The manufactured upheaval around this year’s Presidential election begs a vital question: how do we address our society’s most pressing issues when facts and science have been thrown under the bus? By all accounts, our communications ecosystem today is toxic. Shadowy “news” sites sprout like mushrooms, amplified by profit-driven, social media...
To say it’s been a wild and uncertain year would be an understatement. The pandemic lockdown started just as markets and farmers around Alaska were preparing for a busy summer growing season. Would markets be allowed to open? What would farmers do with all their products? Will there be a demand for local food? So many questions, and very little...
Early last September, as fishermen left the Homer Harbor for nearby cod and halibut fishing grounds, the 273’ seismic vessel Polarcus Alima darkened the horizon in Kachemak Bay. The massive vessel - under contract to Hilcorp - proceeded to blast seismic airguns for weeks on end in a quest to explore for more oil and gas. A few months later,...
This past week, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council sent shockwaves across Alaska when it abruptly closed commercial salmon fishing in the federal waters of Lower Cook Inlet. The closure resulted from the State of Alaska’s blanket refusal to work with the federal government to co-manage the salmon fishery in Lower Cook Inlet. The irony...
Food systems, like all systems, are made up of interconnected links, with change in one link inevitably affecting others. Links include all aspects of the food system, from farmers to processors, to retail and transportation. Our modern food system is focused on feeding an ever-growing world population, as efficiently and economically as...
Currently about 40% of the world’s population resides within 100 kilometers from the coast, many of which depend on ocean resources to make a living, through subsistence, tourism, recreation, and other economic activities. In 2010, 39% (123.3 million) of US citizens lived in counties directly on shorelines, with an expected 8% (10 million)...
On the day before Thanksgiving, Alaskans woke to astounding news: the Army Corps rejected a major permit for the Pebble mine. Never before had the Army Corps rejected a major permit for a large oil, gas or mining project in Alaska. Never. And it only came about after years and years of relentless pressure from Alaskans who refused to give away...
When I was young and my mom thought I was running with the wrong crowd, she had a simple admonition: if you lay down in the gutter, you get up dirty. That was long ago. But today, when I look at our industry “partners” in Alaska, it feels like we’re wallowing in the gutter. While there are many examples, perhaps the most glaring is the Pebble...
Today another public relations bombshell tore into the Pebble Partnership, with the release of new tapes by the Environmental Investigation Agency showing Northern Dynasty’s Ron Thiessen bragging about the company’s political influence over Alaska Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski. Thiessen also boasts how Alaskans will pay at least $1.5...
Background: The Exxon Valdez Trustees Council (EVOSTC) was established after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill to oversee restoration of the injured ecosystem through the use of the $900 million civil settlement. The Council consists of three state and three federal trustees (or their designees). The Council is advised by members of...
