Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867 but only became a state in 1959, just months before Hawaii. Its awe-inspiring and rugged terrain stretches over 570,000 miles and is inhabited by 733,406 people making it the largest state in the US by land mass and 48th by population. Almost one third of the state sits in the Arctic Circle and 4.5% of it is covered by 100,000 glaciers covering 29,000 square miles. The state boasts more coastline than the rest of the country combined and the nation’s two largest forests. Wildlife in this last frontier is diverse and abundant.
The Arctic, including areas of Alaska, helps regulate the temperature of the whole planet, with snow and ice reflecting the Sun’s heat, but now these areas are warming faster than anywhere else on the planet. Alaska has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the country and with that warming, its permafrost has begun to melt. Permafrost is ground with a temperature that remains at or below freezing, and it provides a stable foundation for much of Alaska’s infrastructure— found beneath 85% of the state. In the North Slope of Alaska, permafrost has warmed 2.2-3.9º C over the last 100 years. As permafrost melts, the ground sags and infrastructure like roads and buildings deteriorate or collapse. Thawing permafrost exposes acids and metals in the soil to oxygen, causing them to rust and turning rivers in Alaska a stained orange color visible from space. Also a carbon and methane store house, permafrost poses a global threat when it melts, beyond the immediate costs to Alaskan communities and dangers to both humans and wildlife. As frozen plants and animals in the permafrost warm and decompose, greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. The amount of carbon now released by the world’s permafrost is nearly equal to the emissions of all of Japan.
Alaska’s Native communities will most directly bear the brunt of these changes. 87% of these communities are experiencing erosion and some are facing relocation. Patricia Cochran, executive director of the Alaska Native Science Commission, says “It has taken science a very long time to catch up to what our communities have been saying for decades. For at least the last 40 or 50 years, our communities have noticed the subtlest of changes happening in the environment around them. We were seeing the signs of climate change long before researchers and scientists started using those words. Climate change is more than just a discussion for us. It is a reality. It is something that we live with and face every single day - and have for decades.” In October 2024, the Biden administration announced almost $75 million in federal grants to aid Alaska Native communities with climate adaptation, including programs to assess climate risk as well as partnership with the NOAA.
Many of the most remote communities rely on subsistence farming and are faced with threatened food supplies. As Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer, co-author of the 2023 Arctic Report Card, writes “Alaska Native communities and our people are on the front lines of climate change.” Thawing sea ice is flooding coastal communities and severe storms (including typhoon Merbok, a storm of historic strength in Alaska) are threatening the livelihood of Indigenous communities in Alaska, 60-80% of whom rely on wildlife for food. In a rapidly-warming Alaska, wildlife also faces devastating consequences. For example, multiple mass bird die-offs have occurred since 2014, as warming seas have disrupted ecosystems and broken the food change on which they depend to survive.
While Alaska’s total energy demand is low compared to other states, it has the highest per-capita energy consumption. Alaska is a major producer of petroleum, with the fourth-largest crude oil reserves in the nation. In December of 2020, the Trump Administration sought to increase oil production in the state by opening up part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration. The lease auction took place in early January of 2021, just two weeks before President Biden was sworn into office. However, the auction ended with a win for those who opposed the sale. Over half the auctions had no bidder, and the vast majority of the auctions won were by the state of Alaska itself. This was likely due to a combination of low oil prices, the coronavirus, and pressure from environmental protectionist groups. The Biden administration canceled these leases in 2023, and in 2022, reduced the area available for oil and natural gas leasing in Alaska by one-third. In April 2024, the Biden administration announced more restrictions on Alaskan oil and gas leasing and recommended rejecting a contentious mining road project.
While renewables currently contribute to a very small percentage of Alaska’s energy use, the state has a nonbinding commitment to generate 50% of its energy from renewables by 2050. Alaska has significant potential in hydroelectric power, wind power, and geothermal energy. In May of 2020, the state government enacted a bill to integrate electrical utilities, increasing energy efficiency and paving a path for the transition to renewables. Anchorage, the state’s largest city, enacted a Climate Action Plan in May of 2019 which focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions while preparing for the impacts of climate change. In 2023, about one-fourth of Alaska’s electricity generation came from renewable sources.
CREDIT: TRT World
