Personal Beginnings - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 8

the reasons why we and our politicians should be paying close attention to what is happen-
ing in the far north.
Many remarkable people from around the world have played vital roles in the Arctic
story. They are Arctic indigenous peoples and their leaders, scientists from almost every
discipline imaginable, medical and nursing practitioners, school teachers, international dip-
lomats, “bush” pilots who routinely land planes on snow, ice and water (and sometimes, it
seems on all three at the same time) and ships' crews who are masters of improvisation.
Most will remain anonymous, as I expect they would wish to be. A few people are iden-
tified for a number of reasons - in most cases because of a blinding scientific, managerial
or political contribution that cannot be told without attribution. In this vein, you will learn
that I have several personal heroes and heroines for my story. Finally, in some cases, names
appear simply to add some life and depth to the story or to help locate key references.
In writing this topic, I have aimed at the nonspecialist but have taken every oppor-
tunity to fully exploit the reader's curiosity. My hope is that university undergraduates will
take a close look at this story. The issues facing the Arctic are extraordinarily diverse and
offer wonderful career opportunities. These range, for example, from international politics
and the challenges of managing Arctic science and monitoring to atmospheric chemistry
and physics, oceanography, wildlife, human health and toxicology. To young students, I
could shout: “The Arctic needs you!” For young Arctic indigenous peoples, I would shout
even louder: “We need you most of all!” Some parts of the topic will not be easy going. If
a section is just too information laden or interminably boring, my advice is to skip it until
you land on something tastier. At the end of each science chapter is a short summary of
the main points to remember. I will be very happy if readers are encouraged to dive into
the more detailed texts suggested in the bibliography to better understand what I have been
trying to say. Failure on my part will be if readers never reach the last chapter and if the
topic fails to inspire further interest from young people in Arctic studies.
A few brief notes on the topic's organisation: In Part 1 , we will take a quick look at
Arctic environmental change, withtheresult (Ihope)that thereader will betempted toread
on. In Part 2 , we will look at how the abrupt end of the Cold War enabled countries to work