The Greening of the Cold War Arctic: Environmentalism and the Limits of Superpower Militarization in the North

In the aftermath of détente, environmentalism emerged as a new arena of Cold War competition, giving rise to what this paper terms a “Green Cold War.” By the 1970s and 1980s, both the United States and the Soviet Union increasingly deployed environmental protection as a public-facing metric of moral legitimacy and global leadership. Nowhere was this performative rivalry more visible than in the Arctic. Framed rhetorically as a fragile ecosystem demanding stewardship, the region became a stage on which superpowers sought to outdo one another in claims of scientific responsibility and conservationist intent. Beneath these narratives, however, both states continued to pursue extractive, militarized, and environmentally destructive policies, often shielded from public scrutiny by national security imperatives and geographic remoteness. Focusing on U.S. Arctic policy in the 1970s and 1980s, this paper examines how American officials, scientists, and policymakers constructed an image of the United States as the Arctic’s premier environmental steward while simultaneously accelerating resource extraction, infrastructure development, and strategic exploitation of the region. Drawing on government records, scientific reports, and environmental rhetoric, the paper argues that environmentalism did not temper Cold War practices in the Arctic but instead reshaped them, providing new justifications for continued intervention and control. By situating Arctic environmental politics within the broader Cold War of the 70s and 80s, this study reveals how ecological concern became both a tool of competition and a mask for ongoing environmental harm, complicating narratives of late Cold War environmental progress and cooperation.