Our Top 5 of 2019

With the support of activists like you, we are building people power around the Pacific Rim to fight climate change, defend the oceans, promote open and inclusive societies, and ensure a just transition to a clean energy future for all. Here are five accomplishments I’m especially proud of this year. They would not have been … Read more

Decisions in London, Impacts in the Arctic

Earlier this year, Mellisa Maktuayaq Johnson told a room full of international shipping experts in London that “the sea and the land are our store.” Most people in the audience are used to shopping at supermarkets like Safeway or Costco, so it took a moment before they grasped the implications of what they were hearing. … Read more

Help Us Get Ships off of Dirty Fossil Fuels

Did you know that about 90% of the goods you consume are transported across the world by ships? Many of those ships are powered by dirty fossil fuels that pollute our air and oceans and worsen the climate crisis.   Join us this #GivingTuesday to get ships off of dirty and outdated fossil fuels. Help us … Read more

NGOs Vent Frustration Over Lack of Arctic Action on Shipping’s Black Carbon Emissions

London, May 17, 2019 – As a meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 74) closed today in London, the Clean Arctic Alliance expressed frustration over Members States’ failure to address the risk to the Arctic from emissions of black carbon from international shipping [1]. A proposal by the Clean Shipping Coalition … Read more

Guide to the International Maritime Organization

Updated February 13, 2020 — The Guide to IMO is a resource for anyone looking to get a crash course in what the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is and how it operates. In the guide, you will find descriptions of committees and sub-committees, section by section summaries of key IMO instruments (like the Polar Code), … Read more

Mapping Carnival’s Destructive Wake

Imagine: Sheer walls of blue ice wedge their way through mountains to meet the sea. Humpback whales rise to the surface to feed on gulps of herring and krill. Seagulls flock to the whales’ cavernous open mouths to snatch a meal. Small coastal communities that live as one with the land and sea. For more … Read more

Which Arctic or Subarctic Marine Mammal are You?

Earth’s northern waters are home to some of the most unique wildlife. From a swimming unicorn to a melonheaded friendly ghost to a super intelligent creature named for the Roman god of the underworld.* And if you ever wondered which one you would be, we’ve got you covered. Check out the personality quiz below and … Read more

Celebrate Marine Life with Us this #WorldWildlifeDay!

From the Arctic to Asia Pacific, this year we are celebrating marine life. Check out our new video to see how much our lives depend on healthy oceans. Pacific Environment and our local partners protect critical habitat for marine species in the Arctic and Pacific oceans. We help establish protective zones that allow threatened wildlife … Read more

Clean Arctic Alliance Hails Progress on Heavy Fuel Oil Ban But Warns Arctic Nations To Remain Focused

London, February 22, 2019 – As a meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR 6) closes today in London, the Clean Arctic Alliance welcomed progress but calls on Arctic Nations Russia and Canada to step-up to their responsibilities by adding their support for a ban on heavy fuel oil (HFO) … Read more

Ridding the Arctic of the World’s Dirtiest Fuel

We live in remarkable, stressful times. The last five years have been recorded as the five hottest on record, worldwide. Reports are coming in that an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius may come even sooner than we thought. Worrying news is reaching us from the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps, and from the Himalayas, about … Read more

Send an Arctic Valentine

Do you love the Arctic and its unique ocean wildlife? So do I, but Carnival Corporation, which claims to value a clean environment and sustainability, threatens to destroy everything we love about the Arctic. How? This new interactive map shows that Carnival’s cruise ships travel across Arctic and Alaskan waters fueled by the dirtiest fossil fuel on … Read more

Carnival Corporation cruise ships put Arctic, Subarctic marine mammals at risk, groundbreaking new map shows

SAN FRANCISCO — A groundbreaking new interactive map released today by the international Clean Up Carnival coalition shows that nearly half of Carnival Corporation cruise ships traveling through the Arctic and Subarctic pass near or through critical habitats for marine mammals including orca, walrus, and bowhead, narwhal, and beluga whales. The map details information on … Read more

Our Top 7 of 2018

Here are seven accomplishments I’m especially proud of this year. They would not have been possible without your generosity and passion. We won strong international protections for Arctic and Alaskan communities and wildlife. New rules now require ships to avoid fragile marine ecosystems around three islands in the Bering Sea (Nunivak Island, St. Lawrence Island, and King Island)—reducing the … Read more

You Make A Difference

Now, more than ever, we depend on the courage and dedicated activism of grassroots activists like you. As our own government is denying climate change and allowing polluters to pump more toxins into our water, our food, and our bodies, it’s up to you and me and others like us to fight for our future. … Read more

Do You Want to Help Protect the Arctic?

Last February, Indigenous and environmental allies and I sat at a table in London with international policy makers. We had a proposal between us to protect communities and wildlife in the Bering Strait and Sea from increased ship traffic. At that moment, years of advocacy and community organizing hung by a thread. In a surprise … Read more

Do You Want to Take On Carbon Pollution?

Chances are that the clothes you’re wearing, the device you’re reading this on, and much of what you have in your home has spent some time on a ship. In fact, more than 80% of all goods traded globally are carried by ship. Product components are bouncing back and forth across oceans as they are … Read more

BREAKING: Stop Polluting the Arctic, Indigenous Leaders Tell Carnival

If you signed our petition demanding that cruise ship operator Carnival clean up its dirty ships, your voice is now being heard in the hallways of corporate power. This morning, Pacific Environment joined a delegation of Arctic Indigenous leaders and other marine and environmental experts to deliver our petition demanding that Carnival Corporation stop using … Read more

This is What Climate Change Looks Like in Alaska—Right Now

In Utqiaġvik, Alaska, the northernmost community in the United States, last winter’s temperatures were so warm that algorithms in weather monitoring stations were flagging them as false. Biologist Craig George says “the term is no longer ‘climate change’ in Utqiaġvik, it’s ‘climate changed.’” With Alaska and the rest of the Arctic warming twice as fast … Read more

Tweet @Carnival for the Climate

Will you help me protect the Arctic? Carnival Corporation claims that environmental stewardship and sustainability are core company values across all 10 of its subsidiary cruise line brands. Yet, most of the ships on its Arctic and Alaska routes continue to burn the dirtiest fuel available for marine transportation: heavy fuel oil. So far, Carnival … Read more