Commentary

On this page we feature the most recent of our writings and presentations. Please check the archives to the left for older publications.

August 10, 2010 press release

Institute of the North Names Three New Board Members

July 29, 2010 press release

Hickel’s Institute of the North Announces Two New Fellows

July 4, 2010 article

Alaska's future passes to emerging leaders

June 24, 2010 press release

Hickel's Institute names new board members

May 28, 2010 press release

Hickel's Institute of the North will continue his legacy

Feb. 3, 2010 press release

Voices of Choices: civic and civil discourse

November 22, 2009 article

Opinion: Alaska's 'commons' idea inspires global action

Exclusive to the Anchorage Daily News by Governor Walter J. Hickel

October 25, 2009 article

Opinion: Commons care can yield resource revolution

Exclusive to the Anchorage Daily News by Governor Walter J. Hickel

October 22, 2009 presentation by Senior Fellow Mead Treadwell

at the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment Workshop

Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

Keynote Address (text of remarks in PDF format)

September 15, 2009 presentation by Managing Director Nils Andreassen

at the Southeast Conference Annual Meeting

Haines, Alaska, USA

Imagining Your Future (text of remarks in PDF format) 

Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report

The AMSA 2009 Report (PDF format, 27 MB)

June 10, 2009 presentation by Managing Director Ben Ellis

at the 3rd Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations

Annapolis, Maryland, USA

Arctic Marine Transport and the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report (PowerPoint in PDF format)

February 1, 2009 article

President can spread Alaska's lesson

Exclusive to the Anchorage Daily News by Governor Walter J. Hickel

November 9, 2008 article

Opinion: Alaska energy a vessel of opportunity

Exclusive to the Anchorage Daily News by Governor Walter J. Hickel

2007 Annual Report

The Institute of the North specializes in how to utilize and care for the resource-rich commons for the benefit of those living in and on the commons. Areas of special study include Alaska, the new Russia, the many regions of the Arctic and other areas of the world that are lightly populated and wealthy in both human cultures and natural resources.

2007 Annual Report (pdf format)

October 2, 2008 presentation by Managing Director Ben Ellis

at the Carnegie Moscow Center

Moscow, Russian Federation

Arctic Transport Today and Tomorrow: Implications of a changing marine environment at the top of the world (pdf format)

 

October 2008: Interim Report 

Prepared by James Hemsath, Senior Fellow for Energy

Interim Report on the Arctic Energy Summit, International Polar Year Project #299 

September 16, 2008 presentation by Senior Fellow Walter Parker

to open the Curtis and Edith Munson Distinguished Lecture Series

at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

New Haven, Connecticut

Arctic Seas and Melting Ice (PowerPoint in pdf format)

Text of remarks to accompany presentation (pdf format)

August 14, 2008: Presentation by Senior Fellow James Hemsath

at the Conference of Arctic Parliamentarians

Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

Observations from the Arctic Energy Summit and Results from the Arctic Energy Action Team (PowerPoint slide show; 8.25 MB)

May 21, 2008 presentation by Managing Director Ben Ellis:

at University of Washington

Seattle, Washington

Cold Rush: Arctic Energy (pdf format)

March 2008 report:  AMSA Scenario Narratives

The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, a major project of the Arctic Council under the Protection of Marine Environment (PAME) working group, is a direct follow-up to the Arctic Marine Strategic Plan and the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, two key Arctic Council reports. The assessment is intended to provide a baseline data of shipping activity in the Arctic for 2004, potential scenarios concerning Arctic shipping for 2020 and 2050, as well as other critical information.

In April, the Institute helped support a scenario creation exercise under the direction of the Global Business Network, the world's foremost scenario consultancy based in San Francisco. Scenarios do not claim to be predictions. The point is not to gather evidence for some induction about a most probable future. The point is rather to explore and understand more deeply a number of different possibilities in order to make better reasoned choices among them. The product generated by this workshop will be incorporated into the AMSA.

AMSA Scenario Narratives (pdf format)

 

March 16, 2008 article:

TransCanada plan isn't best for state

Exclusive to the Anchorage Daily News by Governor Walter J. Hickel

 

February 22, 2008 presentation by Research Specialist Kristina Baiborodova and Managing Director Ben Ellis:

at the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Northern Sea Route

St. Petersburg, Russia

Observations from the Arctic Energy Summit and Development of the Arctic Energy Action Team

(PowerPoint in PDF format)

February 18, 2008 report:

An analysis of the voting record of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (NPFMC) shows that its members consistently followed the recommendations of marine biologists in supporting actions that imposed constraints on the groundfish fisheries for purposes of conservation.  That conclusion is made in a report detailing a retrospective analysis that examined the voting record of the NPFMC from 1994 to 2006.

Press release: 

Study shows fishery council follows scientific recommendations

 

Report:

Conflict of Interest Standards & Regional Fishery Management Councils:

An evaluation of the North Pacific Council's voting record on conservation issues