Alaskans are used to having company, especially in the summer. President Obama, who is expected to arrive here on Monday for a three-day visit, is this summer's visitor-in-chief. His trip north is notable on multiple fronts: When he lands in Kotzebue on Wednesday, he'll be the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Arctic. It'll be one of the longer visits to Alaska by any sitting president. In Anchorage, he'll address an unprecedented gathering of foreign ministers and other global leaders to discuss the rapidly changing Arctic environment. He's expected to go to Seward and Dillingham.
Obama's visit, expected to focus on climate change, comes at a critical time here in Alaska. The changing climate isn't an abstract concept for Alaskans. Many are living with it every day. Over the past 50 years, average temperatures in Alaska have climbed twice as much as the national average. Sea ice off Alaska's Arctic coastlines continues to shrink. It's altering wildlife habitat, opening new shipping routes and leading to more intense storms that, in turn, accelerate coastal erosion. Permafrost is melting. The northern landscape is transforming.
We're at an economic crossroads. Oil and gas development remains a huge economic driver in the state, but North Slope production is falling and many Alaskans are anxious about the future. While many welcome the presidential visit, and the global attention it will no doubt bring, there's friction, as there has long been, between many Alaskans and the administration over the future of resource development here. Anything the president says about climate-change policy will be seen by many Alaskans through that resource-development lens.
This week, we've put together a special, expanded edition of We Alaskans with voices from across the state. We show what climate change looks like in Alaska now. We try to put the president's visit in historical and historical context. Look for much more coverage in the coming days in the newspaper and at adn.com. We'll publish plenty of commentary, and we want to hear from you.
Here's wishing the president a great trip.
David Hulen, editor