Brett Simpson is an environment journalist who began her ICWA fellowship in 2024 based 200 miles above the Arctic Circle in Tromsø, Norway—the world’s northernmost city. The institute’s first Peter Bird Martin fellow, she’s investigating climate change and the growing environmental, societal and political challenges across the Arctic, one of the earth’s most visibly changing environments. The region is the center of mounting geopolitical competition and confrontation over oil, gas and other resources—overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has disrupted the Arctic Council, the sole international forum of Arctic states and organizations. An alumna of Princeton and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Brett was previously a Fulbright fellow in Germany. She’s written for National Geographic, The Atlantic and The New York Times.