From October 26th, 2006

Hello once again my geographically inclined amigos!  I know each and every one of you has missed the FOGS emailings, and really, who can blame you.  believe it or not, there has been an outcry for more FOGS - rest assured you can count on me to preach the geographical truth.

as most of you know I spent this summer doing research on the kennicott glacier in southeast alaska. the summer went very well for me - learned a ton and got to spend an incredible 11 weeks in the last frontier.  minimal wildlife encounters (except the 40 lb king salmon i slayed!), only one medical emergency (most of you understand that for me, this is a good thing), and hundreds of miles of foot travel.  the paper resulting from our research is still in the works, and likely will be until summertime.  i'll be sure to pass the paper along once it's finished even though the technical science blabber is about as far from english as you can get without officially turning to another language.  ahhhh yes, the intro to MY thesis!

i'm writing an undergraduate honors thesis this year, partially spawned from my lackluster view of scientific writing (yes, it can be really boring even for us!) and the superiority complex of science and scientists, and mostly because i feel a responsibility to address climate change in the arctic.  i know, crazy stuff, but hear me out...

So all of you should know by now that the global climate is changing, and you may know that these changes are currently manifesting themselves profoundly in the arctic and antarctic.  The framework behind my thesis involves the following concepts:

1. science alone cannot solve the global warming process, and the arctic's 4 million residents are at stake

2. especially concerning arctic residents whom are intimately tied to their environment, human perceptions should not be ignored by the scientific community nor international policy makers

3. the scale of science is too coarsely resolved in the arctic.  scientific observations of the arctic should be complimented by local input of long-term arctic residents

4. current climate change policy fails and leaves much to be desired.  arctic peoples should have a voice in climate change policy-making

5. climate change is ultimately an issue of human rights, and pursuing international and domestic climate change policies may be most effective under the context of human rights

i have attached a copy of my tentative thesis abstract.  this is the copy i turned in with my honors application, though it may be slightly altered prior to final submission next spring.  If any of you FOGS out there have any contacts, resources, ideas, whatever, please feel free to contact me as it would be much appreciated.