Lunch yesterday with senior players from the Insititute of the North and the Denali Commission. Fascinating problems (the relocation of tens of thousands of indigenous people who live on the coast up north) and fascinating possibilities (the opening up of the artic circle will make Anchorage an amazingly well-placed hub in the global economy [like that mythical town where the guys got stuck in "O Brother Where Are Thou?" Anchorage is a geographical oddity that seems to be 9 hours by air from every major city in the world]). To that end, done right, Alaska can become a model for adjustment to climate change. People up here sense that possibility and want to make it happen.

Me? Definitely a column, maybe more.