Brett Simpson
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brettvsimpson.bsky.social
Brett Simpson
@brettvsimpson.bsky.social
Climate and human rights journalist. Current Institute of Current World Affairs fellow based in the Norwegian Arctic. Words: The Atlantic, NYT, Foreign Policy, Nat Geo, the Nation, The World, and more.
After a year+ living in the Norwegian Arctic (69°N) writing on an @icwa.org fellowship, I’ve finally joined friends on Substack.

For a view from the world’s fast-warming region, follow here:

open.substack.com/pub/brettvsi...
Welcome to Stories from the Edge
A newsletter about Arctic people, politics, place.
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
Real time data coming out of the world’s climate measurement systems should be stopping us in our tracks. The latest estimate shows that, this week, the Earth is 1.9°C warmer than before we began burning fossil fuels.
#climatecrisis #ClimateEmergency #auspol www.lyrebirddreaming.com/post/we-re-t...
We’re Touching 1.9°C - And It’s Only 2025
Real time data coming out of the world’s climate measurement systems should be stopping us in our tracks. The latest estimate by climate scientist Dr Karsten Haustein shows that, this week, the Earth ...
www.lyrebirddreaming.com
October 20, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
NOAA produces some of the world’s most powerful climate models and is sustained by thousands of employees. Recent and future staffing cuts put NOAA’s computational power at risk, @brettvsimpson.bsky.social reports from Norway: www.icwa.org/arctic-ice-u...
Destroying the evidence - ICWA
With the defunding of NOAA, the world's critical climate data is disappearing, Brett Simpson reports for ICWA.
www.icwa.org
August 28, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
While Indigenous "permanent participants" are considered equal stakeholders to nation-states at the @arcticcouncil.bsky.social, political jockeying often overshadows their interests. This may change w Greenland's chairship, ICWA fellow @brettvsimpson.bsky.social reports: www.icwa.org/greenland-ch...
Greenland chairs the Arctic Council - ICWA
At a precarious moment for the Arctic Council, Greenland takes the helm for the first time, ICWA fellow Brett Simpson reports.
www.icwa.org
June 20, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
@brettvsimpson.bsky.social sent these stunning photos from aboard the Dana, a Danish research vessel that sailed for 3 weeks on the ice-edge east of Greenland. "Seeing so much Arctic ocean & wildlife from the confines of a ship is both world expanding and contracting," she reports.
June 6, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
Arctic temperatures are rising 4x faster than on the rest of the planet. The last few years, Tromsø winters have been going off-book. December brought record-setting precipitation. Unpredictable melts triggered more avalanches, @brettvsimpson.bsky.social reports: www.icwa.org/norway-arcti...
On thinning ice - ICWA
A long Arctic winter abates in Tromsø, Norway, but the weather remains a force to be reckoned with, ICWA fellow Brett Simpson writes.
www.icwa.org
June 17, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
@robbieandrew.bsky.social has a page on National Extraction-based Emissions, and also provides the per capita data, but no plot (that I could find)... so I decided to have a look.

Solid 3rd place for Norway in 2022 (latest), steadily moving up the "ranks".

robbieandrew.github.io/GCB2023/extr...
May 10, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
The Trump administration doesn’t want to talk about climate change. But it is a military reality in the Arctic, @brettvsimpson.bsky.social reports:
The Truth About Trump’s Greenland Campaign
When the president talks about security in the Arctic, he’s talking about climate change.
www.theatlantic.com
March 29, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
Even if no one in the administration will say it out loud, the Greenland thing is a climate thing. By @brettvsimpson.bsky.social; gift link: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
When Trump Talks About Greenland, He’s Talking About Climate Change
The U.S. had started to treat global warming in the Arctic as a military concern. Will the Trump administration?
www.theatlantic.com
March 28, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Last August, I moved to the Arctic as an @icwa.org fellow. From here, it’s obvious that Trump wants Greenland for “security” threats caused by Arctic warming. But I was surprised to learn how seriously the DoD and NATO have been taking CC as a threat of its own. Now, that may be changing. My latest:
Trump acts as if climate change does not matter. But the security concerns he raises about Greenland are global-warming issues, Brett Simpson writes.
The Truth About Trump’s Greenland Campaign
When the president talks about security in the Arctic, he’s talking about climate change.
www.theatlantic.com
March 28, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
Dear California farmers and Congressional representatives:
Trump has just literally thrown millions of gallons of #water away that farmers were counting on this summer, purely to brag that he could.
That #cawater cannot be captured or used now by anyone.

www.latimes.com/environment/...
Acting on Trump's order, federal officials opened up two California dams
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just opened up two California dams. A spokesperson says the flows are 'controlled' and being coordinated with local officials.
www.latimes.com
February 1, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Reposted by Brett Simpson
"Climate change is the real threat to Arctic defense and security," @brettvsimpson.bsky.social says at the @arcticfrontiers.bsky.social panel "Arctic Security Seminar: Adapting to Geopolitical Uncertainty" this week in Tromsø, Norway. arcticfrontiers.com
January 31, 2025 at 4:48 PM