August 17, 2009

10 Years of Drought in the U.S.

This short animation shows how drought patterns have changed across the U.S. over the past ten years. Based on data from the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. The most severe drought is shown in red.

May 3, 2009

Sea Ice Knowledge & Use by Indigenous Peoples

SIKU is a Polar Year project studying the knowledge and use of sea ice by today's indigenous people. The project engages 15-20 indigenous communities across multiple countries including Russia, Canada, and the US.

SIKU has documented 80-100 different words for sea ice in most Eskimo languages. The acronym for the project comes from siku, a word for sea ice in all Eskimo languages.



A sidenote: There is a "Glacier Ice Vodka" called Siku. From the product website, "Siku is the only vodka in the world that transforms glacier ice directly to vodka without ever becoming water." Glacier ice from Greenland, processed in the Netherlands.