Over the past 12 million years, a diversity of mammals evolved specializations for exploiting Arctic sea ice. Other marine mammals - lacking adaptations to ice - have been isolated from one another by sea ice and have evolved along separate paths in the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. For the past 10,000 years, Arctic people have developed cultures around the seasonal availability of Arctic marine mammals. Today, eleven ice-associated marine mammals face unprecedented rapid loss of a continent-sized habitat as Arctic sea ice diminishes. A skeptical analysis (a first principle of science) of ecological and evolutionary data indicate that rapid changes in food resources, predation, competition, and interbreeding threaten many species as well as traditional ways of life among Arctic peoples. Responding to these changes will require sound analysis, mitigation, and adaptation.

On April 20th, from 10-11:00am Alaska time, Brendan P. Kelly will present a teleconference titled: "The Sky is Not Falling, But the Ocean Is Rising: A Skeptic's View of Sea Ice Loss and Marine Mammals".

Brendan is a Research Scientist at NOAA's National Marine Lab and is a professor at the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks. 

Visit the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy's website for information about how to participate in this free event. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.

You may also attend this event at the following satellite listening centers: the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, the Islands and Oceans Center in Homer, the Northwest Campus in Nome, the NWC Learning Center in Unalakleet, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Center in Galena.