Anchorage snowfall graphic via Anchorage Daily News
Eleven feet of snow. I didn’t know Alaska broke records this winter.
Posts tagged alaska.
“Mark Dumas, 60, is the only man in the world who can touch a polar bear. And as these incredible pictures show the fearless bear handler from Abbotsford, British Columbia, even goes for dip in his swimming pool where he and 16-year-old polar bear Agee enjoy a watery cuddle together. Mark and wife Dawn, 60, train the 60-stone (800lb) friendly beast - the world’s largest land predator - to star in high-budget TV adverts. She has even performed in movies like ‘Alaska’ in 1995 when she was just a few weeks old. With his incredibly intimate bond Mark wrestles on the grass with Agee, kisses her, puts his head in her huge jaws, and even bear hugs her as she rears up on her hind legs to over seven feet. Mark and Dawn have owned Agee since she was six weeks old and the colossal mammal even lived in their home as a cub where she played with the family dogs and was bottle fed.”
Baby Bear Cub Saved from Certain Death by Plastic Jar
A 10-pound bear cub received another chance at life when a kind, brave, resourceful hiker freed its head from a plastic jug left by some asshole on the top of Deer Mountain in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Written on April 13, 1989, this letter was sent from second-grader Kelli Middlestead of the Franklin School in Burlingame, California, to Walter Stieglitz the Regional Director of the Alaska Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, lamenting the Exxon Valdez oil spill of March 24, 1989.
(via jtotheizzoe)
Stop Pebble Gold Mine. Robert Redford narrates a powerful video on a dangerous gold mine in Alaska. This mine has won several federal lawsuits and will most likely be permitted. Here’s some background on the permit process and timeline of the mine.
I’m not sure how NRDC thinks it will stop the mine, but it would be a huge victory if it could.
Exxon Valdez oil tanker likely headed for scrap heap in India ›
“The ship formerly known as the Exxon Valdez, responsible for one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history, appears destined for the scrap heap in a shipyard along the Indian Gulf of Cambay…
The tanker ran aground at Alaska’s Bligh Reef on March 24, 1989, and spewed 11 million gallons of crude oil into the rich fishing waters of Prince William Sound.
The shoreline was coated with petroleum sludge. Towns like Cordova that relied on fishing the sound were devastated. An incalculable amount of damage was done to marine species and the surrounding environment.
An Anchorage jury in 1991 called for Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay $5 billion in punitive damages, thought the U.S Supreme Court later reduced that to $507.5 million. Some litigation related to the spill is still ongoing.
Exxon maintained at the time that it should not be liable for the actions of the supertanker’s skipper, Joseph Hazelwood, when the nearly 1,000-foot vessel ran aground with 53 million gallons of oil in its hold.
According to prosecutors, Hazelwood was drunk, but he denied it and was acquitted of the charge in criminal court.”
Read the rest at KING 5
Background. Aug 2011 NYTimes:
Shell Gets Tentative Approval to Drill in Arctic
The Department of the Interior…granted Royal Dutch Shell conditional approval of its plan to begin drilling exploratory wells in the Arctic Ocean next summer, a strong sign that the Obama administration is easing a regulatory clampdown on offshore oil drilling that it imposed after last year’s deadly accident in the Gulf of Mexico.
The move confirms a willingness by President Obama to approve expanded domestic oil and gas exploration in response to high gasoline prices and continuing high levels of unemployment. It comes as the issuing of drilling permits in the gulf is quickening, including the granting on Thursday of a permit for a Shell floating drill rig for a 4,000-foot-deep well. That means that that all five of its rigs there will be back to work after a long drilling halt.
The decision to tentatively approve Shell’s plan to drill four exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea off the North Slope of Alaska represents a major step in the company’s efforts to exploit the vast oil and gas resources under the Arctic Ocean, although some hurdles remain.
The company has spent nearly $4 billion and more than five years trying to win the right to drill in the frigid waters, against the opposition of many environmental advocates and of Alaska natives who depend on the sea for their livelihoods.”
Read the rest at NYTimes
President Obama has given approval to Shell to drill for oil this summer in the vulnerable Arctic. ›
A heart-shaped melt pond, Beaufort Sea, Alaska, in August 2009. From the photo collection of Dr. Pablo Clemente-Colon, National Ice Center,http://www.natice.noaa.gov/.
Alaska opens up wolf and bear “hunting” from helicopters. (Warning, video is a loud, Fox-style report by CNN).
Snow-Why? Truth Behind Winter 2012’s Lack of White Stuff
So far, winter in the continental United States has been tame at best, compared to 2011’s onslaught of snowy days. Find out what the culprit is behind the mild winter and where mother nature has been dumping all her snow this winter.
(via skeptv)
Environmental Wins of 2011, via NRDC.
Some FTWs include protections for: Beluga, Buffalo, boreal forests, polar bears, Alaskan rain forest, treaty on bottom trawling in the North Pacific, Grizzly Bears, Tar Sands…
Meet Romeo, a lone black wolf who lived in Mendenhal Glacier Juneau, Alaska for 10 years. Handsome, photogenic, and friendly with the locals, he became a legend. He’s the focus of a new book, Romeo: The Story of an Alaskan Wolf.
…The true and heartwarming account of an urban legend. Orphaned and alone, Romeo has made the Mendenhal Glacier outside Juneau his territory for the past decade, subsisting on a diet of small mammals and fish.
Unafraid of tourists and locals and eager to play with his canine cousins that accompany them, he has taught thousands of people that wolves are playful and not vicious killers to be feared but on the contrary that their need to be accepted and loved is just as vital to living fulfilled lives as it is for us humans.
Through his compelling photographs, close observation and telling detail, together with the personal stories of others who spent time with him, John Hyde has turned Romeo’s compelling story into a unique book that will be treasured by those who love the wildlife of Alaska and elsewhere.
Climate Adaptation
by Michael Cote
I want to punch climate change in the face.
I'm an environmental consultant specializing in climate adaptation, land-use law, and urban planning. For "fun," I research, publish, and lecture on how cities can adapt to climate change. I've published in the Int'l Journal of Climate Change, GOOD.is, Berkeley Planning Journal, The New Planner, etc. I currently consult for the Association of Climate Change Officers (this tumblr is not affiliated).
What is "Climate Adaptation"? Adaptation is not about carbon, greenhouse gases, or energy. It's about lowering risks from environmental impacts caused by climate change. Adaptation is the sweet-spot between environmental policy, climate science, land-use, and engineering. When the sea-level rises, we build wall or move the buildings. We build levees to protect homes from floods; manage forests to prevent wildfires and droughts; build smarter, stronger infrastructure for long-term economic resilience; and prepare public health officials for increased rates of pests and diseases from rising temperatures. So, adaptation is less Al Gore "save the planet" and more Bob the Builder "fix all the things!".
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