Science, Technology, and Public Policy

2021 Arctic Frontiers hosted a panel of young Arctic leaders alongside seasoned Arctic influencers who dove deeper into the opportunities and obstacles northern youth face now and in the future. Framed in the context of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, speakers were invited to discuss the pressing issues that they stand to inherit such as climate change, societal pressure, migration of young people to the south, and the question of whether the Arctic is facing its own cultural revolution. This session sought to build bridges between generations, borders, and disciplines to find the best solutions for a resilient Arctic.

Arctic Innovator Samuel Gant writes that by adopting world-class environmental and safety standards and creating a sovereign wealth fund, Greenland can ensure mining serves its best interests.

Arctic Innovator Bert de Jonghe, a landscape architect, proposes a virtual innovation platform that seeks to capture Greenland's public imagination to start a critical discussion that propels the future of habitation in Greenland.

Increased investment into the Arctic over the coming decades is inevitable. To respond to this, the Arctic's present international governance structures can be improved to help steer the region through these impending changes.

The Arctic Transformation and Resilience Study Group, led by Arctic Initiative Senior Fellow Joel Clement, will give students the opportunity to learn about and work on issues of Arctic resilience. Working together to deliver a compilation and brief analysis of existing policies that support or inhibit resilience in the Arctic, students will have the opportunity to meet with top Arctic scientists, policymakers, indigenous knowledge-holders, and finance experts, while developing a report that will be delivered to the Secretariat of the Arctic Council Sustainable Development Working Group.

This study group will be held on Tuesdays, from 6pm–7:30pm, beginning Oct 29, and including Nov 5, 12, 19, and 26. For more information or to sign-up, please contact brittany_janis@hks.harvard.edu. Space is limited; please register by October 21.

In this edition of "The Interview," Fair Observer talks to Professor John Holdren, former science adviser to President Barack Obama and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2009 to 2017 about the impacts of global warming on the United States and the government's strategies to combat climate change.