I thank Shehla Anjum for introducing me to the word “solastalgia.” Now I have a name for the overwhelming despair that haunts my vision of the world my grandchildren will inherit.
The oil industry has done great things for Alaska but, as Shawn Lyons pointed out in his clear assessment and warning, it’s past time to find a new economic engine. Emissions since the industrial revolution have assured that thawing permafrost, rising acidic oceans, loss of critical species and habitat will be our legacy. The extent of that harm, though, is directly related to how much more carbon we put in the atmosphere before we change our ways. Environmental organizations are the least of concerns regarding the future of subsistence hunting and gathering. See NASA’s climate website and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Center’s local environmental observer network website for a plethora of painful facts, not “environmentalist propaganda.”
To those who support expansion of oil development in Alaska, I beg you: Look at your sleeping child/grandchild and consider the gamble you take with their future. Is the oil money now worth the risk?
I propose there is money to be made in the business of sustainability. Let’s do this.
— Connie Fredenberg
Palmer
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