US Cancels Oil Drilling & more– 12th Sep 2023

Goddag daginn from Keswick Village! This is Rorshok Arctic Update from the 12th of September twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

The biggest and best news of the week for the Arctic takes us to Alaska. On Wednesday the 6th, The US Government announced that they have canceled seven leases to extract oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This story truly begins in the dying days of the Trump administration when the former President sold nine leases in the refuge. The Biden administration was quick to cancel two and have now managed to cease the remaining leases. In the words of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, "With today's action no one will have rights to drill oil in one of the most sensitive landscapes on Earth." This wasn’t the only good news to come from this announcement. The US executive also announced that they would protect millions of acres across Alaska's North Slope and in the Arctic Ocean, which means that there will be long-term protections against natural resource exploitation.

Securing the long-term future of the Arctic will require more than individual government actions. And this is when the Arctic Council comes in. It should solve high-level issues that governments and indigenous people of the Arctic face. However, since March twenty twenty-two the council has been suspended in protest of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. In May this year, Norway assumed the chairmanship of the council and has been seeking cooperation between the Arctic states ever since. The Council made an important step this week with a meeting between all eight Arctic states and the six largest indigenous groups, agreeing on new guidelines to peacefully restart council activities. It will still take a few months for the council to fully resume its work.

The increasing sea ice melt in the Arctic Ocean is opening up shipping lanes previously never accessible. Russia has been sending shipments of gas and oil at an accelerating pace this year and has set ambitious targets for itself. In twenty twenty-three, thirty-four million tonnes have been shipped via Arctic routes already. The executives behind the shipping companies have said that the target for next year is eighty million tonnes, increasing to 200 million tonnes by twenty thirty-one. Experts say this is an unachievable goal. Russian minister Alexei Chekunkov said “There are not yet enough icebreakers in the world to transport 200 million tons in seven to eight years”. Still, Russia is engaging in talks with shipyards in China and India to cooperate on the construction of icebreakers in the coming years.

In the face of Russian Arctic dominance, Iceland has once again become a key host of NATO military resources. Starting during World War II when Iceland was occupied by British forces, the country’s geographic mid-Atlantic presence made it a crucial air defense base for NATO. Both the US and German air forces have raised military presence in Iceland this week. The US has deployed B-2 Spirit Bombers and 200 soldiers, accompanied by the commander of US and NATO air forces. Germany has also deployed Eurofighter Typhoon fighters in Iceland. Russian air bombers and fighters have conducted training exercises in Arctic air space six times in twenty twenty-three, with two taking place in the last month.

Staying in the Nordic region, Sweden’s H2 Green Steel has secured $1.6 billion US dollars in funding to build the world's first large-scale green steel plant. Located in the northern town of Boden, the plant will be powered entirely by renewable energy, producing steel and emitting 95% less carbon emissions than a typical, coal-powered, steel plant. Green steel is more expensive than steel from a coal-fired plant, but H2 has secured contracts for 2.5 million metric tonnes already. Steel production accounts for 7% of global carbon emissions so green steel is an important step toward a more sustainable future.

As Sweden looks to decrease carbon emissions, Norway continues to melt. The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is the fastest-heating place in the world. According to a press release from the Meteorological Institute of Norway, Svalbard has broken records for average temperature and permafrost melting this year. Permafrost is ground that is permanently frozen and contains approximately twice the amount of carbon in the entire atmosphere. So it is very important that it doesn’t melt, because if the carbon reaches the atmosphere, it would warm the earth even more. Permafrost New satellite systems planned for operation in the coming years will better monitor carbon emissions from the northern regions so as to track and predict environmental changes that are affecting the whole world.

Back to Iceland, recall that in last week’s episode, we talked about the ban on the whaling industry being lifted. As expected, controversy arose. On Tuesday the 5th, two protesters chained themselves to the masts of two whaling ships. Icelandic Special Forces were called to the scene but were not able to remove the protesters, but took their food and water supplies. After thirty hours the two climbed down due to dehydration and received medical treatment. The company that owns the ships, Hvalur, is pressing charges of trespassing against the protesters.

For a thorough overview of the contentious practice, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (or IFAW) has written about the history of whaling in Iceland. To read the piece, follow the link in the show notes.

From mammals of the sea, and back onto the land, it’s time to talk to talk about beavers. Very few beavers used to live in the Arctic. But as the Arctic has warmed, the dam-building mammals have migrated north. These animals are known as ‘ecosystem engineers’ because they have such a huge impact on the area they live in, chopping down trees, building dams, slowing water flow and even causing flooding.

According to new research published by Jason Clark regarding the impact of beavers moving into the Arctic, when these animals find a new Arctic home, they cause the area to flood. This starves the local vegetation of oxygen, causing it to decompose and release methane gas into the atmosphere making the Arctic warm even more. The flooding also warms the ground, melting permafrost which, as mentioned earlier, is a serious environmental concern.

In unrelated news, indigenous groups in Norway and Canada have found unexpected success in the entertainment sector this week. In Norway, the Sami-produced film Ellos Eatnu or Let the River Live won the Amanda Award for best Norwegian film. Director Ole Giæver’s film tackles the true story of a small Sami settlement's fight to protect their land and traditions against the building of a hydroelectric plant.

In Canada, the Inuit-produced film Tautuktavuk or What We See premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday the 8th. It centers on two sisters who live very different lives yet reconnect through the trauma of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival prides itself on being a launchpad for indigenous artists

Art is a truly healing human experience, especially in times of hardship. Even though In Canada’s north wildfires continue, they are abating in some areas. One such town is Inuvik, lifting its evacuation order last week. In response and celebration, this weekend the town held the second edition of its Fiddle and Flow festival. The festival dedicated itself to the evacuees in the region and organizers set up a 50/50 program, raising over $350 Canadian dollars or 260 US dollars for the United Way North Western Territories Fire Emergency Response Fund.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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