Posts filed under Science

We got a battle in front of us

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"I hope that the United States of America is not so rich that she can afford to let these wildernesses pass by. Or so poor that she cannot afford to keep them." - Margaret (Mardy) Murie

Wednesday Thoughts

    Sometimes this world makes me scared, scared that all this will somehow disappear, just like that. But as soon as I am out there I forget about all the worries of our free world, all I can think about are all of these massive wilderness places that are put aside for us, only us! This wilderness is ours, and we should prepare to fight for every last little bit of it from this government that don't seem to value these places as much as we do. 

One place where we can do this is at: Earth Justice

You can also take action on the climate agreement that the US is planning on pulling out from, on Earth Justice website, Take Action

Another depressing thing is that opening ANWR to drilling in 2018 will be one of the priorities in Drumps budget

You can read more about this long battle: War of the Arctic Oil

 
 

Again, I am sharing this powerful video about ANWR:

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Posted on May 31, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, Montana, Nature, The great wide open, Wisconsin, Yellowstone, Science, Denali, Wednesday Thoughts and tagged Science Alaska ANWR Climate Agreement climate change Montana Yellowstone National Park National Parks Denali National Park Canyonlands northern Wisconsin Wisconsin2.

Who Dealt these Cards?

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Flashback Friday

Abisko

    Way back when, well not that long time ago but still 10 years ago, I had the privilege to take a field class in northern Sweden, about how climate change affect the arctic and the subarctic environment. I guess that was the beginning of the journey I am currently on (I guess I can argue that it started way before then too, but I'll go with this for now). It does make me wonder, who dealt these cards? Did it just randomly happen that I took that class or was it because I was intrigued by it and wanted to learn more, or was it because I had never been to Abisko, or what? Did I choose my own path back then or did I accidentally stumble upon it. Either way I think that class is what brought me to where I am now. 

 
 

Under the midnight sun

    During that class two other students and I ventured out on a night hike to get to the next destination for our class, of course we talked with the professors before and they all agreed that we could to that if we wanted to. So we did. We ventured out under the midnight sun right after dinner that evening. Up and over the mountains to get to the research station. Across fields of snow and gorgeous midnight sun that casted its rays upon the beautiful country of northern Sweden. Right then and there I must have decided that I love this place. The mountains and that midnight sun. We were also lucky enough to spot a Wolverine from afar, which is the first but not the last one that I have seen. It was to far away to get a photo of it though.

 
 

My path?

    Very often I do wonder where I would have been had I not started my PhD in Alaska. Would I have done a PhD in Sweden? Actually I did apply for a PhD in Sweden, but didn't even get a reply from that application, which (in my opinion) is ridiculous. So I broaden my search and stumbled upon a PhD position in Alaska. I don't think I quite realized what I was getting myself into. I mean I realized the PhD part, but I don't think I realized what a gem Alaska really is. I don't think I had dreamt about Alaska or anything like that. Although my mom claims she used to make up bedtime stories about me exploring parts of the world, including Alaska. Since then I have wandered the mountains of Alaska, well a few, very very few of them...but still.

 
 

Alaska

    I've worked remotely in parts of Alaska as part of my research, but also helping other people with their research and fieldwork. But I love it. And I miss it. But there are more mountains to be discovered and I have the privilege to do that, which I am very grateful of. As you all probably know, not everyone are able to do that. One thing though, all of this doesn't come for free. And I have given up and sacrificed large parts of my life too, to be able to do what I am doing. We are given our deck of cards at the beginning of our life, and how we play them is up to us, and as with any card game you play, sometimes you loose and sometimes you win. Nothing in life comes for free, remember that. 

 
 

    Who dealt your cards? Or did you just stumble upon your present life?

 
 
 
 
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Posted on February 24, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Alaska, Sweden, Science and tagged Alaska Sweden Arctic Subarctic Wilderness remote areas Abisko Mountains Research Science Midnight Sun Sun Midnight Sunset Elsewhere 2017 Summer Adventures field Fieldwork Family National Park National Parks Abisko National Park.

United States of Chaos

 
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. - Isaac Asimov

Wednesday thoughts

 
 

A parallel Universe?

    I bet you've been reading the news lately, I have. I have actually never really been into politics that much, well maybe certain issues, but there are a lot of things I don't understand when it comes to politics, so I stay in behind the scenes. To be honest I have no clue if this government and president (ok I know for a certain fact they are VERY different) are any different from previous governments and presidents. I mean, I know a whole lot more about the government and politics now, compared to what I knew a couple of months ago. I listen more, I try to read more and so on. But how can I be sure that the reason I am doing this is because of all the hiatus that is going on right now, were there similar (OK maybe not THAT similar, but still...) issues that happened behind the scenes of the previous government and president, that I didn't know about, because the sources I read and listen to weren't upset or thought that things were wrong? (I know, I  know, probably not...)

Be careful which way you lean

    Unfortunately I am leaning more to one side (left, democrats), rather than another, and the problem that arise, when you lean in either direction, is that you tend to read news that are somewhat leaning towards your side of view, you listen to news and friends that are leaning in the same direction as you. The problem here is that you almost never quite understand why and how someone can NOT agree with you, or can lean the other way. I think it is really important (as hard as it is) to try an read other news sources (BUT what are the other reliable news sources please help me out?) in order to get a more nuanced view of the world (no not that view, not changing the concept of for instance evolution etc, but just get a different point of view). 

    I have been listening to many many podcasts, to get a better understanding of the current situation, well the current view of left leaning (mostly) podcasts. Here are a few of the podcasts I follow:

 
 

The guardian posted an article not long ago that covered some popular podcasts, left, right and alt-right if you want to know more about the other side:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/18/podcasts-trump-presidency-political-left-right-alt-right

When it comes to articles these are the major ones I usually check:

http://www.motherjones.com/

https://www.theatlantic.com/

http://www.amerikaanalys.se/

 

What do you read or listen to about the political situation?

 
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Posted on February 15, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Science, Wednesday Thoughts and tagged Science Politics USA US Save America.