"The Big Thaw"
Most of Alaskan soils have been permanently frozen for hundreds of thousands of years (permafrost), but Alaska is warming faster than the rest of the U.S. and the permafrost is melting. Since 1950, the average temperature of Alaska has risen more than 5F and more than 3 million Alaskans are now living on unstable ground. Communities built on permafrost (e.g. Fairbanks) are facing huge landscape changes and unstable infrastructure. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline now must use extensive thermal cooling devices to keep the permafrost frozen, to prevent collapse of the pipeline's supports. Major highways are experiencing structural damage from thawing and many rural indigenous communities are facing dislocation from their ancestral homes. Alaskan ecosystems are also being stressed as the melting permafrost results in flooded forests, siltation of rivers, and changes in caribou migration routes. Deciduous trees and shrubs are replacing the moss-spruce ecosystems that covered permafrost areas, and these temperate species are moving north toward the Arctic.
Source: Sierra Magazine, Winter, 2021

Steve Spigarelli
EcoFaith Network NE MN Team
First Lutheran Church, Aitkin, MN
Northeastern Minnesota Synod