The Youth Are Alright

/in ,

Young people showed up in this midterm election in record numbers, the second-highest youth voter turnout in thirty years. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) estimates that 27% of young people (ages 18-29) turned out to vote.

Millennials and Generation Z are quickly becoming a larger voting block than Baby Boomers. Young voters know their futures are on the line, having grown up and come into adulthood in a turbulent time amidst escalating inequality and the climate and economic crises (to name a few) and a total lack of adequate response from the government. They are voting for leaders they hope will address the issues facing today’s youth.

It’s not just in the polls; young people are also showing up on the ballot. Florida voted in the first Gen Z U.S. Representative, 25-year-old Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who won nearly 60% of the vote. At home in Alaska, we have a long history of electing young leaders, several of whom are headed to the state legislature this year, including Genevieve Mina. Gen Zers also are stepping up to work on progressive campaigns and have been successful in electing candidates who share their values for the future.

Many political commentators also noted that youth voters were crucial in stopping the “red wave” that many expected in this election. Such a turnout should force leadership to evaluate how they engage with this demographic and push forward policies that work to ensure a future where young Americans can thrive.

Elections are far from the only time to invest in young voters. Our Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA) program has engaged young people from across the state for over twenty years. AYEA’s mission is to create a statewide movement of diverse young Alaskans with the skills, connections, and inspiration to advocate for their communities. From climate strikes to lobbying in Washington D.C., AYEA youth can engage with their peers and advocate on important issues. Outside of the AYEA program, since 2020, The Alaska Center Education Fund has hired Alaskan youth from rural and urban areas to engage in voter education with our Youth Civic Engagement Fellows program. Fellows have made an impact through phone calls, emails, and community events. The latest cohort alone had over 1,000 one-on-one conversations with voters about ranked choice voting to ensure Alaskans were prepared at the polls.

As the new year approaches, we look forward to engaging young Alaskans in voter education and Democracy policy defense. Some in our legislature will assuredly take aim at ranked choice voting. There will be continued attacks on Automatic Voter Registration tied to PFD applications, which would disproportionately impact young voters. These policies have greatly improved our Democracy, and we will work to preserve these laws to continue working towards a more just and sustainable Alaska for today and future generations.

Lathrop student starts Fairbanks chapter of environmental action organization

/in

Josie Adasiak, a sophomore at Lathrop High School, joined 12 teenagers from across the state at the Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA) Youth Organizer Summit at the end of October to address climate change in Alaska. She is also leading the AYEA chapter in Fairbanks for local teens.

The four-day conference was packed with information and learning about activism and community organizing, Adasiak said. “It’s easy to feel dejected about climate change, like nothing is being done, so it was really encouraging to be around people who care as much as I do,” she said. It felt good to be working towards solutions, she added.

“I’ve always been really connected with nature,” Adasiak said. “I’ve seen the impacts of climate change in real time throughout my lifetime.” She recalls frequently skiing on the Chena River in elementary school in third and fourth grade, but by sixth grade her class went skiing once because the river wasn’t frozen enough. “I want to protect [the environment] and keep this stuff for future kids,” she said.

Last summer, Adasiak got involved in the Community Roots Program at Calypso Farm where she worked out of the Hunter Elementary School garden and sold fresh foods to the Southside community. She connected with her community through food and learned about food justice and security, she said.

The statewide goal is “protecting Alaskans’ access to food through action and education,” Adasiak said. Alaska is reliant on food being shipped from the Lower 48 and around the world, she said.

Adasiak is using the community organizing skills she learned at the AYEA summit to start an AYEA chapter in Fairbanks with local teens. Young Alaskans are the future of Alaska, Adasiak said. They plan to work with legislators to advocate for environmental and food-related actions.
“People who are food secure don’t always think that many Alaskans are not food secure,” she said. She will work to bring awareness to food insecurity and introduce more community agriculture projects.

Her goal in Fairbanks is to bring local foods to people in the community, she said. Adasiak said subsistence living is really important to many Alaskan communities, and she wants to make sure that is still an option for people.

You can learn more about AYEA and get connected to the local chapter at AYEA.org.

Originally published on November 12, 2022 by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Bringing Community Solar To Alaska

/in , , ,

[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]Renewable energy has become quite the buzz phrase in our world these days. Sometimes it takes other forms; clean energy, green energy, sustainable energy, but it is scattered through ads on radio stations, tv commercials, and even announced over the loudspeakers at airports. Sometimes through all this noise, it is hard to understand what renewable energy means to the average person. 
The Inflation Reduction Act passed this summer included groundbreaking funding for renewable energy projects, as did the Bipartisan Infrastructure Package that passed in the months before. With this new funding, utility cooperatives across the state are (or at least should be) looking for new renewable energy projects to bring onto the grid, which will benefit all Alaskans. 
Transitioning our state away from fossil fuels and into cleaner energy sources creates better air quality, and less pollution to our water sources and wildlife habitat. It will ultimately give us cheaper and more sustainable energy. However, right now in Alaska, affordable renewable energy is more accessible for folks with resources to invest in their small-scale solar or wind projects. It is time for that to change. 
Community solar is a system where individuals can invest in and share the benefits of a solar array not located on their property. Each person who holds a share of the community solar array will see their portion of clean, sustainable energy on their utility bill each month. You can start to reap the benefits of having a solar setup without the upfront cost that so many of us can’t afford. This also opens up solar energy to people who have yet to participate: renters, condo owners, and anyone who doesn’t have space in their backyard or roof for a solar system can join the solar movement. It democratizes the energy transition and allows more Alaskans to contribute to and earn returns from renewable energy. 
While 41 states already have community solar arrays, the great state of Alaska is one of the few without one installation. Many people may not think of solar when they think of Alaska, yet they should. Our winters may be long and dark, but the sunlight hours we have access to in the summer make up for the winter and then some. In fact, for seven months out of the year, Anchorage gets more hours of daily sunlight than anywhere in the contiguous US! 
Community solar is a step forward for our state that can be unlocked with policy change. Our leaders in Juneau can make community solar available to all Alaskans with some simple regulatory changes. Community solar is just one of many great opportunities for Alaska; we have immense renewable energy potential that our elected leaders can and should tap into. This coming legislative session, we can push them to do it. We will keep you updated as the legislative session unfolds on how you can take action to make Community Solar a reality in Alaska.

\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”5″ ][cs_element_button _id=”6″ ][cs_content_seo]More Hot Takes In A Cold Place\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

A Just Transition to an Indigenized Future

/in , , , ,

[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]November is Native American Heritage Month. Here in Alaska, this means centering the people who have shaped this land since time immemorial. Around 20% of Alaska’s population is Indigenous, but Native culture plays a much more significant role in our history and in our future. Alaska Natives have stewarded these lands successfully for 10,000 years – we live every day on Native Land. Native American Heritage Month is a time to reflect on this legacy of stewardship and look forward.
To heal from past crimes and solve our most dire social and political problems, we must work to Decolonize and Indigenize our ways of life. As a conservation organization, this means owning our place in colonizing history. It also means looking at new ways to understand and build a future together. It means learning from elders and revitalizing Native languages; upholding self-determination for tribes and shifting funding to Native tribes, villages, and organizations; living within the limits of the land and eating local foods, and deep listening. Everyone who lives in Alaska – Native or not – can do these things.
This reframing, collective healing, and visioning are what a Just Transition aims to do. “Just Transition” refers to a transition away from extractive industries and practices like oil and gas and historically colonial ideas of community and economy. A Just Transition moves us towards practices informed by Indigenous knowledge. A Just Transition doesn’t aim to return us to the world as it was before settlers set foot in Alaska; a Just Transition seeks to choose policies that will be best for all Alaskans.
We already see examples of Just Transition principles at work. We see it in the recent election of Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native woman in Congress. We see it in the failure of ANWR lease sales and the emergence of small-scale solar projects in rural Alaska. We see Just Transition embodied in Native leadership at all levels of government, including in the co-management of Alaskan lands and waters. And we see it in the reemergence of Native languages in our schools and towns. These accomplishments, and many more, are thanks to the hard work and vision of Indigenous leaders across the state.
But we have so much work left to do.
Next week, our state and country will head to the polls. These are the lands of the Dena’ina, Tlingit, Haida, Ahtna, Sugpiak, Tanana Dene, Yup’ik, Inupiat, and so many more, and our politics must reflect this. We must ensure that Native communities have full and unrestricted access to voting by translating ballots and information into Native languages, providing voting assistance for elders, and streamlining voter registration and voting by mail. We must elect leaders who will represent all Alaskans. We need Native leadership and leadership that listens to Native communities. The table needs to expand. A transition is inevitable; justice is not. However, those sitting at our decision-making tables can ensure that the transition is a just one and no Alaskans are left behind.
Voting is a vision for the future. Our choices at the polls must reflect our understanding and history with these lands, but they also must shine a light toward a thriving future for All Alaskans.
Happy Native American Heritage Month, and happy voting.
Don’t forget to have your absentee ballot postmarked or go vote in-person by November 8. This is a huge election and our values are on the line.
The Alaska Center

\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”5″ ][cs_element_button _id=”6″ ][cs_content_seo]More Hot Takes In A Cold Place\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

We’re Done (-leavy)

/in , ,

[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]This state has endured a lot over the course of the past four years. Beginning with the horrors of the first Dunleavy Budget, which would have ended Alaska as we know it (under the calm and cool guidance of a budget-decimating tourist named Donna Arduin.) Dunleavy was then cheered on, from a Florida veranda, by the blogger Suzanne Downing and by a complicit extreme far-right group of lawmakers spawned from the acrimony and fever swamp of the Trump years. We then hit COVID and the head-in-a-vice sensation of hunkering down while Republican politicians nationally and in Alaska churned the situation into a cynical warzone. 
Pressured by his Trump minions in the legislature, Dunleavy wasted state money joining a frivolous national lawsuit to overturn the free and fair 2020 election results. The state has soaring opioid addiction and overdose rates, sexual assault and violence, suicide, houselessness, and other real problems. That a Governor would waste time feeding a national lie because a few ineffective extremist lawmakers told him to – well, that says it all. The Dunleavy Administration has been like a ship without a steering system. It has a rudder, yet the rudder is seemingly not attached to anything as the ship careens wildly at the mercy of the waves.
Our Nation’s only Arctic state is in the middle of the most significant climate crisis in a million years – sure, it makes perfect sense to cut the Alaska Climate Action Leadership Team! Let’s beg the federal government for disaster funding when fisheries collapse due to warming oceans, when villages are battered or washed away by climate-related flooding. Let’s simultaneously complain heartily about the federal government. Make sense? No.
Let’s claim to be a law and order candidate and then offer budgets that strangle the early childhood education system (where a healthy, lawful society takes root), underfund public safety, and cramp the corrections system. Speaking of corrections – 16 inmates have died in custody this year alone, which is the highest rate in 20 years. What in the hell is going on here? Don’t expect this administration to put much into it – they are too busy misusing state funds for campaign purposes this time of year. Or they are too busy filing unsuccessful lawsuits or defending themself in court against successful lawsuits for violating the constitutional rights of state employees. Or perhaps they are too busy hiring friends and cronies for state-funded contracts. Or dealing with the fallout from scandals, including Attorney General appointees with a history of sexual assault. Who knows what they are doing, and who cares anymore?
It is time for this experiment in angry, partisan, petty, and incoherent governance to end. “War all the time” is the title of a poetry collection by Charles Bukowski, and that line sums up the Dunleavy years. In a pinch while on the water, should your steering system be broken, you can put a pipewrench on the tiller arm and steer back to port. It is time to do just that so we can get back to port and make some repairs. While we are in port, let’s hire a new captain and send this one packing.

The Alaska Center\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”5″ ][cs_element_button _id=”6″ ][cs_content_seo]More Hot Takes In A Cold Place\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

Time to vote for reason.

/in , , ,

[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]Election season can make a person approach their mailbox with caution. It is hard to know what new flood of glossy mailers will fly out when you open the box as we get closer to election day. As you struggle with the question of what to do with all of these flyers – recycle them, tack them on the outhouse wall, use them for their marginal fire-starting capacity or keep them around for posterity on the coffee table – one thing is clear, the enormity of the questions before us this year is driving this daily mailbox assault.
You must vote. Voting is your role in deciding the future of Alaska. This year, in addition to voting for your local candidate who will bring your values and voice to Juneau, we will also vote for a Governor who will shape the politics of the next four years statewide for better or worse. We will also vote for a Congressional delegation representing Alaska’s voice in Washington D.C., and whether to hold a Constitutional Convention.
Whether to hold a convention is before us every decade and Alaskans have always said no by a large margin. Still, this year, due to arguments over the Permanent Fund Dividend, public funding for education, women’s reproductive freedom, the independence of the judiciary, and a limitless number of other political divisions in the state, backers of a convention are hoping there will be momentum for a yes vote this year. We cannot understate the danger of a Constitutional Convention at this moment.
Some candidates backing a convention want to turn Alaska into a place where women and LGBTQ2S+ people have fewer rights than men. They want to turn our state into a place where the judiciary is a pawn of the Governor and where corporations and wealthy individuals unduly influence the outcome of elections. It is time to hold these candidates accountable. We do this by voting.
Far-right incumbents in the State House and Senate have enabled Governor Dunleavy in his efforts to undermine Democracy and cut the state budget to the point where it can barely function. These are not responsible lawmakers.
At every turn, legislators like Oathkeeper David Eastman of Wasilla (who was at the January 6th rally-turned-insurrection) obstruct, grandstand, and delay lawmaking. Thankfully, a lawsuit has determined that Eastman is ineligible to serve because of his membership in the insurrectionist Oathkeepers organization, and lawmaker Lora Reinbold is retiring. But these leaders used the Covid-19 public health emergency in their time to create a political circus. Unfortunately, they are followed by candidates like Jamie Allard, who also excels at grandstanding, controversy, and spiteful anti-semitic acts. All of these candidates need to pack their bags.
Kenai Peninsula legislators Sarah Vance, Ben Carpenter, and Ron Gilham defy their own oath of office to protect the Constitution by seeking to have Alaska join the Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Candidates who do not believe in free and democratic elections, promote harmful and dangerous conspiracy theories and work to undermine our Democracy have no place in Alaska politics.
There should also be no place for candidates who work against climate solutions or support Pebble Mine, maybe the most unpopular mining proposal ever in the state. Candidates who happily cash donations from the Pebble CEO for their campaigns (Mia Costello, Stanley Wright) or who have voted to support a Pebble appointee for the Board of Fish (Tom McKay, David Nelson, Laddie Shaw, among others) are not the leaders we need to see in a state that’s experiencing the climate crisis at 10x the national rate.
Extremist candidates and lawmakers put a strain on the body politic. By voting in reasonable, thoughtful candidates, we send a strong message that Alaska policymaking is essential, makes a difference in people’s lives, and is a space that welcomes a diversity of opinions. This November, it’s time to get back closer to being on track. Alaska politics have always been wild and full of surprises, so we should be under no illusion that being on track means a straight line from point A to point B. The road ahead will be challenging, but we can travel the road with greater dignity by voting out extremist candidates and holding accountable those who want to take away human rights.
Absentee ballots for the November 8 midterm elections are hitting mailboxes. Early voting will begin on October 24. You can find information on early voting sites near you at this website: https://www.elections.alaska.gov/avo/

The Alaska Center IE\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”5″ ][cs_element_button _id=”6″ ][cs_content_seo]Make a donation today to help us elect leaders who share our vision and values.\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”7″ ][cs_element_text _id=”8″ ][cs_content_seo]Paid for and approved by The Alaska Center IE, 808 E St, Suite 100, Anchorage, Alaska 99501. Susan Klein, Chair. The top contributors to The Alaska Center IE are Farhad Ebrahimi (Boston, MA), and Service Employee’s International Union 775 Quality Care Committee (Seattle, WA), and Stephen D Robbins (Anchorage, AK).

This NOTICE TO VOTERS is required by Alaska law. The Alaska Center IE certifies that this communication is not authorized, paid for, or approved by the candidate.

A majority of contributions to The Alaska Center IE came from outside the State of Alaska.

\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”9″ ][cs_element_button _id=”10″ ][cs_content_seo]More Hot Takes In A Cold Place\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

A message from the incoming Co-Executive Directors

/in

[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]It is a privilege and gift to work for a more just and sustainable Alaska beside the incredible staff, board, and supporters of The Alaska Center and The Alaska Center Education Fund. We are excited to take this next step and are grateful beyond measure for Polly’s decade of work and mentorship. Our hope is to continue her trajectory of visionary leadership.
We look forward to the collaborative nature of the co-Executive Director model, which will provide unique support for the breadth of our organizations’ collective work. Co-leadership allows our responsibilities to align with our strengths and complementary areas of interest.
On October 15, 2022, we will assume the co-directorship, and our outgoing Executive Director, Polly Carr, will stay in an advisory role until November 4 to ensure a smooth transition.
Our stewardship and allyship will keep evolving, and we look forward to learning and growing with you all. We face unprecedented crises for our planet and democracy. But our collective power is beyond measure.
Together with you, we are ready to build a thriving, just and sustainable future for our state and generations to come!

Chantal de Alcuaz and Victoria Long-Leather
Incoming Co-Executive Directors
The Alaska Center & The Alaska Center Education Fund

\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][cs_element_section _id=”5″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”6″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”7″ ][cs_element_button _id=”8″ ][cs_content_seo]Bills to Watch This Week\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][cs_element_layout_column _id=”9″ ][cs_element_button _id=”10″ ][cs_content_seo]More Bills This Session\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

Indigenous Peoples Day

/in , , ,

Indigenous Peoples Day is on Monday. It was created as a state holiday through legislation signed into law in 2017 by former Governor Walker in a ceremony held during Utqiaġvik’s annual Nalukataq whaling festival. It replaces Columbus Day, and it is a small step toward atonement for the colonialism of our American and Alaskan history. 

On this Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s not focus only on the importance of Indigenous leadership in the historic, amazing, hopeful, wonderful, progressive, life-affirming, joyful, and extremely well-earned election of Mary Peltola, the first Indigenous Alaskan to ever in the history of planet earth, serve in the United States Congress. Let’s not only focus on the justice of the appointment of Deb Haaland to oversee Indigenous lands and waters as the first Indigenous Secretary of the Interior. Let’s not only focus on the myriad ways Indigenous leadership has and will continue to move policies forward in Alaska – from Tribal Recognition to Language Revitalization to Subsistence Rights and Salmon Protection.

On this Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s focus on and give thanks for the Indigenous leadership and stewardship that has created the Alaska we live in today. From Utqiagvik to Metlakatla.  Think of the thousands of years of human experience in the mountains and rivers, at the ocean shore, in the muskegs, taiga, forests, and tundra. Let’s give thanks today to those who lived and worked and played here for thousands of years and will for thousands of years to come.

We at The Alaska Center recognize the colonial structures inherent in the history of the conservation movement, including the historical displacement of Indigenous communities from land and policies that have negatively impacted Indigenous hunting and fishing rights. We will be celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day in honor of all those Alaska Native leaders on whose lands we are blessed to live and continue working toward a more equitable and just future.

We are in this together,
The Alaska Center Team

EVENTS YOU CAN JOIN:

Strength in Unity Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Rally

Indigenous Peoples Day Beading Workshop

Indigenous Peoples Day Hkaditali Ceremony w/APF

Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration

Big Energy for Clean Energy

/in , ,

October is “National Energy Awareness Month,” designated by a decree from the late president George Herbert Walker Bush in 1991. We at The Alaska Center believe that every month gives us reason to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy production, considering what is at stake without a rapid global transition to low-carbon energy sources. The recent storms that battered the Bering Sea and Norton Sound region point to the urgency. Energy awareness also saves homes and businesses money and creates local jobs.

Collective work to create a more energy-aware state includes new additions to our Solarize programs, celebrating the first deal under Anchorage’s Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program and CPACE’s expansion to the Mat-Su Borough, helping steward public involvement in the Fairbanks Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.

Solarize Fairbanks facilitated two communities this season, University Heights and Denali, with 94kW purchased and over 16 homes and businesses solarized. That brings the initiative to just under a megawatt, rising at 893.35kW purchased and installed across the Interior. The team hosted community listening sessions during September to gain valuable feedback on evolving the Solarize model for 2023.
Solarize Mat Su held its first campaign this year! We facilitated programs in the Palmer and Sutton/Chickaloon communities. Installations are still underway, but at least 35 homes have Solarized. We will have an end-of-year celebration for those communities participating when installation season is over, expected in late October to early November.

Solarize Anchorage and Solarize Mat Su will start the 2023 season on October 6th with a kickoff webinar>>

Rachel Christensen and Chris Pike with The Alaska Center for Energy and Power will walk you through how your community can Solarize. Solarize Mat-Su will also be hosting an informational session in Talkeetna at the Denali Education Center on October 13th at 6:00 pm. We are currently planning many community events throughout October and November, so if you are interested in attending one, please head to our Facebook page to stay up to date!

The first Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy loan closed in Anchorage this fall. This program, adopted by municipal ordinance and authorized by state law, attaches an energy efficiency or renewable energy project loan to a property instead of an individual and allows the owner to pay the loan back as a line on their property tax bill. The project’s energy savings are often equal to or greater than the annual loan repayment charge, making the program cash neutral. The Mat-Su Borough Assembly is currently considering adopting CPACE. Our work hosting the Alaska Municipal Climate Network has helped local government leaders connect on policies, including CPACE, which we hope to see expand to local governments statewide.

Climate Action starts at home, the individual business, and the local government level. We are pleased to support the creation of a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) within the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Throughout this fall, our Interior Community Organizing Manager, Alyssa Quintyne, along with other The Alaska Center staff, will be working with Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition and other community leaders to ensure that the public has all of the tools they need to support the creation of a CAAP to guide energy decisions at the borough. Find more information, meeting dates, and links to the draft CAAP visioning document here>>

Throughout October and the rest of 2022, The Alaska Center will be focused on moving the ball forward on energy, with energy.
Thank you. Have a restorative energy weekend.
-The Alaska Center Team

Moving Through Climate Anxiety

/in ,

Join The Climate Strike

People across the world are contending with a swirl of climate anxiety. Across our state, we navigate the trauma of lost economies, crops no longer growing abundantly, salmon not making it to our communities, and, most recently, storms becoming more destructive than we have seen in 100 years. Our people are hurting, and our youth have taken on a considerable weight to fight for a future within all of this. In a study published in the Lancet, students from ten countries reported 59% of youth experiencing extreme worry while 84% experienced moderate worry about climate change. Our youth in Alaska is no exception.

Even though the anxiety is justified, when it gets to the level that it freezes us up, it becomes unhelpful and doesn’t serve us or our goals. We must give options and build hope through action and policy to help us and the generations that will lead us move forward through these dark times.

Community advocacy is a medium with meaningful and immediate effects. We’re not past the point of no return. Every effort we make today helps reduce the negative impacts of climate change we’ll feel tomorrow.
Moving forward into next year’s legislative session, we will have great opportunities to advocate for policy and funding that will support investments in renewable energy infrastructure and much more. We also can advocate for community-based solutions like getting our schools’ foods sourced locally, reducing energy consumption in our public buildings, prioritizing plant spaces and community gardens in city neighborhoods, and defending the Indigenous stewardship of carbon sinks. Community-based solutions allow us to make a change that works with and for all Alaskans.

We’re not experiencing climate change effects alone. And we will not create viable climate solutions alone. This network we are building with all of you will motivate the change we need to see.

We’ve got an opportunity to build that network now. Alaska Youth for Environmental Action will be part of the Global Youth Climate Strike on September 23 in Anchorage Town Square from 1:00-3:00 pm. Alaskan youth will strike in solidarity with young people across the world. It’s our responsibility as adult allies to support their efforts and amplify their messages. The young people of Alaska deserve a just future, and it’s time our leaders recognize this and prioritize #PeopleNotProfit.

We hope to see you there.