Blog Reviews

ALASKA CULTURE & GEOSCIENCE CLASS: Kelly Auer

I love the layout of Kelly's blog, especially the pictures. She includes a lot of links that are extremely helpful, including some from the class, but others from elsewhere. I particularly enjoyed her references back to Anchorage issues as I can relate to them, being from Eagle River myself.

My favorite blog post of Kelly's was from Module VII. I, too, get extremely tired of people scoffing at climate change and global warming just because the mid-West has an extremely cold winter or New York gets dumped on and has to dig out of the snow. Global warming is causing climate change, something I've seen in my lifetime here in Alaska. We never used to have thunderstorms or grasshoppers, but now we do.

I also hadn't thought of all the opportunities to involve students in environmental action. Both the schools I've taught at have encouraged Spring Clean Up, but my current high school also has senior projects where students complete 40 hours of community service for one organization. It would be great to help students find an environmental group to do work for- either outdoors or even helping compile research data.


EXPLORE ALASKA COMMENTARY: KF

What caught my attention on KF's blog was the title picture. It's stunning! If I'd seen it at random, I never would have guessed the photo was taken in Alaska. That just goes to show that we have many diverse ecosystems in Alaska. It could take a lifetime to see them all!

I knew about Point Hope and their issues with melting permafrost before I read KF's blog, but I didn't know about the sigluaq- the underground cellars- and the possibility of food poisoning. There are so many pieces in the puzzle of global warming- this is one that could have a major impact, but doesn't receive much press. Instead, one hears of Shismaref and the polar bears. These are definitely worthy of headlines, but it's important to show all the effects of climate change, especially since some people still claim global warming isn't occurring.

I also very much enjoyed the Arctic food web KF posted for Module VIII. I remember learning about the food chain in 1st grade, but I don't recall it being geared toward Alaska. It's important to make each lesson relevant to students so they can see the connections in what is being taught. That's a great way to demonstrate how climate change impacts Alaska's food chain. For example, if the number of seals drops because of melting sea ice, that will impact Arctic fox and the polar bear. But if one moves down the web even further, the polar cod will affect multiple species. Issues like increasing ocean acidity may affect Alaska's oceans and animal populations in the near future.