Ice Edge chronicles a collaborative research project in Kotzebue, Alaska aimed at understanding changes in coastal sea ice through Indigenous and Western ways of knowing.

Under human-driven climate change, the Arctic is warming several times faster than the globe as a whole, disrupting ecosystems, landscapes and seascapes that Indigenous communities have depended on for hundreds of generations. Five years ago, facing momentous changes in coastal sea ice, Iñupiaq residents of the Native Village of Kotzebue along northwest Alaska and researchers from Columbia University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks began a collaborative research project to understand the changes in sea ice cover and implications for the Indigenous way of life.

The project, called Ice Bridges, or Ikaaġvik Sikukun in the Iñupiaq language, melded Indigenous knowledge, aerial monitoring, climate simulations and ocean and marine mammal science to address questions forged from the beginning through dialogue. The first peer-reviewed studies are emerging, along with a film chronicling the years-long study and the relationships it forged.
In this special Sustain What episode from the Columbia Climate School, we’ll celebrate the launch of the film, discuss the research and explore lessons that can inform efforts around the world to bridge local and scientific expertise and perspectives when tackling urgent challenges where the impacts of climate change are greatest.

Guests will include the filmmaker, Sarah Betcher, and research team members.
The host of Sustain What is Andy Revkin, founding director of the Columbia Climate School’s Initiative on Communication and Sustainability and a longtime climate-focused journalist who reported three times from the Arctic during his 20 years writing for The New York Times.

The launch will celebrate the film, discuss the research, and explore lessons that can inform efforts around the world to bridge local and Western science expertise and perspectives when tackling urgent challenges where the impacts of climate change are greatest.

For more information, go to:
Film webpage

For questions, contact:
Heather McFarland
Email: hrmcfarland@alaska.edu
Phone: 907-474-6286