Alaska Voices

"When I see people, I’d say maybe more senior personnel, get very angry about this, that, or the other, it almost comes out as like, an entitlement to that anger. ʼI have every right in the world to be this way,ʼ and there’s no longer any room to be like, ʼHm, maybe we need to take a step back.ʼ" -Jessie Young-Robertson

"I think it’s something that you and I have in common—loving to do science but really wanting to see it connect with the people who need it." -Nancy Fresco

The second season of Alaska Voices will be released December 1st with new episodes every Monday. Listen for your weekly dose of Alaskan lore, place-based knowledge, science stories, and climate adaptation.

This podcast miniseries focuses on the life and career of Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP)’s climate specialist, Rick Thoman. This podcast, hosted by Liz Carter, is made by ACCAP in partnership with Alaska Voices. In this episode Rick Thoman shares lessons learned throughout his time in Alaska. He offers advice on how to build trust and serve rural communities. “Ultimately I feel like I’ve made a difference in a positive way and that’s a good feeling when you’re in your 60s … but y’know most of my career is behind me and to think I’ve made a positive difference is an important feeling for me.” – Rick Thoman

This podcast miniseries focuses on the life and career of Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP)’s climate specialist, Rick Thoman. This podcast, hosted by Liz Carter, is made by ACCAP in partnership with Alaska Voices. In this episode Rick Thoman shares key career accomplishments, and several collaborators weigh in on what makes Rick such a trusted source of climate information in Alaska. The episode includes conservations with Gay Sheffield (University of Alaska Fairbanks, Bering Strait Sea Grant Agent), Diana Haecker (Nome Nugget, editor), Ed Plumb (National Weather Service, marine and coastal flood program manager), and Uma Bhatt (University of Alaska Fairbanks, professor of atmospheric sciences). “There’s people with lots of questions. And people know for the weather and storms, everyone gets a service. You can pick up the paper, there’s Rick Thoman. Facebook, there he is. And we know that takes time.” – Gay Sheffield

This podcast miniseries focuses on the life and career of Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP)’s climate specialist, Rick Thoman. This podcast, hosted by Liz Carter, is made by ACCAP in partnership with Alaska Voices. In this episode Rick Thoman outlines the bulk of his career thus far, covering his time at the National Weather Service in Nome and Fairbanks as well as his transition to working for ACCAP in 2018. The episode delves in on defining moments that set the trajectory for his career and approach working with Alaska communications. “Nome was my very first lesson in listening to what's important to people as far as weather and climate impacts and the kinds of information that they need.” –Rick Thoman

This podcast miniseries focuses on the life and career of Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP)’s climate specialist, Rick Thoman. This podcast, hosted by Liz Carter, is made by ACCAP in partnership with Alaska Voices. In this episode Rick Thoman describes how he came to love weather, climate and Alaska. Starting in childhood, the episode follows Rick from elementary school projects on Alaska and tracking the weather in Pennsylvania to his first Alaska trip in 1986 that launched his weather and climate career. “I’ve been interested in weather and climate from my earliest memories. As a child, probably late elementary school, junior high school age, every morning I would get up and I would look at the temperature on the thermometer that was outside my bedroom window. And I would write it down and I would plot it on a piece of graph paper.” – Rick Thoman

This Wednesday weʼll release, the first episode of the 4-episode miniseries on Alaskaʼs beloved weather and climate communicator, Rick Thoman. Stay tuned for Rickʼs story and a new Alaska Voices season.

"I've seen an artistry come out of Alaska, it has changed, the way in which we've articulated in which our resources are important to us and how we've done that through art, and other type of expression, that makes me really hopeful." - Davin Holen

“An actual inch of rain between November and March had only happened one other time in the climate record.” - Eric Stevens

“We landed and when we landed the basin was finishing draining. So the glacier ice where we landed was still settling and cracking, it was very disconcerting.” - Eran Hood

“We asked them if they could tailor their models from the Martian landscape to Earth permafrost landscapes and from there we developed some early calculations of impacts of climate change on permafrost.” - Cathy Wilson

“Once we destroy those natural areas it's very difficult to get them back.” - Emily Fort

“Creating doesn't have to be a scary thing where you have to go into your special corner and turn a light on and turn the world off and think about how awful life is.” - Rebecca Lawhorne

“Droughts and floods I think are the particular climate events that I think we'd be most concerned about.” - John Walsh

“Venetie at one time in the 40s and 50s was a major gardening center and they would trade potatoes and carrots, things like that, they would go down and trade for salmon on the Yukon and supply vegetables and such for the steam boats.” - Lance Whitwell

“I'd spent all of my time learning about cultures around the world and I didn't know anything about the cultures of my own state or the area that I lived in.” - Davin Holen

“And I think positive self talk is the kindest thing you can do to yourself. Being able to say 'It's OK, it takes time.' You know what you need to do, so why not start?” - Dina Abdel-Fattah

“If all my legacy is that I have produced one scientist, that's enough for me.” - Elena Sparrow

Alaska Voices is back March 15 with new episodes. Project leads Jessie Robertson and Bob Bolton also give a quick update on future Alaska Voices recordings.