#Cdnpoli - 

It took a shortage of parkas, winter tents and basic all round cold weather gear for it to finally sink in.

Six years after the Harper government declared the Arctic to be a new
operations area for the Canadian military, the army has s…

This story isn’t funny: “Army struggles with shortage of Arctic parkas, tents…” But the photo accompanying it certainly is! Maybe Harp can lend his parka out to the army, he sure looks warm in that shot. Nice find by Canadian Press.The Arctic is supp…

This story isn’t funny: “Army struggles with shortage of Arctic parkas, tents…” But the photo accompanying it certainly is! Maybe Harp can lend his parka out to the army, he sure looks warm in that shot. Nice find by Canadian Pr…

This is the second of a two-part feature examining the impact of climate change on the Arctic. Part I examined the uses of the colonial imagination of the Arctic. 
Many of the winter months of 2012 were among the warmest on record. The warmin…

#Cdnpoli - 

They keep on coming and now, after totally screwing up the Joint Support Ship project, we have one of Harper’s own hobby-horses being stuffed into the quicksand and now it’s the navy looking want. (Emphasis mine)

The Conservative gov…

This is the first in a two-part feature examining the impact of climate change on the Arctic. Next week, Part II will look at the harmful impacts of climate change in the Arctic and how corporations are looking to move in, taking advantage of the retre…

A former air force colonel questions the purchase.
Retired colonel Paul Maillet, an aerospace…

#jackbootshit

Not in my country. Hey government scientists, why not get together and hold a press conference to introduce your research and your political minders to the world? Let them be photographed and invite the international media to interview …

Paddled Thule Pot ReproductionsThe Cape Krusenstern order includes a sherd of Thule pottery.  This is a new challenge for me.  I’ve dabbled with ceramics in the past, and I had a good hands-on “ceramics for archaeologists” course as an underg…

By Peter Apps, Reuters WASHINGTON — This year’s frenzy of oil and gas exploration in newly accessible Arctic waters could be the harbinger of even starker changes to come. If, as many scientists predict, currently inaccessible sea lanes across the top of the world become navigable in the coming decades, they could redraw global trading [...]

Archaic Lance, Groswater reproductionsFor the next couple of months I’ll be working on artifact reproductions full time.  I have a few wholesale jewelry orders to fill, but most of the work will be for universities and parks to use in in…

A little blunter and wornHere’s an update on those walrus bone Palaeoeskimo pressure flakers that I made a few weeks ago.  Since then I’ve had several opportunities to work with them and these are my first impressions.  Generally, I’ve prefer…

Who knew a video of an Arctic research station, the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) in Eureka, Nunavut, could be so oddly compelling. Maybe it’s the music. Maybe it’s the circumstances where a key Canadian scientific research …

Who knew a video of an Arctic research station, the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) in Eureka, Nunavut, could be so oddly compelling. Maybe it’s the music. Maybe it’s the circumstances where a key Canadian scienti…

Snow covered komatikI spent a few days in Pond Inlet earlier this week attending some meetings.  Here are a few shots from around town.  The sun is up for 7 or 8 hours a day now, and the temperatures hovered below minus 30 while I was there. …

Walrus bone pressure flakersI finally made myself a proper Dorset Palaeoeskimo walrus bone pressure flaker/punch.  Its been on the “to-do” list for years and although I’ve had a walrus baculum around the house for a long time, I haven’t …

Vote 4 Oil.png

Guest post by Connor Gibson, cross-posted from Polluterwatch.
Two days ago, President Obama denied the permit for the destructive Keystone XL tar sands pip…

Vote 4 Oil.png Guest post by Connor Gibson, cross-posted from Polluterwatch. Two days ago, President Obama denied the permit for the destructive Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, much to the dismay of Big Oil's top lobbyis…

Ulu Preform, Baffin Island, NunavutWe found this ulu preform broken in five pieces and hidden in plain sight on a boulder ridge overlooking a river valley this summer.  It looks like it was broken in manufacture and discarded where it broke. &nbsp…

Michael Byers has an excellent analysis on China, the Arctic, oil and international relations in today’s Al Jazeera: The dragon looks north China grows hungry for Arctic resources and shipping routes as northern ice melts. _______________ Snubbe…