The Arctic, like the rest of the world, experiences natural cycles, and some of them can be pretty radical. While most of the world enjoys a pretty stable 24-hour cycle of sunrise and sunset, with the sun visible roughly half of each day, a little longer in summer, a little shorter in winter, the Arctic (like the Antarctic) goes from 24-hour sunlight in mid-summer to 24-hour darkness in mid-winter. Long-term geologic records indicate that it also experiences larger swings from warmer to colder … [Read more...]
Stewardship Advice For President Obama’s Alaska Trip
Mr. Obama, here are three points to consider during your Alaska trip this week: 1. Roughly 70% of Alaska is federally owned, and much of that is off-limits to any kind of economic use of natural resources. Compare that with 10% or less in most of the original 13 U.S. colonies. Instead of “helping” native Alaskans by changing the name of Mt. McKinley to Mt. Denali, a better idea might be to either 1) reduce the percent of federal land or 2) open more of it up for job-producing natural … [Read more...]