Out of a lack of global awareness and, as a result, a lack of effective governance, former Icelandic president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson initiated in 2013 the open Arctic Circle Assembly, bringing together decision-makers from politics, economy, science, education, and society. This year we had a chance to meet a few participants, so we decided to start a little mini special containing four episodes. We kick off this mini special with an interview of Peter Wadhams, Cambridge University's Head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group and the UK’s most experienced sea ice scientist, with 46 years of research on sea ice and ocean processes in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Being "a world authority on sea ice" he published his most recent book "A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic", a passionate, authoritative overview of the role of ice in our climate system, past, present and, scarily, the future.