News from SEARCH

News highlight

The Meaning of Melt: SEARCH at Arctic Encounter Symposium 2023

By Athena Copenhaver | 31 March 2023

At this year’s Arctic Encounter Symposium in Anchorage, SEARCH team members explored the Meaning of Melt.

With 11 different voices speaking on the meaning of melt—and with audience members welcomed to share their own thoughts—we centered what the loss of sea ice means for Indigenous people, scientists, artists, policy makers, and more

Other news

The Meaning of Melt: SEARCH at Arctic Encounter Symposium 2023

By Athena Copenhaver | 31 March 2023

At this year’s Arctic Encounter Symposium in Anchorage, SEARCH team members explored the Meaning of Melt.

With 11 different voices speaking on the meaning of melt—and with audience members welcomed to share their own thoughts—we centered what the loss of sea ice means for Indigenous people, scientists, artists, policy makers, and more

In the news: Consequences of rapid Arctic environmental change for people, Arctic Report Card 2022

By Athena Copenhaver | 14 December 2022

Co-chair of the Human Well Being team Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer spoke with multiple news outlets about the importance of the 2022 Arctic Report Card. To read all the original stories click the links below or check out our “In the News” page to see the running coverage. Questions? Media inquiries? Please reach out to Athena…

Arctic Report Card 2022: Highlighting the consequences of rapid environmental Arctic change for people

By Athena Copenhaver | 13 December 2022

In a new essay, SEARCH highlights how people in the Arctic experience the combined effects of rapid environmental change. Weather, ecosystem and infrastructure disruptions, shifting animal movements, multi-faceted decision-making, and people’s ability to adapt and mitigate these changes are among the impacts discussed in this new essay. Forty-one Indigenous, scientific, and policy experts in SEARCH…

Questions? Ideas? Join the SEARCH Integration Group!

By Athena Copenhaver | 11 November 2022

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. …

Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer lights a seal oil lamp in Nome, Alaska. October 2022.

Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer promoted to Director of Climate Initiatives at Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

By Athena Copenhaver | 1 November 2022

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…

SEARCH staffer’s novel earns spot on Yale Climate Connections summer reading list

By brendanpkelly | 20 June 2022

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…

Aerial image of partially submerged icebergs in teal water so dark it's almost black.

Informing decisions in and about the Arctic: SEARCH teams convene in Anchorage, June 2022

By brendanpkelly | 6 June 2022

Scientists, Indigenous experts, and leaders from governments and commerce are meeting in Anchorage this week to forge new ways of informing decisions in and about the Arctic. Rapid warming is changing the Arctic with pronounced consequences for people in and beyond the region. Decisions made at local, regional, and global scales need to be informed…

Image shows an iceberg above deep dark water with bright blue iceberg visible under the surface of the water.

The Arctic “highlights our failure to act in a rapidly changing world”

By Athena Copenhaver | 29 March 2022

A diverse selection of Arctic experts released a study in the scientific journal Sustainability that holds up the Arctic as evidence of humanity’s “failure” to act on climate.  And while the Arctic might exemplify our failure to act on climate in a rapidly changing world, the Arctic also provides a vision for what rapid and…

Cover image shows the ocean's surface with a research vessel and beneath the water, a scene with schools of fish and other marine life swimming.

Innovations in how we work together can transform communities for the better

By Athena Copenhaver | 23 March 2022

With a global ocean increasingly stressed by the impacts of climate change, communities and decision makers need new understandings not only of climate change consequences, but also of how we can best work together to mitigate them.  In response to such a need, a new book published by Elsevier entitled Partnerships in Marine Research: Case…

Join us at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting!

By Athena Copenhaver | 10 December 2021

Next week (13-17 Dec 2021) SEARCH will be attending the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in New Orleans. You can find us in person at the following events—we hope to see you there!  Monday, 13 Dec 2021, 8am Central Time – Convention Center – Room 298-299: “Complex Collaboration for Understanding Drivers and Consequences of Arctic…

Going beyond ‘one discipline, one geography, and one system of knowing’

By Athena Copenhaver | 10 December 2021

Thanks to marine science technical lead at Stantec, Inc. Dr. Francis Wiese, news of SEARCH’s latest phase has reached the Pacific Northwest business community through a number of media outlets.  For Informed Infrastructure magazine, Francis shares some of what SEARCH will accomplish with National Science Foundation funding:  “We put forward a new approach to co-design…

‘Full understanding of Arctic changes requires equitable, inclusive approach’ – SEARCH voices on KUAC Radio

By Athena Copenhaver | 10 December 2021

“We have seen more walruses hauling out on land,” says Vera Kingeekuk Metcalf in her interview with journalist Mary Auld for KUAC radio. “And we have seen some of our hunters traveling out farther to find good ice. The Arctic is home to us and we are not going anywhere.”   Mary Auld talked over Zoom…

Addressing the rapidly changing Arctic in meaningful ways

By Athena Copenhaver | 10 December 2021

“A local hunter can notice walruses on land before a biologist can finish studying thinning ice,” writes Alena Naiden for The Arctic Sounder. “And a family whose house was washed away by ocean storms needs solutions for climate change quicker than 2030.” This front page news story begins by noting the urgency of environmental change…

Arctic Answers fill knowledge gaps with plain language expertise

By Athena Copenhaver | 21 October 2021

If you’ve found yourself pondering, for example, how does land motion influence sea level rise? Or, how fast is sea level rising? Or even, how does diminishing Arctic sea ice influence coastal communities? Then Arctic Answers is for you. A collaboration between SEARCH and the journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Arctic Answers provides accessible…

SEARCH contributes Arctic expertise to Wilson Center’s new book, “Navigating the Arctic’s 7 Cs”

By Athena Copenhaver | 21 October 2021

In the opening chapter of this new book, published October 2021, SEARCH contributor Elizabeth Francis and director Brendan Kelly take readers on a journey through our changing Arctic climate. Together they illustrate in accessible language the history of our global climate, the unprecedented changes we’re witnessing today, and the cascading impacts on human communities and…