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Climate Change on Ice in Alaska

Alaskans may be more familiar with the up-close devastation caused by our warming globe than anyone in the Western Hemisphere.

Entire coastal villages have been forced to relocate inland, polar bears have drowned in Alaskan waters, and the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service has formally decided to silence its employees regarding such events.

That recently came to light thanks to a memorandum leaked by Deborah Williams, with a reputable career in government and the Department of the Interior, non-profits and wildlife leading to her current position as President of Alaska Conservation Solutions.

The censorship is especially inopportune just weeks after proud announcements of the International Polar Year, which is set to study in-depth the impact of global warming in the North and South poles (reg. req’d). Scientists from 60 countries, supposedly supported by our own presidential science adviser John H. Marburger III, are driven by the burden of questions that outnumber answers.

Here’s one more question: How can our scientists adequately contribute or even participate if government employees in Alaska are on orders to restrict discussion on climate change, sea ice, and polar bears? I must have missed that memo.

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