Alaska

Reviving Native Food Sovereignty

March 1, 2025 Dahr Jamail, Resilience. Create! Alaska, Food and Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, Indigenous foods

The Tongass is one of the most ecologically important places on Earth, and plays a critical role in the climate crisis by sequestering one billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The towering old growth forests of the Tongass store the carbon equivalent of six million cars a year, while producing a quarter of all the salmon in the Pacific Northwest. This intact and abundant rainforest are the homelands of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian Peoples, who care for, steward, and honor the lands and waters that sustain all Southeast Alaskans. Communities in this region practice a way-of-life that is rapidly disappearing across the globe.

Outgoing Biden Administration Approves Oil And Gas Lease In Alaska

December 11, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! Alaska, Biden administration, Oil and Gas

The approval of plans for an oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by the outgoing Biden administration on Monday will keep the door open for drilling in the pristine wildlands. The sale, to be held on January 9, will include a smaller portion of the total land that was made available for bidding about four years ago during the Trump administration, reported The Associated Press. “Drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is all risk with no reward,” said attorney for Earthjustice Erik Grafe, who has been a leader in litigation to protect the wildlife refuge, in a press release from Earthjustice.

NDN Collective Completes Landback Deal In Alaska

November 20, 2024 NDN Collective. Create! Alaska, Indigenous Sovereignty, Landback Movement, Sacred sites

Cordova, AK –Last week, NDN Collective through our community development arm, NDN Holdings, finalized a LANDBACK deal with the Eyak Community Land Trust in Alaska and transferred title to two acres of land back to the Eyak people. In October 2021, NDN Collective was made aware of an opportunity to purchase land along Eyak Lake on the southern coast of the state. NDN Holdings purchased the land and began working with the Eyak community to transfer ownership. As of this week, the two acre property will now be wholly owned by Eyak Community Land Trust, which was established in collaboration with Native Conservancy, and be used by the community to host cultural and ecological education workshops.

NDN Fund’s Loan Leads To #LANDBACK In Alaska

October 19, 2024 Jordynn Paz, NDN Collective. Create! Alaska, Indigenous Rights, Land Back

Rapid City, SD – NDN Fund, the impact investing arm of NDN Collective, today announced the closing of a loan with Qizhjeh Vena – an Alaska Native Women-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working in the Bristol Bay area. The $750,000 loan from NDN Fund will allow Qizhjeh Vena to purchase Koksetna Wilderness Lodge and surrounding land on Lake Clark, located at the outlet of the Chulitna River in Chulitna Bay. The lodge will serve as a cultural preservation and revitalization center, and act as the gateway to a sanctuary for wildlife, and interrelated habitats. This historically important land and retreat center is located 120 air miles southwest of Anchorage, within the Lake Clark National Park that protects the headwaters of the Bristol Bay home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs.

Alaska Youth On The ‘Front Lines Of The Climate Crisis’ Sue To Stop LNG Pipeline

May 24, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Resist! Alaska, climate crisis, Legal System, Pipelines, Youth Activism

Eight young people from Alaska are suing their state government, claiming a major new North Slope natural gas project is in violation of their constitutional rights.

Wells Fargo Workers At Two Branches Move To Unionize

November 22, 2023 Niket Nishant and Reuters, Portside. Organize! Alaska, Banking, New Mexico, Unions, Wells Fargo, Worker Rights and Jobs

Wells Fargo employees at two of the bank’s branches filed for union elections on Monday, laying the groundwork for potential unionization in an industry that has largely been immune to such labor campaigns. In a petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), bankers and tellers at Wells Fargo branches in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Bethel, Alaska declared their intent to join the Communications Workers of America’s Wells Fargo Workers United (WFWU). Labor action in the United States has picked up pace this year, with unions confronting companies across industries like automotive, entertainment and aerospace.

‘Defend The Sacred’ Rally At Alaska Federation Of Natives In Anchorage

October 24, 2023 Native Movement. Resist! Alaska, Extraction, Indigenous Rights, Rally, Sacred, Willow Project

Anchorage, Alaska – A large crowd gathered and rallied outside the Annual Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) convention Thursday afternoon around a large hand-painted banner that read “Defend the Sacred: Extraction is NOT our way of life”. The rally was organized by a coalition of Alaska Native groups to connect the growing crisis of environmental and community health impacts of the extraction industry on Indigenous communities around the State. Host organizations included, United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Mother Kuskokwim, Native Movement and Grandmothers Growing Goodness.

What You Don’t Know About The Willow Project

April 6, 2023 Bella Piacente, The New School Free Press. Educate! Alaska, Children, Indigenous Sovereignty, Oil and Gas, Willow Project

On March 13, 2023, President Biden approved the Willow project, an oil drilling venture by the large crude oil producer, ConocoPhillips, occurring on Alaska’s North Slope. The proposed drilling area is believed to hold 600 million barrels of oil, which will be extracted from three different drill pads. While there is no exact date for the project to begin, construction is set to commence at any time and will continue for decades. The detrimental climate impact is by far the project’s most severe effect. However, the media is ignoring a crucial factor: the drill site sits next to the Nuiqsut tribe, an Inupiaq community that strongly opposes the Willow project.

Environmentalists, Indigenous Groups Blast Approval Of Willow Oil Project

March 16, 2023 Lindsey Botts, Sierra Club. Resist! Alaska, Joe Biden, Oil and Gas, Willow Project

Indigenous people and environmental groups on Monday swiftly slammed the Biden administration's approval of the controversial Willow oil drilling project along Alaska's North Slope. They say the ConocoPhillips plan—which would be the largest oil development on federal land in US history—conflicts with the president's promise that no new oil and gas drilling would happen on public lands under his leadership and that the move keeps the country tethered to toxic fossil fuels at a time when scientists say the nation needs to be moving away from carbon pollution.

Tiktok Campaign Targets Controversial Alaska Willow Oil Project

March 11, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, Ecowatch. Resist! Alaska, Joe Biden, Media, Oil and Gas, Social Media, Tiktok, Willow

With 161.5 million views and counting on TikTok alone, the #StopWillow social media campaign has left no question of the groundswell of opposition to the proposed oil development project Willow on Alaska’s remote North Slope. Social media users have been using the hashtag to voice their resistance to President Joe Biden’s failure to keep his campaign pledges to reduce oil drilling. “With all of the progress that the U.S. government has made on climate change, it now feels like they’re turning their backs by allowing Willow to go through,” said climate activist Hazel Thayer, who posted TikTok videos using the #StopWillow hashtag, as The Associated Press reported.

How Tribes Of The North Are Taking Climate Matters Into Their Own Hands

February 19, 2023 Stephanie Masterman, Last Real Indians. Create! Alaska, climate crisis, First Nations, Indigenous Activism

It can be difficult to understand the true impacts of climate change when you are not directly facing its harsh effects. We see that communities in different regions and terrains around the world are experiencing different rates of global warming with different consequences. We also know that the Arctic, in particular, is experiencing climate change more rapidly and more severely than other parts of the world. In order to understand the diverse impact climate change has on different communities, it is also important to understand what community-based solutions are in place for adaptation and mitigation of climate change.

Oil Companies Pull Out Of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

June 6, 2022 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Educate! Alaska, Environment, Oil and Gas

Drilling in the refuge has long been a controversial issue, as the 19.5-million-acre wilderness area is home to 45 species of mammals including polar bears, bowhead whales and caribou and considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich’in people, according to the Gwich’in Steering Committee. “These exits clearly demonstrate that international companies recognize what we have known all along: drilling in the Arctic Refuge is not worth the economic risk and liability that results from development on sacred lands without the consent of Indigenous Peoples,” the Gwich’in Steering Committee said in a statement. The Anchorage Daily News first reported Thursday that the oil company Regenerate Alaska, a subsidiary of 88 Energy, had canceled its lease on the refuge’s coastal plain, as confirmed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Indigenous Organizers In Alaska Lead The Way Toward Livable Climate Future

June 1, 2022 C. J. Polychroniou, Truthout. Create! Alaska, climate crisis, Green New Deal, Indigenous Peoples

In the United States, the public and politicians are moving in opposite directions on climate change. Grassroots environmental activism is spreading on the local state, regional and national levels, while Congress generally continues with a “business-as-usual” approach, rejecting the foremost way to avoid the worst consequences of global warming: the Green New Deal. While the Green New Deal remains aspirational in the U.S., it has been adopted by the European Union, and scores of countries around the world have committed to pursuing its goals. Among the many organizations in the U.S. fighting for environmental sustainability and a just transition toward clean, renewable energy is Native Movement, an organization dedicated to building people power for transformative change and imagining a world without fossil fuels.

Land Exchange For Alaska Native Veterans

May 15, 2021 Becky Bohrer, Associated Press. Create! Alaska, Indigenous Rights, Land Reform, Veterans

Juneau, AL - Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday proposed letting Alaska Native Vietnam War veterans exchange promised federal land allotments that many say are not available in their cultural regions for state lands. Details would need to be worked out through the legislative process, with lawmakers eyeing adjournment in about two weeks. Several legislators attended Wednesday’s announcement, along with Alaska Native veterans. Dunleavy said he sees this as an opportunity to “right a wrong” the federal government should have addressed long ago. “We’re going to help them get land as close as possible to where they grew up or where they hunted or where they berry picked, especially where they want their families to take part,” the Republican governor said.

Community-Focused Gardening Takes Root In Alaska

June 18, 2020 Meghan Sullivan, Indian Country Today. Create! Alaska, Communty gardens, Food and Agriculture, Indigenous foods

Alaska is cold. With temperatures below freezing from October to April, it has some of the longest winters in the country. And the terrain can be challenging: rocky islands with scant soil. Tundra — soggy on top and frozen a foot down. On the other hand, summer days are long. In the land of the midnight sun, the sun doesn’t set for weeks, making gardening in Alaska a unique experience. With greenhouses to get an early start and raised beds to warm the soil, Alaskans are able to plant flourishing gardens and raise record-breaking vegetables despite the obstacles. At the start of the growing season in May, the Alaska Native Media Group launched the Garden and Gather initiative, to encourage Alaska Natives to practice local gardening, and to empower them to share their planting stories.

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