Over the Circle

After a month of coalition negotiations following Iceland’s 28 October parliamentary election between two veterans of many previous governments, the centre-right Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), or IP, and the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn), and the Left-Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð) or VG, a deal was struck this week. Katrín Jakobsdóttir [In Icelandic], leader of the Left-Greens, became… Continue reading Iceland’s New Government: Meet Me In the Middle →

Much of current discussion surrounding energy sources in the Arctic has almost exclusively focussed on the possibility of extracting traditional fossil fuels from the lands and seas of the region. One of the catalysts for this debate is the now-notorious 2008 report [pdf] by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), explaining that the Arctic Ocean… Continue reading ‘But There Must Be Some Fire’: Combustible Ice and Arctic Effects →

The citizens of Nunavut (ᓄᓇᕗᑦ) went to the polls on 30 October to elect a new government and a leader to succeed outgoing Premier Peter Taptuna. None of the candidates ran on behalf of political parties, instead campaigning as de facto independents. In one district, Kugluktuk in Nunavut’s far west, there was a win by… Continue reading After the Vote in Nunavut: Thinking Big →

This week saw the long-awaited opening of the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) in the Northwest Territories, a permanent road linking the two Arctic towns and providing many new potential economic opportunities for the region. As Tuktoyaktuk lies on the coast of the Beaufort Sea region of the Arctic Ocean, the completion of the road marks the… Continue reading ‘Normality is a Paved Road’: Canada’s New Arctic Highway and What’s Next →