Foreign Policy Blogs

The Seward Peninsula: Our Arctic Backyard

The Seward Peninsula: Our Arctic Backyard

The Los Angeles Times has posted an audio slideshow by Robert Gauthier featuring photographs of the Alaskan Arctic, along with commentary by various residents. The images document the changing environment of the Seward Peninsula, whose coast lies along the Bering Strait. In two and a half minutes, the slideshow touches on topics such as the indigenous and European origins of the Seward Peninsula’s residents, the effect of increased noise from shipping on the local whale population in Kotzebue, and the epic scale of the Alaskan wilderness.

Map of Seward Peninsula

Map of Seward Peninsula

 

Author

Mia Bennett

Mia Bennett is pursuing a PhD in Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She received her MPhil (with Distinction) in Polar Studies from the University of Cambridge's Scott Polar Research Institute, where she was a Gates Scholar.

Mia examines how climate change is reshaping the geopolitics of the Arctic through an investigation of scientific endeavors, transportation and trade networks, governance, and natural resource development. Her masters dissertation investigated the extent of an Asian-Arctic region, focusing on the activities of Korea, China, and Japan in the circumpolar north. Mia's work has appeared in ReNew Canada, Water Canada, FACTA, and Baltic Rim Economies, among other publications.

She speaks French, Swedish, and is learning Russian.

Follow her on Twitter @miageografia