News | Study of Environmental Arctic Change
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As part of SEARCH’s ongoing contribution to integrating and connecting Arctic cultures, disciplines, and perspectives, we are hosting a recurring conversation known as the Integration Group. Taking place every other month, the Integration Group comes together virtually to report highlights and milestones from within SEARCH, to share ideas, ask questions, and listen to pan-Arctic perspectives. …
After six years of working with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) on community development, Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer has been promoted to Director of Climate Initiatives. In her new position, Jackie will deepen her work with tribal, regional, and federal partners. Leveraging funding from NOAA, the program shares NOAA’s climate and equity priorities under…
Curated by The George Washington University professor Michael Svoboda, Ph.D., this ‘climate-aware’ summer reading list from Yale Climate Connections features the latest writing from household names such as Margaret Atwood and Bill McKibben. Included on the list is SEARCH Assistant Director Athena Copenhaver’s debut novel My Days of Dark Green Euphoria, published by Ashland Creek…
SEARCH Highlights: How we're working together to share what we know
The Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska is one of the world’s most important wetlands for migratory birds and home to the largest Indigenous population in the U.S. Arctic. New research shows that sea-level rise, sea-ice loss, stronger storms, erosion, and permafrost thaw are working together in unexpected ways—driving rapid, landscape-scale transformations across the delta.…
SEARCH has published a new peer-reviewed policy brief in Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (AAAR), emphasizing the escalating food security crisis in Yukon River communities of Alaska and Canada where decades of salmon decline have intersected with management systems ill-equipped for today’s environmental and social realities. The article, “Food security crisis in the Yukon River…
SEARCH’s reading group has re-invigorated its sessions, kicking off with a vibrant discussion of the paper “Accelerating Transformations for a Just, Sustainable Future: 10 Must Haves” on November 26th. Conceptualized by The Earth League and participants of the Global Futures Conference, this paper outlines a framework for bridging the gap between global pledges and actionable…
For Indigenous communities in the Western Arctic’s Bering and Chukchi seas, Pacific walrus stand as integral components to cultural and nutritional well being. As sea ice conditions continue to change, however, these communities’ access to walrus is challenged. A new Arctic Answers policy brief written by a diverse group of SEARCH researchers was published this…
Building on decades of marine ecology and environmental leadership experience, SEARCH co-Principal Investigator Francis Wiese is starting a new position as Senior Scholar at the National Academies of Sciences (NAS). Alongside his existing work co-leading SEARCH’s International Cooperation and Economic Decision-Making team, Francis will be helping frame and implement a vision and strategy for the…
The Arctic hosts an intricate web of biodiversity. Seals, walruses, and whales roam the frigid ocean waves. Bears, moose, and a variety of plants and fungi sprawl through boreal forest while snowy owls, foxes, and caribou make the grasses and flowers of the tundra their home. Yet, with climate change and human activities making the…
Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer’s designs dazzled a crowd of cheering hundreds during April’s Far North Fashion Show in Anchorage. An annual showpiece of the Arctic Encounter Symposium, the event features Alaska Native models and designers from across the state. Jackie—SEARCH Co-Principal Investigator and Director of Climate Initiatives at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium—is a pillar…
Nine diverse voices spoke to the increasing severity of Arctic and boreal wildland fire at the 10th anniversary Arctic Encounter Symposium last week. In a session convened by SEARCH Research & Program Management Fellow Alex Shahbazi and Co-Principal Investigator Francis Wiese, these voices presented three-minute lightning lenses on northern wildfire topics including human health, global…
SEARCH recently participated in a unique sharing of science in the middle of a wintery Bering Sea. In the midst of high winds and blizzards, several ARC NAV colleagues traveled to Gambell, Alaska—a Yupik village on St. Lawrence Island—to host a community science symposium. Originally proposed by the ARC NAV team’s research consultant in the community, the…
SEARCH presented its ongoing examination into walrus accessibility in the Bering and Chukchi seas to the Eskimo Walrus Commission (EWC) in December 2023. A collaboration between academic, Indigenous, and policy researchers, the project aims to better understand and respond to the impacts of environmental change on hunters’ access to walruses across western Alaska and eastern…