes Andrew Chater, an expert in Arctic governance with the Polar Research and Policy Initiative, a U.K. think-tank.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Arctic Food: Window to the Past, Key to the Future
NUNATSIAQ NEWS: Circumpolar food culture could be key to ensuring Indigenous northern peoples’ survival, so the Arctic Council has prepared a compendium to help capture this traditional knowledge.
- Infrastructure
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Proposed Arctic Railway Would Cut Through Lapland Reindeer Habitat
A new railway project would help Finland and Norway take advantage of melting sea ice to ship products from the Arctic coast. But Indigenous communities fear the rail line would disrupt their reindeer herding traditions.
- Environment
- Research
- Articles
- General
Unexpected Life Found at the Bottom of High Arctic Lakes
Warmer temperatures mean the Canadian High Arctic’s shallow lakes are no longer freezing to the bottom, allowing tiny creatures to thrive. Researchers predict these new conditions will be inhospitable to fish and will produce more greenhouse gases.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Battling Botulism: Care Urged While Preparing Traditional Arctic Foods
Raw meat is a delicacy in many northern communities, but warming temperatures may be contributing to deadly outbreaks of botulism. Residents are learning to adapt while keeping ancient traditions alive.
- Research
- Articles
- General
Portals to New Worlds: Martian Exploration Near the North Pole
Researchers are using Devon Island in Canada’s High Arctic as a stand-in for Mars to help better understand how astronauts could survive the red planet’s hostile environment.
- Environment
- Research
- Articles
- General
The Climate Bomb Lurking Under Arctic Permafrost
New research aims to better understand how much methane – a potent greenhouse gas – is burbling to the surface of the Mackenzie Valley in Canada’s Northwest Territories as the permafrost thaws.
- Environment
- Research
- Articles
- General
Polar Bears and People: Cataloging Conflict
HAKAI: Clashes between polar bears and people are on the rise as Arctic sea ice declines. A new digital database aims to track these encounters and could help prevent future attacks.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Circumpolar Creativity: Some Takeaways from the Arctic Arts Summit
Representatives from all eight Arctic countries recently gathered in Harstad, Norway, to reflect on the varying definitions and aims of Indigenous art in the North.
- Environment
- Research
- Articles
- General
Scientists Harness Wind to Study Greenland Ice Sheet
An explorer’s wind-powered sled is turning out to be a cleaner, simpler way for polar researchers to do their work studying pollutants on the Greenland ice sheet.
- Environment
- Research
- Articles
- General
How Climate Change is Spurring Wildfires in Alaska and NWT
Longer hot, dry spells in the boreal forests that stretch across Alaska and the Northwest Territories create the conditions for wildfires triggered by lightning strikes.
- Economy
- Infrastructure
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Some Canada Day Reflections in the Yukon
It’s hard to think of a better way to experience Canada Day than to drive along a highway that permanently etched the Canadian state into the northern wilderness, writes Mia Bennett at Cryopolitics.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Canada’s Capital Gets a Taste of the Central Arctic
The Canadian Museum of Nature’s new Arctic gallery features a space dedicated to showcasing Indigenous culture. Its kick-off exhibit offers insights into Inuit communities from the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut.
- Environment
- Research
- Articles
- General
Scientists Grapple With the Mysteries of Greenland’s Melting Ice Sheet
The ice sheet’s thaw has sped up in recent years – a change that could have a significant impact on global sea levels. Scientific research underway may help explain why.
- Geopolitics & Security
- Articles
- General
On Arctic Border, Refugees Embraced by ‘Northern Hospitality’
Thousands of asylum seekers crossed the northernmost border into Europe in 2015, cycling across the boundary between Russia and Norway. Their arrival has stirred memories of earlier waves of refugees and traditions of northern hospitality in the Arctic borderland.
- Environment
- Articles
- General
On the March: As Polar Bears Retreat, Grizzlies Take New Territory
For all the publicity over discoveries of “pizzly” bear hybrids, new research suggests polar bears’ genetic purity isn’t threatened by crossbreeding with grizzlies. But that doesn’t mean polar bears aren’t in trouble.
- Environment
- Governance
- Articles
- General
Scorecard for Arctic Environmental Issues Draws Surprising Conclusions
The World Wildlife Fund spent 18 months scoring how well Arctic nations are meeting their environmental goals. But as the WWF Arctic Programme’s communications chief Clive Tesar explains, the grades are just part of a bigger picture.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Where North Meets South Along Russia’s Bikin River
WORLD POLICY: Pavel Sulyandziga, an Indigenous rights activist who hails from Russia’s Far East, speaks about the cultural and conservation challenges faced by the Udege people.
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Canadian Inuit Theater Troupe Breathes New Life Into an Old Legend
With “Kiviuq Returns,” Nunavut’s Qaggiavuut Society brings to the stage an ancient story of a wandering hero in an effort to preserve a part of their culture that was nearly lost.
- Economy
- Solutions
- Articles
- General
Not Such a Woolly-Brained Idea: Alaskans Try Farming Musk Ox for Luxury Fiber
Musk ox wool is incredibly warm – and extremely pricey. Efforts to domesticate the shaggy Arctic beasts have proven a challenge, but researchers at the University of Alaska’s Large Animal Research Station are having some success.
- Environment
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Gwich’in Gear Up to Fight for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Revived plans to drill for oil at the calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd are prompting outcries from Indigenous people with ancient ties to the herd.
- Environment
- Northern People & Health
- Articles
- General
Alaska’s Porcupine Caribou Herd – and the People It Helps Sustain
As the U.S. resumes its debate over whether to drill for oil at the calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd on Alaska’s north coast, photographer Peter Mather shares some shots and personal experiences with the herd and the Gwich’in, whose culture is tied to it.