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How
Will Future Generations Judge Our Stewardship?
by Chip Duncan
After
an historic 51-49 vote of the U.S. Senate this month that
opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration,
the Today Show and Good Morning America led their news with
the “not guilty” verdict in the Robert Blake trial,
the delivery of Scott Peterson to his new home on death row,
and the latest in Michael Jackson’s pajama party.
Maybe there’s a lesson in that. The majority of the American
people and the handful of corporate conglomerates that dictate
television news didn’t care that the battle to protect
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) from oil drilling
was all but over. Without justification, a last minute vote
on ANWR had been attached to the Senate budget bill, and there
was no more dodging the drill bit.
With a majority of just two senators, President Bush, using
his so-called mandate from the November election, will likely
get what he’s after – more Alaskan oil.
That the amount of oil in the refuge is unknown doesn’t
seem to matter (estimates range from 5.7 to 15 billion barrels).
Even Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski, a supporter of drilling,
was quoted recently in the New York Times saying “We
don’t know if there’s any real oil there. That’s
why this could be boom or bust. The geologists simply say
it’s the area of North America most likely to support
a large field.”
Interesting logic. “We don’t know so why not drill”
vs. “we don’t know so maybe we should err on the
side of conservation.”
The fact that most major world oil companies are only mildly
interested in ANWR’s potential also doesn’t seem
to matter. The fact that we’re occupying oil-rich Iraq,
which owns approximately 25% of the world’s oil reserves,
doesn’t seem to matter. Wildlife? Well, the wildlife
that survives won’t be wild any more but heck, they’ll
do just fine.
More rigs, roads, housing, offices, warehouses, shipping piers,
people, cranes and equipment plowed into the most fragile
ecosystem in the world? Not a problem. Or is it?
As a true believer in representative government, I find it
tough to argue against oil development in ANWR since the majority
of Alaskans favor development. But they also receive a sizable
government check at the end of each year for the exploitation
of the state’s oil and mineral rights. In other words,
developing ANWR will put money in their pockets. But the voice
of the “lower 48” has been virtually silent on this
issue. Our nation’s environment didn’t warrant a
single question in any of the 2004 presidential debates.
So why do I care? Beyond the obvious (yes, I generally believe
we should try to protect what’s left of our wilderness),
I care because I’ve had the rare privilege of seeing
ANWR, feeling it, and letting the power of this great refuge
enter my soul. I understand the privilege and I’ve done
what I can to share it including production of a PBS documentary
and a lengthy article for this newspaper (Is
ANWR Worth Saving?, June 2001). And for the same reason
it’s hard for Americans to comprehend the tragedy of
war in Iraq or genocide in Sudan for people living in those
nations, it’s understandable that most Americans can’t
grasp the tragic decision to drill for oil in ANWR. It’s
a long ways away and odds are, most Americans will never get
a chance to visit.
Yet it’s tragic nonetheless. Tragic because drilling
will deprive future generations of a chance to experience
and explore the last great pristine wilderness in the United
States. Approximately one hundred years ago, Republican President
Theodore Roosevelt made history by ensuring the preservation
of Yellowstone National Park. At the time, it was unthinkable
for most Americans to visit Yellowstone - it was simply too
far away. A century later, Yellowstone is so overwhelmed with
visitors that park officials are forced to limit the number
of campers, cars and snowmobiles. Most of us would agree that
Yellowstone is a national treasure worth far more than oil.
And Roosevelt, the father of our national park system, is
routinely applauded for his vision and courage. Sadly, the
Bush legacy on ANWR will be the opposite.
 My
first visit to ANWR came during June of 2000 when, thanks
to my friends at Juneau-based Alaska Discovery I joined a
small group of river rafters to paddle the Kongakut River
from the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean. I went back six
months later to spend Christmas in a small native community
called Arctic Village, population 125. It was the experience
of a lifetime - 24 hour sun and 24 hour darkness all in one
year. I also had the chance to listen to the Gwich’in
people discuss their nomadic history as caribou hunters throughout
what is now called ANWR. During interviews with elders in
Arctic Village, not a single one supported the Bush plan to
drill for oil.
During June 2004, I went back to ANWR with Alaska Discovery
for a 13-day rafting expedition on the Hula Hula River. My
goal was to trek and photograph the exact area where the Bush
administration was pushing to drill. The grandeur is overwhelming,
but the power of ANWR is much greater than grandeur. In the
absence of human development, in the rawness of virtually
untouched wilderness, there exists a spiritual force greater
than any I’ve ever experienced or imagined. It’s
a birthplace not just for Porcupine caribou on their annual
migration, it’s a birthplace for the spirit of wilderness.
 To
many, the flat, marshy terrain that extends from the Brooks
Range to the Arctic Ocean may not look like much. It vaguely
resembles eastern Colorado or the plains of western Nebraska
- with one great exception. The refuge is home to more species
of birds than any place else in the United States. It’s
filled with grizzly, wolves, sheep, wolverine, moose, arctic
hare, the only remaining herd of musk ox in the U.S., arctic
fox, tundra swans and the spectacular migration of approximately
120,000 head of Porcupine caribou every June.
For a photographer, it’s a land of easy wide shots. But
it’s in the close ups that the character of the arctic
reveals itself. Hundreds of species of tiny wildflowers fight
for life in a uniquely short growing season. During the summer
solstice, their life cycle unfolds within a matter of days.
 An
entire mountain slope can be white, yellow or red one day,
green the next. Moss and lichens, a food source for the scavenging
caribou, color the rocks and jutting cliff sides in patches
of burnt orange and yellow.
The vast horizon of ANWR, uncluttered by human structures
or the contrails of jet aircraft, is a rapidly changing tapestry
of cumulus clouds, storm showers and rainbows. The landscape
pulsates with a quiet, natural rhythm. In my visits to ANWR,
as I’ve opened myself up to the natural world around
me, I’ve become one with that rhythm. I’ve never
felt safer, more grounded or more in sync with our earth.
As I wrote in 2001, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is
a special, even sacred place. Before the drill bits pushed
their way through the frozen tundra, I’d hoped we could
squeeze a few more miles per gallon out of our cars, or reduce
our thermostats just a degree or two, perhaps enough to avoid
the need for more oil.
I was naïve. On a myriad of issues, we seem incapable
of thinking long term. The 7th Generation precept of the Iroquois
people - that is, the idea that what is good for us should
also be good for those who follow seven generations from now
- rarely seems to apply when it comes to public policy.
So as the thaw begins in the arctic, is there any hope for
those who want to stop drilling in ANWR before it starts?
Yes. Forty-nine U.S. Senators, including Republicans and Democrats,
voted with the future in mind. Majorities can change. It’s
not too late to contact legislators, write the President and
motivate neighbors and friends. During our history, we have
learned with certainty that once wilderness is gone, we don't
get it back.
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Chip
Duncan is an EMMY award-winning documentary filmmaker who
presently resides in Wisconsin. Most of the articles that
appear on this site were originally printed in Sunday editions
of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel between 2001 and 2005. To
contact Chip Duncan, please click here: Chip@DuncanEntertainment.com.
Your comments are welcomed.
If
you'd like more information on the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, please consider purchasing Rafting
Alaska's Wildest Rivers from the Company
Store. This one hour show includes extensive footage and
interviews related to ANWR.
Click here to read "Is ANWR Worth Saving?" by Chip
Duncan
The following materials are copyrighted
by The Duncan Group. Any unauthorized use or printing of these
documents is a violation of applicable laws. This material
may not be downloaded, printed or used in any way without
the written authorization and approval of The Duncan Group,
Inc. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. For more information please
contact Bob@DuncanEntertainment.com.
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