From Montana to Alaska:
Embracing Climate Change Through Art
— Bonnie Dana

For each of us, climate change has – or soon will – influence our lives regardless of where we live or what we enjoy. As someone born and raised in Bozeman, Montana, where summers consist of fly-fishing, backpacking, and catching frogs, to winters of cross-country and downhill skiing, the signs of climate change are becoming increasingly apparent. I have watched as our summer temperatures increasingly break records, wildfire smoke fills the late summer sky, and spring flooding becomes more and more extreme. Just in the river systems, higher water temperatures have increased fish’s vulnerability to disease resulting in significant declines in fish populations and river closures, not only affecting the ecosystem but also those who depend on the rivers for their livelihoods. Growing up seeing these changes and realizing how vulnerable our landscapes are set me down a path of environmental protection and advocacy work through art and science. This led me to Cook Inletkeeper as a Wild Salmon and Climate intern through the Alaska Conservation Foundation.

In Alaska, I have found that many of the same climate-related issues affecting Montana also affect this ecosystem. Air and water temperatures are increasing, salmon and other aquatic species’ populations are declining, and those who rely on these ecosystem services for survival may once again lose the ability to choose a subsistence lifestyle. Getting to know locals here in Homer and around the southern end of the Peninsula over the past few weeks has helped me understand how significant the loss of salmon in the surrounding river systems truly is and how devastating further losses will be to Indigenous culture and local subsistence livelihoods. At the same time, I have found many artists and scientists here in Homer blurring the lines between these disciplines, all with the intention of honoring and advocating for the natural world in one way or another. 

Having just graduated from college with a double major in Studio Art and Environmental Analysis, I look forward to learning from local artists and scientists and using the skills from my majors to support Inletkeeper with their advocacy and community outreach work and with the stream temperature monitoring project. As an artist, my work has primarily focused on using art as a form of communication to inspire conversation around our environmental impacts. Similarly, my work in my environmental analysis major, including my honors thesis, focused on analyzing environmental data on the effects of climate change to visually display the results. This interdisciplinary approach, combining art and science, which many community members already use, means that more people can access challenging issues from multiple perspectives and contribute to developing solutions for us all. I plan to continue this practice and create work that helps Inletkeeper advocate for and engage with people willing to fight for a healthier environment. 

While we still have a lot of work to do to preserve the Cook Inlet | Tikahtnu and other places we call home, seeing the artists around Homer and the work the Inletkeeper staff does to preserve this ecosystem gives me hope for the future. I look forward to spending the summer helping fight to preserve what salmon are left, encouraging further environmental protections, and building community based on our shared love of the natural world.