With so many different countries weighing in on what they perceived to be their natural right to the Arctic shelf, things are bound to heat up as the 2013 UN deadline draws near. Canada has already clearly stated that it will not give up any of its rights to the area and the US and Russia have also had their say on the issue. Now Russia is once again staking its claim on the area with the announcement that the Arctic shelf “historically” belongs to Moscow. more »

Several governors’ offices have received letters with a white substance in them this week. The latest to receive such a letter is the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. So far the offices of the governor of Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and Rhode Island have also had letters with an unknown white powder sent to them. The letters were all postmarked Dallas and while the letter Palin’s office received was postmarked Texas, authorities are not saying whether or not it was sent specifically from Dallas. more »

Even though she is not the vice president, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin is still trying to influence the administration. She is giving Obama advice on his foreign ties, saying that he should work on obtaining a closer relationship to Canada. more »

Oliver Edwards-Neil, 25, and Troels Hansen, 45, were flying over the Arctic in a Cessna Skymaster when the worst thing that could happened did: first one engine failed, then the other. Mr. Edwards-Neil immediately issued a mayday call and then began searching for a safe place to touch down. He managed to land the plane on ice seven kilometres off of the southern coast of Baffin Island. Just when the pilots thought that they were safe, the plane crashed through the ice that had become weakened all over the ice shelf. The plane, along with their life raft and gear, quickly sunk and the two barely had any time to escape. more »

David Barber, a University of Manitoba geoscientist, claims that the Arctic will see its first ice free summer in 2015, due to global warming. Mr. Barber was in charge of almost 300 scientists from 15 different countries who were all taking part in the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study. The CFL was a $40 million dollar Arctic research project that saw the scientist studying the Arctic for a nine month period, based out of the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the Amundsen. more »

Inuit hunters have “hearts as dark as the foul breath of demons from the bottomless pit of hell have prevailed,” according to Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Society, in response to the 560 narwhal whales that were recently killed in the Arctic. The whales, first noticed by the Inuit hunters tracking polar bears, were caught under the ice. Once it was realized that there was no way for the whales to escape, the okay was giving to the hunters to cull the narwhals. more »

Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice wants to assure everyone that the Mackenzie pipeline project, while delayed, is back on track. In an interview with Reuters, Prentice had this to say about the pipeline project: “I’m actually very optimistic because a lot of the work that needed to be done has now been done”. Back in 2005, it was projected that the Mackenzie pipeline would be two years ahead of the proposed Alaska pipeline. Prentice now says that the Mackenzie project is closer to five or six years ahead. more »

With most of the public’s concentration and concern focused on the effects greenhouse gas is having on the melting arctic shelf, scientists are now saying that maybe we should all redirect our attention to another major cause of the melting ice in the Arctic: human pollution. more »