Warming Alters Sled Dog Race

'They're the best dogs, hands-down,' winner says of Alaskan canine team

(NEWSER) - Lance Mackey won his second consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race today, crossing the finish line in Nome, Alaska, after 1,100 miles over 9½ days, the AP reports—despite unseasonably warm weather and occasionally quarrelsome dogs. "I don't know exactly how to explain it," said Mackey, a 37-year-old throat-cancer survivor. "I'm just blessed with an incredible dog team." More»

Critics complain move doesn't address main threats

(NEWSER) - The federal government has proposed designating 200,000 square miles of land, sea, and ice in northern Alaska as a critical habitat for polar bears. The move is "one step in the right direction to help this species stave off extinction," said an Interior Department official. He acknowledged, however, that the melting of sea ice caused by climate change is the biggest threat to the bears. More»

Climate change opens north to shipping, tourism, resource development

(NEWSER) - Climate change is melting away the main barrier to business in the Arctic—ice—but the US lags behind other countries seeking to exploit the region, the Anchorage Daily News reports. As receding ice opens the area to shipping, resource exploitation, and tourism, it's Russia and Canada who have established transport rules and studied the ocean floor. "It's like the new Strait of Gibraltar," says a Coast Guard captain of the Bering Strait. More»

(NEWSER) - Three major glaciers in Alaska and Washington state have rapidly shrunk over the last 50 years due to global warming—and the melting is accelerating as the climate changes, notes a government study released yesterday. The glaciers, chosen as "benchmarks" because their conditions closely parallel those of thousands of others, are in different climates and elevations but all have lost large amount of ice as conditions become warmer and drier, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

(NEWSER) - John Kerry takes Sarah Palin to task for missing the big picture in her essay today against President Obama's cap-and-trade proposal. Palin, he writes in the Huffington Post, manages to criticize legislation to curb climate change without acknowledging the dangers of climate change itself. "It's like complaining about the cost of repairing a roof without factoring in the leaks destroying your home." More»