Threshold

When the debate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge first emerged, most people had never heard of global warming. So over the last four decades, the controversies over oil in the Refuge and climate change evolved on different tracks. Now, those tracks are intersecting. We dive into the resulting tensions and contradictions around oil and climate in this final episode of our series...

The Gwich’in have lived and hunted in the Refuge long before it was carved out as federal, protected land. Their territory spans a huge swath of northeastern Alaska and northwestern Canada, and their health and culture depends on the Porcupine caribou herd - a group of animals 200,000 strong that calve on the area of the coastal plain slated for drilling. In this two-part episode, spend time in Ar...

The Gwich’in have lived and hunted in the Refuge long before it was carved out as federal, protected land. Their territory spans a huge swath of northeastern Alaska and northwestern Canada, and their health and culture depends on the Porcupine caribou herd - a group of animals 200,000 strong that calve on the area of the coastal plain slated for drilling. In this two-part episode, spend time in Ar...

We're moving from the coast to the interior of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to help you get a sense of what it feels like to travel through this vast area. Last summer, writer William deBuys took a raft trip from the Brooks Range in the middle of the Refuge all the way out to the Arctic Ocean. During his two weeks on the water, he got to travel alongside the Porcupine caribou herd, animals...

We continue our reporting from Kaktovik, Alaska—the only town within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—to find out how the conflict over drilling for oil in the refuge feels to the people who live there. The more we listened, the more we realized: the heart of the issue isn’t just over oil extraction and development, wilderness and wildlife. Whatever side people took, their focus is on their com...

We continue our reporting from Kaktovik, Alaska—the only town within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—to find out how the conflict over drilling for oil in the refuge feels to the people who live there. The more we listened, the more we realized: the heart of the issue isn’t just over oil extraction and development, wilderness and wildlife. Whatever side people took, their focus is on their com...

For 40 years, the fight over drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been waged mostly from afar, in Washington, D.C. But what would oil development mean to the people who live closest to the proposed drilling area? Kaktovik, Alaska is the only town within the boundaries of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Now that drilling has been approved by Congress, it could mean peopl...

The question of whether or not we should drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most contentious public lands debates in the United States. Even though most Americans would have a hard time finding it on a map, the topic seems to ignite intense feelings in just about everyone. After 40 years of fighting, Congress voted in December 2017 to allow drilling in the refu...

We’re closing out two years of Arctic reporting with a new series about one of the oldest, most contentious, and most complex environmental issues in the United States—the future of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In 2017, Congress opened part of the refuge for oil and gas development, and the Trump administration says they aim to start selling the drilling rights this winter. But oppone...

In this special episode, we feature one of the many podcasts we love. HumaNature tells real stories about human experiences in nature, and helps us reflect on our role in a changing world. Today, tag along with writer Manasseh Franklin on her Alaskan journey to follow glacial melt to its source—on a raft Find out more  on our website . Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you. Bec...

What do "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice and "What Have You Done for Me Lately" by Janet Jackson have to do with the Arctic and climate change?   Find out in this season two special, which will take you on a journey into a permafrost tunnel near Fairbanks, Alaska. This tunnel is sort of a Paleo-museum, a network of human-made caves full of mammoth tusks, bison horns, and clumps of...

What is the Arctic? Who lives there? How are their lives changing as the climate warms? In this Earth Day Special, we take listeners on a three-part journey across the polar north, drawing on our 18 months of research and reporting in all eight Arctic countries. This one-hour Threshold Earth Day Special is formatted to the NPR clock and can be licensed for radio broadcast through PRX, here: http:/...

Remember the Sámi family from episode six? The Aleksandersens face threats to their reindeer herding from both climate change and climate change solutions. But a lot has happened since our initial reporting. Spend some time surrounded by these beautiful, antlered ungulates, and get an update on the family’s fight against a nearby wind development.   Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org/d...

18 months of reporting. All eight Arctic countries. So many fascinating people. On the final episode of season two of Threshold , we pull back a little and try to see the big picture. Join us as we bust some myths, travel back in time in a Swedish forest, and search for roadmaps into the future. Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org/donate . Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you...

The Greenland ice sheet is basically a giant ice cube the size of Alaska. What happens when it melts? We spent five days camping out on the ice with a team of scientists who are trying to find out. Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org/donate . Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you. Become part of our passionate network of supporters at https://www.patreon.com/thresholdpodcast ....

All across the Arctic, indigenous languages are on the decline. But in many communities, people are finding new ways to reclaim both language and culture. Join some Inuit rockers in northern Canada in the recording studio, singing in their own language and making their first new studio album in more than 30 years. Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org/donate . Our reporting is made possible by...

Half of the Arctic is in Russia, and half of Russia is in the Arctic. Oil, minerals, pollution -- it's a web of complicated environmental stories that need to be told. But in Russia, investigative journalists have become an endangered species. Spend some time around a nickel smelter and meet a veteran journalist fighting to do his job. Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org/donate . Our reporti...

Russia has more land in the Arctic than any other nation. It's also a regime that does not tolerate dissent. What does this mean for residents of Murmansk, the Arctic's largest city? Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org/donate . Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you. Become part of our passionate network of supporters at https://www.patreon.com/thresholdpodcast . This season is...

What happens when the thing you can't live without in the short term threatens your very existence in the long run? Meet two whalers in Utqiagvik, Alaska trying to answer that question. Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org/donate . Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you. Become part of our passionate network of supporters at https://www.patreon.com/thresholdpodcast . This season...

If there's one thing everybody's heard about the Arctic, it's that sea ice is melting, and that's bad news. But what's less well-known is that some people see opportunity in sea ice loss. This time, take a seat in the captain's chair of a Finnish icebreaker, sing along with a very musical Alaskan mayor, and find out what it means when the world gets a whole new ocean. Find out more at www.threshol...

Take a trip through the Norwegian archipelago, meet workers in the tourism industry, and get a glimpse of some charismatic Arctic megafauna. Plus, Newsmatch begins.   Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org/donate .   Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you. Become part of our passionate network of supporters at https://www.patreon.com/thresholdpodcast .   This season...

After thousands of years of tradition, a shifting climate is forcing changes in the way Sámi families herd reindeer. But some climate solutions are also threatening their way of life. This is the story of the Aleksandersens, a Sámi reindeer herding family in northern Norway. Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org . Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you. Become part of our passion...

Everyone's heard of Vikings -- their daring North Atlantic voyages, their mysterious runes. But there's another ancient culture in Arctic Scandinavia that's much older, and just as fascinating -- the Sámi. While the Vikings have been celebrated, Sámi music, language and traditions were forced underground. Why? Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org . Our reporting is made possible by listeners...

An eight-ton concrete ball and a 32,000-year-old needle collection. What's all this got to do with the Arctic? Find out on this episode of Threshold . Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org . Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you. Become part of our passionate network of supporters at https://www.patreon.com/thresholdpodcast . This season is underwritten by the Pulitzer Center on...

All across the Arctic, frozen soil is thawing out. A lot of stuff is buried there -- plants and animals that lived more than 10,000 years ago. What happens when a Paleolithic bison bone starts to decompose for the first time? And what does that have to do with climate change? Find out more at www.thresholdpodcast.org . Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you. Become part of our passio...