NEON

We started Sunday with a team ritual: reading poems aloud. Some were fun, some serious, all genuine. Afterward came “call-outs,” where team members recognized each other’s efforts, followed by a weather update—crucial for planning fieldwork in the Arctic. These routines, carried out without fuss, reflected how much intention goes into maintaining a strong team culture.

I’ve spent the past six days in Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska, embedded with a group of young scientists working for NEON -the National Ecological Observatory Network. NEON is a large-scale project funded by the NSF that collects long-term, open-access ecological data across the U.S. to track changes in ecosystems over time. And here, at the northernmost