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NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program

Michaela Stith is a lifelong Alaskan passionate about Arctic peoples’ well-being. She is the Polar Institute Program Assistant at the Wilson Center and previously worked for the Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat in Tromsø, Norway.

  • Tip of the Iceberg: Polar Ice Loss Effects the Planet

    ›
    Navigating the Poles  //  February 2, 2021  //  By Olivia Popp & Michaela Stith
    Climate,Change,-,Antarctic,Melting,Glacier,In,A,Global,Warming

    When the United States purchased Alaska from Russia, Americans considered the “frozen wasteland” to be a reckless, wasteful acquisition. What could ice possibly offer? 

    In fact, polar ice is a critical resource for the Earth. The summer and fall of 2020 marked the lowest sea ice extent ever recorded in the Arctic Ocean, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says contemporary September sea ice extents are so low that they are unprecedented in at least 1,000 years. Moreover, collapses in the ice shelves of West Antarctica, Canada, and Greenland raised concerns in 2020. The immediate effects of climate change in the polar regions are merely the tip of the iceberg—ultimately, they have profound effects on climate and communities around the world.

    MORE
  • Interdisciplinary Solutions Will Improve Alaska Native Maternal Health (Part 2 of 2)

    ›
    Dot-Mom  //  Navigating the Poles  //  November 18, 2020  //  By Deekshita Ramanarayanan, Michaela Stith, Marisol Maddox & Bethany Johnson
    Part 2 image

    The United States is in the midst of a maternal health crisis. Indigenous and Alaska Native peoples are 2.3 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts. In Alaska, unequal socio-economic status, lack of access to hospitals and quality health services, systemic racism, and a history of colonization drive these disparities in maternal health outcomes. “Weathering”—the deterioration of communal health outcomes caused by persistent socio-economic disadvantages—contributes to many poor maternal health outcomes for Alaska Native women. On top of these systemic problems, climate change impacts threaten to widen the existing disparities for Alaskan Native women.

    MORE
  • Largest Polar Expedition Ever Seeks to Explain Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice

    ›
    Navigating the Poles  //  On the Beat  //  November 17, 2020  //  By Michaela Stith & Olivia Popp

    Matthew Shupe drives a snowmobile over a bridge towards MET City.

    “If you’re a sea ice person, MOSAiC is the kind of experiment that you just live for,” said Don Perovich, a Dartmouth College researcher with the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate. “It’s the kind of experiment you dream about. It’s an opportunity to spend a whole year on the ice, just watching how a floe evolves over time.” He spoke at a recent event sponsored by IARPC Collaborations, an Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) member space where scientists and others involved in Arctic research share knowledge and resources. The researchers on the expedition, said Perovich, aimed to collect data that would shed light on the causes and consequences of the evolving and diminished Arctic sea ice cover. MOSAiC’s mission was to facilitate a breakthrough in understanding the Arctic climate system and improve the world’s climate and weather forecasting models.

    MORE
  • The Impacts of Climate Change on Alaska Native Maternal Health (Part 1 of 2)

    ›
    Dot-Mom  //  Navigating the Poles  //  October 14, 2020  //  By Deekshita Ramanarayanan, Marisol Maddox, Bethany Johnson & Michaela Stith
    shutterstock_1630090321

    Each year, 700 women in the United States die as a result of pregnancy-related complications. In fact, the United States has the highest maternal mortality ratio of all high-income countries—16.7 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. For Indigenous/Alaskan Native women, that number is even higher: Indigenous/Alaska Natives are 2.3 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts. While recent years have seen growing national attention to the U.S. maternal mortality crisis, research and advocacy for Indigenous peoples’ maternal health in the United States has been limited. This research gap includes the Alaskan Native peoples—Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and multiple Diné tribes.

    MORE
  • Introducing “Navigating the Poles”

    ›
    Navigating the Poles  //  October 8, 2020  //  By Michaela Stith & Mike Sfraga
    Navigating the Poles picture

    The polar regions of Antarctica and the Arctic have long captured the world’s imagination as seas and continents covered in unending ice. But the reality of the two regions is quickly shifting, with cascading consequences for the globe.

    MORE
 
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