Trump Tries to Weaken Safety Rule for Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling
Last month, the Trump administration announced plans to weaken offshore drilling safety rules that were put in place to prevent incidents like the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, which killed 11 workers and spilled 210 m...
Trump Tries to Weaken Safety Rule for Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling
I was honored to take part last month in the first marine debris cleanup that Ocean Conservancy has sponsored in Alaska. On May 12, Michael Levine, a senior Arctic fellow for Ocean Conservancy, and I arrived on St. Paul,...
Protecting Their Own Ocean Backyard
For most people on most days, the ocean is out of sight and out of mind. But not today. On World Oceans Day, we celebrate the beauty and bounty of the most defining feature of our planet—the big, blue ocean. Many of us f...
World Oceans Day 2018
One year ago today, President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement—undermining the important work being done to protect millions of Americans who depend on the ocean for their businesses and liveliho...
One Year Later: Withdrawal from Paris Agreement Was a Dangerous Mistake
A few years ago, I tagged along with a research team counting beluga whales in Canada’s western Hudson Bay. On one memorable July day, our boat was surrounded by 350 belugas, we spotted 11 polar bears and a bird expert r...
Why Canada Needs to Protect Hudson Bay’s Beluga Estuaries
The numbers are in—and we have great news for America’s ocean fisheries! NOAA recently released its annual report to Congress summarizing how the United States is doing in managing its ocean fisheries. The Status of Stoc...
Good News About Our Nation’s Ocean Fisheries
As climate change ushers in rapid changes in the Arctic Ocean, northern nations and communities are scrambling to adapt at multiple scales. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN body with authority to gover...
A Safer Bering Strait
Several weeks ago, Henry Huntington, Andrew Hartsig, and I traveled to Utqiaġvik to meet with leaders and others in the community. After Henry and Andrew left for home, I continued on to Point Lay. This village in the No...
Next Stop Point Lay
As I flew out of Nome, the passenger next to me pointed out the window as we flew over eastern Norton Sound at a huge area of open water. Open water wouldn’t seem like the type of thing you show your seatmate, but in thi...
Bering Sea Ice Hits a New Low in Spring 2018
You may recall that back in February, 3,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil (HFO) spilled into the water off Shuyak Island, Alaska. The spill occurred when hurricane force winds destroyed an old fuel dock, releasing this tar-l...