State of the Union from the top of the world

Last night President Obama took the Senate floor with almost half of the country approving of his economic actions – the most since his hope-filled early months in office. And for good reason. Unemployment has fallen to its lowest levels since 2008, and a rapidly increasing annualized growth rate has led to some of the country’s best quarterly reports in over a decade. While other national economies like Japan and those of Europe flirt with renewed recessions, America seems to have more in common with the thriving, commerce rich boom of the late 1990s.

But not every state in the Union is returning to the economic glory days of “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow” and colorful scrunchies. The sudden plunge in oil prices has sent a chill across our coldest, and at times most forgotten, region. In 2013 Alaska was the only state where real GDP decreased, in large part due to a decline in mining. With the effects of the ongoing fall in oil prices already seen in a soaring unemployment rate, Alaska is poised to continue its downward spiral and widen the already existing gap between its economic wellbeing and that of the lower 49.

{mosads}While dropping oil prices inevitably generate concern across a region so heavily reliant on natural resource revenue, it need not be an economic crisis. Instead, this could be an opportunity for America to rethink how it invests in the North as it looks to lead the Arctic Council in a few months.

The upcoming chairmanship provides a chance for the U.S. to transform Alaska’s economic concern into an international opportunity to create an example of a healthy, diversified, and sustainable Arctic economy for nations across the circumpolar north to follow.

This week Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr. – the U.S. Special Representative to the Arctic – is touring Scandinavia to present the key issues America will focus on over the coming two years. On Monday at Arctic Frontiers, a meeting of scientists, industry, and policymakers, in Tromsø, Norway, Admiral Papp emphasized his aim to improve economic and living conditions for residents of the Arctic.

His ambitious plan includes building robust infrastructure to connect Arctic communities to each other as well as the rest of the world through deep-water ports, roads, and telecommunication. His hope is, through America’s leadership, to create a supportive environment where those living across the high North can achieve self-actualization.

But in order to realize this resiliency, Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Admiral Papp must look beyond investments in physical infrastructure towards creating a social system that supports the educational opportunities and entrepreneurship that a healthy, diversified polar economy needs.

While providing free community college education could help reduce the inequality gap in America, Alaskans – particularly Native Alaskans – living in remote communities would face great physical and financial difficulty in traveling to one of the seven community colleges in the state. Alaska is not alone in facing issues of remoteness in accessing education. Long distances and extreme weather make high school and college difficult to attend throughout the Arctic, and often result in high drop out rates and a poorly educated workforce.

Investing in free virtual community college courses and the telecommunication infrastructure for residents to access them could significantly lower drop out rates, provide an educated workforce, and inspire students towards pursuing a variety of careers that would diversify the Arctic economy. The University of Tromsø, for example, offers a free, one-year distance-learning course on topics that apply directly to governance, development, and innovation in the Arctic. Such a program in Alaska could strengthen its economy and encourage other countries to work towards access to schools throughout the north.    

But even with a high school education, today many Arctic students pursue higher education and settle permanently in the southern part of their countries where they can find better, more appealing employment after college. On Monday Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende spoke about transforming the Norwegian Arctic into a “mini Silicon Valley.” He described a high north where the local economy was driven by innovation and knowledge. Innovation Norway, a government initiative to support entrepreneurship and development of local business, has helped make this a reality in places like Tromsø. The program gives broad business support, financial provisions, and networking services to small enterprises.     

Obama boasted that, “No country has more successful companies, or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs” – and that’s true. America is filled with hard, intelligent thinkers in every state. But it’s time to do more to link those hard workers in Alaska to opportunity. This could be done through a national program akin to Innovation Norway that provides strategic assistance and start-up financial support to local entrepreneurship, partnered with successful American companies across the nation.

By investing in people instead of resources, in communities instead of companies, America can show success and global leadership in a region quickly growing in geostrategic importance. During its chairmanship America needs to build the social and physical infrastructure necessary to educate, stably employ, and economically empower its Arctic residents.

The Union is strong – we have picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and begun again the work of remaking America. But if we are to truly be a strong, tight-knit family, President Obama must not forget his brothers and sisters at the top of the world.

Herrmann is a Gates Cambridge Scholar and Arctic researcher at the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University.