When author Michaela Stith left her home in Alaska to visit the Lower 48, she learned that many people think of the Arctic as an icy wasteland devoid of people and filled with polar bears. Welp: Climate Change and Arctic Identities challenges that misconception—by inviting you to witness a side of the Arctic few southerners ever get to see. Through intimate interviews, laugh-out-loud stories, and Stith’s own keen observations, this travel memoir explores the effects of global warming, white supremacy, and cultural biases on Indigenous, Black and dark-skinned residents of the Arctic. You’ll accompany Stith as she pieces together a beautifully honest portrait of the Arctic—the good, the bad, and the heartbreaking—against the backdrop of Norway, Iceland, and her Alaskan home. Above all, Welp offers those living in the North the opportunity to define themselves through their own eyes. Stith is a firm believer that a truthful story from the heart is the one people most need to hear. If you’re ready to meet the Arctic heart to heart, and to learn what you can do to support the people who live there, allow these stories to guide you. "Superb. A highly interesting manuscript." - Thomas Nilsen, The Barents Observer "Inspiring, open, honest and approachable while managing complex, challenging, and difficult issues--from the personal to the global--with real sensitivity and insight." - Melody B. Burkins, John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, Dartmouth University "[V]ery timely and indeed at the forefront of scholarship." - Tony Joakim Sandset, Centre for Sustainable Healthcare Education, University of Oslo "Michaela Stith is a new and insightful voice on the important and interrelated issues of climate change, the Arctic, and our shared future. Stith draws you to her personal narrative and before long, you are a part of her story, our story, and in the end, compelled to be a part of the solution." - Michael Sfraga, Polar Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Michaela Stith (she/hers) is a Program Assistant at the Wilson Center's Polar Institute where she has coordinated more than two dozen high-level events and multiple publications. She previously worked in Tromsø, Norway as a Hart Leadership Fellow and later as an Associate at the Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples' Secretariat. As a first generation college student, Stith graduated with distinction from Duke University in environmental science and policy. The memory of her late parent, Michael Stith, drives her passion for just policies and decision-making.