Arctic

The release of greenhouse gasses from the burning of fossil fuels and other sources is causing temperatures in the Arctic to warm at twice the rate of the rest of the world, resulting in lower levels of sea ice, melting permafrost and rising sea levels all over the world. The decrease in volume and extent of Arctic sea ice has serious implications for marine mammals that depend on the ice for their survival, such as ringed seals and polar bears. The burning of fossil fuels is also making Arctic waters more acidic, harming zooplankton species like pterapods—the very base of the Arctic’s rich food chain—as well as corals and shellfish.

Much of the world’s untapped oil reserves lie offshore, beneath the Arctic's biologically productive waters. Exploring and developing these resources in the remote and unforgiving Arctic comes with extreme risks. Oil spills can kill birds, fish and marine mammals, as well as the smaller organisms that provide food for these larger species. There is no proven technology that allows for the complete containment of oil spilled in the marine environment. These challenges are even greater in the extreme conditions of the Arctic, where storms are frequent, ice is still present for much of the year, daylight nonexistent during the winter, and response infrastructure is more than 1,000 miles away. Oil development can also generate life-threatening levels of ocean noise pollution for marine mammals.

Some Arctic regions contain valuable minerals, including copper, gold, and coal. One such area lies at the headwaters of two of the most productive rivers that feed into Bristol Bay. If permitted and constructed, the proposed Pebble Mine would be the largest open-pit copper and gold mine in North America. Based on current projections, the mine would permanently destroy miles of important salmon habitat and generate up to 10 billion tons of toxic waste. Release of this toxic waste would devastate freshwater ecosystems and impact the region’s unmatched salmon runs as well as the communities, commercial fishing industry, and wildlife which depend on them.

Climate change has brought on longer open water seasons, which coupled with the growing pressures of globalization, means more of the Arctic’s waterways are opening for travel and commercial transportation. Ship traffic in the Bering Strait alone, the narrow waterway between Alaska and Russia, is likely to increase in the coming years. More ships means a greater risk of wrecks, spills, noise, pollution, and the introduction of non-native species. Still, much of the Arctic Ocean has not been adequately surveyed and there a lot of work to be done to establish new routing and regulations. Learn more about what the US and Russia should do to protect the wildlife of the Bering Strait.