National Magazine Award Best Magazine winner and Canada’s Northern magazine Up Here has released a climate change issue with a twist for July/August. The issue includes a swimsuit spread, similar to those made famous by Sports Illustrated.



The difference in its issue, says Up Here editor Aaron Spitzer is the models, who are all from Northern Canada are posing with sites which are being threatened by Arctic warming. “There are probably hundreds or thousands of articles written everyday about climate change,” says Spitzer. “Frankly people probably only read the first paragraph. We wanted to do our climate change issue in a novel, eye catching way. Or why bother doing it at all?”

Response to the issue, which was released last week has been largely positive, says Spitzer. “The vast amount of comments have been supportive of the concept,” he says. “They like it because we are being respectful of an issue we could have easily been accused of making fun of or lampooning in some way.” Spitzer admits there has been some feedback saying the magazine is using a sexist tool to make light of the topic. “Some of the staff share those views,” he says. “We really discussed it in-house before we went ahead with it.” He says Up Here is aware and even encouraging some blow back, asking for feedback both on the magazine’s website and Facebook page.

“I hope that even if people picked up the issue because of the bikini model on the front they will read it because there is some awesome writing in it,” says Switzer. “A  lot of great, challenging and interesting ideas.”

Up Here Magazine is published eight times a year by Up Here Publishing.