Does it feel like the Arctic just can’t catch a break these days? Living in Alaska, I see changes to the climate first hand and I hear stories from those living in small communities along the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean. I’m bombarded with relentless news coverage reminding me that the Arctic is melting, communities … Read more
Sheila Watt-Cloutier is an environmental, cultural, and human rights advocate from Canada and the former chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. She is the author of “The Right to be Cold,” which is the culmination of her work over the last 25 years discussing climate change, leadership, and sustainability in the Arctic. On April 10, … Read more
Reporting directly from London, I’m excited to tell you that yesterday was a big day for Arctic waters and wildlife. Indigenous leaders and environmental activists like me convinced the international community to adopt new rules that require ships to avoid fragile marine ecosystems, reducing the threat of oil spills, environmental disasters, and harm to wildlife … Read more
London, 13th April 2018:- The Clean Arctic Alliance applauded progress by International Maritime Organization member states today towards banning use of the world’s dirtiest fuel – heavy fuel oil – from Arctic shipping, and called for Member States to make every effort to adopt and rapidly implement a ban by 2021, as proposed by eight IMO Member States … Read more
Despite the seriousness of the threat, the use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) by ships in the Arctic seems to have escaped the public consciousness and the media. It’s been overshadowed by more dramatic stories like melting glaciers and starving polar bears. But it should be one of the most talked about environmental concerns of … Read more
One of my most cherished gifts given to me is a beautiful sealskin vest made by my grandmother. She was from St. Lawrence Island in the northern Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska. There, life continues to be sustained by our traditions of subsistence, with blessed wildlife that has nourished our people for thousands of … Read more
London, July 7, 2017:- As the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 71) concluded today, the Clean Arctic Alliance welcomed the support from Member States for a proposal to identify measures which will mitigate the risks posed by the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) in Arctic waters, and called on the … Read more
Good news this afternoon in London: The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) marine environment protection committee just approved our coalition’s proposal to deal with the issue of dangerous heavy fuel oil in the Arctic. This means there will now be international rulemaking to mitigate risks of heavy fuel oil and, hopefully, phase out this dangerous oil in the Arctic. … Read more
Washington D.C., April 18th, 2017:- A report published today by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), Alternatives to heavy fuel oil use in the Arctic: Economic and environmental tradeoffs finds that using heavy fuel oil in Arctic shipping creates such great risks compared to the cost of moving to safer fuels, that transitioning to … Read more
Brussels, 16 March 2017:- Responding to today’s European Parliament 483/100 plenary vote to pass its Resolution on the Arctic, including a call “on the Commission and the Member States to actively facilitate the ban on the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) and carriage as ship fuel in vessels navigating the Arctic seas through MARPOL … Read more
The Arctic hosts one of the world’s most productive and most pristine marine environments. An oil spill of heavy fuel oil, which could devastate this fragile world and destroy food sources for arctic communities, is the top threat associated with increased Arctic shipping. Heavy fuel oil is extremely toxic and slow to degrade. Oil spill … Read more
A world-leading expedition cruise ship operator today joined international environmental organisations to spearhead the protection of Arctic communities and ecosystems from risks posed by the use of marine heavy fuel oil (HFO) to power ships, at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Norway.
“The anticipated increase in ship traffic in the Arctic is second in magnitude only to the initial arrival of European settlers on our shores.” When my friend Austin Ahmasuk, a leader from Nome, Alaska, said this, it really hit me just how dramatically the world is changing for Arctic indigenous peoples whose lives are inextricably … Read more
President Obama made history last summer by being the first sitting president to visit the Arctic, speaking passionately about climate change and focusing on Arctic challenges. Phasing out the use of heavy fuel oil by the increased number of ships now transiting the Arctic is an urgent challenge that can be readily addressed and reduce the top risk identified to Arctic communities and fragile marine environments.
We need your help. Tell President Obama and Secretary of the Interior Jewell to halt proposed plans to allow drilling in Alaskan waters. Shell recently announced that it is abandoning its Arctic Ocean drilling program. But that’s not enough. Big oil is waiting to snap up new offshore oil and gas leases. Tell the President … Read more
As polar ice recedes, increased Arctic vessel traffic increases the urgency to craft protections for fragile Arctic marine environments and communities.
Today, the House of Representatives took a historic vote to whether protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain as Wilderness. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) offered the House Arctic Refuge Wilderness bill as an amendment to the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act of 2015, H.R. 2406, a bill that contains a number of destructive provisions that threaten wildlife and public lands, erode bedrock environmental laws and undermine key conservation policies. The bipartisan vote on the amendment – the first time Congress has ever voted on a Wilderness bill for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – was 176 yeas and 227 nays (31 not voting).
On the last day of the Paris Climate Summit, I sat without internet at a related Arctic symposium. The plus side was that I paid attention to the speakers rather than checking my email. The downside was that I sat in suspense, wondering if the long-awaited agreement from the international talks would be announced. I … Read more
This past summer an important thing happened in America’s Arctic. President Obama, who previously had only stopped in Alaska to refuel Air Force One, decided to spend some quality time with us to explore our magnificent landscapes. And he fell in love—not only with our jaw-dropping scenery, but also with our vibrant Alaska Native cultures. … Read more
As sea level rises, low-lying coastal communities around the world are facing the prospect of relocation. Some of these communities are on remote islands that many have never heard of. Others may be familiar to Americans from the west coast of Alaska and Washington State, and from the bayous of Louisiana. Many of these communities … Read more