I’m halfway through Kenneth McGoogan’s excellent biography of John Rae, “Fatal Passage: The Story of John Rae, the Arctic Hero Time Forgot.” I love a good story about a forgotten scientific explorer, and McGoogan’s energetic and dramatic book has so far made a strong case for remembering Rae as a polar pioneer—not as the guy …
Read more ““Fatal Passage:” Arctic Explorer John Rae and the Fate of Sir John Franklin”
Just-published report reveals that oil and gas and shipping activity is on collision course with whale habitat The World Wildlife Fund (Canada) has published a paper in the journal Marine Policy that reveals the extensive overlap of areas targeted for Arctic energy development with the habitat of the endangered bowhead whale. Reported by the …
Read more “Bowheads May Bear Brunt of Energy Exploration in the Arctic”
In honor of National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, I can’t help but revisit one of the most infamous cases of lead poisoning in history—the Franklin Expedition disaster. In 1845, Royal Navy commander Sir John Franklin led two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, on a quest for the Northwest Passage. The expedition had been organized …