MIT, MIT EAPS, News, WHOI | December 20, 2016

From the Historical Exploitation of Resources to a Modern Academic Understanding: Massachusetts and the Arctic

“Scene in the Arctic” by William Bradford (1823 — 1892). Bradford was an American artist and explorer from Fairhaven, Massachusetts and one the country’s most preeminent painters of Arctic seascapes and ships. (Image: William Bradford, circa 1880, De Young Museum, The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.)
“Scene in the Arctic” by William Bradford (1823 — 1892). Bradford was an American artist and explorer from Fairhaven, Massachusetts and one the country’s most preeminent painters of Arctic seascapes and ships. (Image: William Bradford, circa 1880, De Young Museum, The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.)

By Lauren Hinkel

Massachusetts has had a long relationship with the Arctic, initiated by the whaling industry. But as Jed Willard, Director of the FDR Center for Global Engagement at Harvard College, writes for the U.S. Department of State, the years of Arctic exploitation have since passed, and exploration has steadily risen since the early 20th century with explorers like Donald MacMillan and Robert Peary.

It’s this, “legacy of exploration and understanding that defines the Massachusetts-Arctic relationship today.” Willard cites research institutions with Arctic studies programs like The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, “conduct groundbreaking research in the Arctic on subjects ranging from shifting ocean currents to phytoplankton-based food webs. Their partners at MIT’s “Oceans” department bring additional technical expertise to understanding the region, particularly regarding the effects of climate change.”

While not all American involvement with the Arctic has been positive, scientists from Massachusetts have since set adjusted the bearing—putting us on course for a bright future.

Read Willard’s full article for the U.S. Department of State.