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Alaska Forum on the Environment, February 8-12, 2016 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The Alaska Forum on the Environment (AFE) is Alaska's largest statewide gathering of environmental professionals from government agencies, non-profit and for-profit businesses, community leaders, Alaskan youth, conservationists, biologists and community elders. The diversity of attendees and comprehensive agenda sets this conference apart from any other. Each year there are over 80 technical breakout sessions and Keynote Events. There will be a full week of sessions on climate change, energy, environmental regulations, cleanup and remediation, fish & wildlife, solid waste, and more.
Marine Mammal Commission Arctic Listening Sessions, February 11, 2016 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The Arctic is changing faster than anywhere else on earth. How is climate change impacting the Arctic marine environment and subsistence hunting of marine mammals by Alaska Native communities? We will focus on these questions at a series of listening sessions in Alaska in early February. Our goal is to gain a better understanding of how climate change is impacting Alaska Native communities and the marine mammals upon which they depend, and hear your ideas on actions that can be taken in response.
Today's Congressional Action:
The House and Senate are in session and expected to consider non-Arctic legislation.
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Bigelow Laboratory Launches Venture Research Centers. Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences has launched two new Centers for Venture Research that will apply business and project management techniques to its ocean-related research projects to get them into public use more quickly. "This is a more organized approach to translating research for public use," Graham Shimmield, executive director of Bigelow Laboratory in East Boothbay, told Mainebiz. Maine Biz
 Canada's Polar Bear Management is Sound, Inuit Tell US Government. Inuit representatives are on Capitol Hill in Washington this week to make a last ditch effort to convince their American counterparts to reconsider the way they think about polar bears. The United States, as a member of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), has tried in 2010 and 2013 to up-list polar bears into an Appendix I classification - where they would be deemed in immediate danger of extinction. Nunatsiaq Online
Bata Shoe Museum Displays Rare Arctic Footwear in New Exhibit. The Bata Shoe Museum has put rare pieces of traditional Arctic footwear on display in a new, semi-permanent exhibition. The items were collected during field trips funded by the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation from the 1970s to the '90s to such places as Nunavut, Alaska, Greenland, Siberia and Sami regions of northern Europe. London Free Press Arctic Ice Extent... Record Low for January. Globally, 2015 was the warmest year on modern record. That beat the previous record in 2014. It seems like 2016 may be headed to beat that. The latest indication comes from analysis of the Arctic sea ice extent. Satellite data from NASA, and the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) show that the sea ice extent in the Arctic for the month of January 2016 was the lowest on record. Radio Canada International  Arctic Shipping Route 'Decades Away.' Anne H. Steffensen, Director of the Association at A Meeting of Arctic Country Ministers and Industry in Tromsų, Norway said: "We have gone from hyper-optimism to total realism. The world economy was developed on the basis of a high oil price. "The northern sea route seemed viable [a few years ago] but now it's not the case. The route has vast potential but it will take a long time to open up." Port Technology
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Legislative Action
No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.
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Future Events
ARCUS DC Arctic Research Seminar Series, February 18, 2016 (Washington, DC). Does it seem as though the weather gods have gone crazy lately? It is not your imagination. The question on everyone's minds is why? And is it related to climate change? In this presentation, I will explain new research that links increasing extreme weather events with the rapidly warming and melting Arctic during recent decades. Evidence suggests that Arctic warming is causing weather patterns to become more persistent, which can lead to extremes such as droughts, cold spells, heat waves, and some flooding events.
5th Annual Fletcher Opening Arctic Conference, March 12, 2016. The Opening Arctic Conference builds on the Fletcher School's Warming Arctic International Inquiry series, to bring together high-level thought leaders from across disciplines, Fletcher's hallmark. Staged annually, Fletcher's event continues to address the foreign policy, economic, environmental and security implications of the opening Arctic, while dispelling myths.
15th Annual Arctic Health Science Seminar, April 1, 2016 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The American Society for Circumpolar Health will host the 15th Annual Arctic Health Science Seminar in Anchorage, Alaska. This event will include the annual meeting of the American Society for Circumpolar Health, the Robert Fortuine Memorial lecture, and the Albrecht Milan Foundation will provide the Albrecht-Milan Emerging Professional Award to one of the Arctic Health Science Seminar presenters. The call for abstracts is open through Monday February 29, 2016.
** New this week** The American Arctic: The United States as an Arctic Power in Science, Technology and Security, April 4, 2016 (San Francisco, CA, USA). The Association of American Geographers will host a panel discussion on the American Arctic. In 2015 the United States assumed the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. In recent years, the Federal government began to pay closer attention to the Arctic owing to dramatic environmental and social changes and growing economic interest in the region's vast resources. President Obama became the first sitting US President to visit the Arctic this August. US Arctic Research Commission Chair Fran Ulmer is expected to be a panelist.
Alaska Rural Energy Conference, April 26-28, 2016 (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA). The Alaska Rural Energy Conference is a three day event offering a large variety of technical sessions covering new and ongoing energy projects in Alaska, as well as new technologies and needs for Alaska's remote communities. Building on the growing success, the Alaska Energy Authority and the Alaska Center for Energy and Power have joined forces again to organize and sponsor the 10th annual Alaska Rural Energy Conference.
14th IATS Seminar, June 19-25, 2016 (Bergen, Norway). The University of Bergen (UiB) is honored to host the 14th IATS Seminar in Bergen, Norway, from Sunday 19 to Saturday 25 June 2016 in co-operation with the Network for University Co-operation Tibet-Norway, an academic network with the universities of Oslo, Bergen and Tromsų as partners. The convenor is Professor Hanna Havnevik, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo, and Chair of the Network.
Inuit traditions are a repository of Inuit culture and a primary expression of Inuit identity. The theme for the 2016 Inuit Studies Conference invites Elders, knowledge-bearers, researchers, artists, policy-makers, students and others to engage in conversations about the many ways in which traditions shape understanding, while registering social and cultural change. The institutional hosts of "Inuit Traditions," Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Nunatsiavut Government, invite you to contribute to an exchange of knowledge to be held in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, October 7-10, 2016. Presentations on all aspects of Inuit studies will be welcome.
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2016 (Fairbanks, AK, USA).