The earth interacts with its nearby star--the sun. It receives warmth and light and a massive stream of energetic particles called the solar wind. The interaction of earth with the solar wind produces a condition called space weather. This has significant consequences in our technological society ranging from power blackouts to satellite failures to our beautiful Alaskan auroras. Moving far out into the galaxy and universe, things exist in forms we are only beginning to understand. Dark matter and dark energy dominate the unseen part of the universe and represent more than 90% of what's out there. There is controversy over what these things are and it's worth exploring.

Discovery Southeast senior naturalist Richard Carstensen will share insights from the past decade's collaboration with groups such as Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and Sealaska Heritage Institute, blending natural with cultural history. How, for example, does a study of glacial history illuminate the stories of clan migrations? How were village sites chosen in an archipelago of changing sea levels and radical climate change? And what does "resilience" mean ecologically? Why do we live here, and how can we pass along a viable future for tomorrow's Southeast Alaskans?

Is Alaska home, or merely an iconic travel destination? A peripheral frontier, or a lived in, centered place? In this short talk, Forest Wagner presents his research about Alaska and its unique Big- Mountain Tourism. In addition to reflecting on his twelve years of experience leading the Outdoor Studies program, Forest interviewed and surveyed Alaskan big-mountain guides and their clients in two geographically exceptional landscapes: the Central Alaska Range and the Coast Mountains. These efforts revealed that the sometimes contradictory motivations of outdoor professionals and their unique clientele are layered in notions of authenticity, and that experiences in wild places in small groups often create a near ideal democracy. The story of Alaska's big-mountain tourism is more than one of an industry growing up. This is the story of Alaska and its evolving and often contested notions of identity.

The Pacific coastal temperate rainforest (PCTR) ecosystem extends from Oregon to southcentral Alaska, and includes the largest remaining old-growth forests in North America, supports some of the most robust fisheries on the continent, and is home to tens of thousands of people who depend on a resource and tourism-based economy for their livelihoods. It is also a region characterized by an intricate geologic and evolutionary past, a rich cultural history, and complex linkages among ecosystem components. This expansive and varied ecosystem is also a vulnerable one: because the average winter temperature at sea level hovers around freezing, the PCTR is highly sensitive to small shifts in climate. Warming temperatures will further speed up glacial melt, precipitation will increasingly fall as rain rather than snow; and seasonal snow cover will become infrequent except at higher elevations. All of these expected (and already occurring) changes will have significant and largely unstudied implications for ecological functioning. There are implications for communities in and around the PCTR that rely heavily on natural resources for economic and subsistence livelihoods: timber production, fisheries and mariculture, hydropower production, and ecotourism opportunities will all be affected. Through interdisciplinary research on ecosystem linkages and driving causes of change in this landscape, ACRC addresses questions about the current and future ecology of the PCTR, all through the lens of natural resource management and climate change.

Richard (Dick) Dauenhauer's major and best known scholarly legacy is his work (with his wife and research partner Nora Marks Dauenhauer) of translating and publishing major works of the Tlingit oral tradition as well as teaching and promoting Tlingit literacy. Less known is Dick's well-articulated notion that Tlingit oral literature was deeply spiritual world literature. In his presentation Dr. Kan argues that this idea was rooted in his life-long work as a poet and a talented translator of poetry from several European languages, his academic training in comparative literature, and his profound religious faith. All of these strands of Dick's creative work as well as his deep commitment to living with his wife's extended Tlingit family and sharing its culture were intertwined. For this reason Kan refers to his life and work as a beautiful act of translation. As a close friend and colleague of Dick as well as a Russian speaker, Kan concludes the presentation with reading several of Dauenhauer’s best translations of Russian poetry.

Nature sports such as skiing, climbing, and surfing have had a significant influence on Western popular culture since the mid-twentieth century. Krein discusses his new book, Philosophy and Nature Sports, and explores nature sports' value as human activities and roles they plan in human relationships to natural environments.

Alaska writer and photographer Nick Jans traces the compelling story of Romeo, Juneau's black wolf, through a narrated slideshow, short video clips, and readings from his bestselling book, "A Wolf Called Romeo".

Collaboration is at the heart of every successful project, organization, family and relationship. In an interdependent world, working together is critical. Kathleen Macferran and Jared Finkelstein from the Center for Nonviolent Communication share practical, learnable processes that invite each person to be part of a team.