Tag Archive for: alaska resources

Lathrop student starts Fairbanks chapter of environmental action organization

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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

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[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.

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A Just Transition to an Indigenized Future

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[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

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Moving Through Climate Anxiety

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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.

A Constitutional Convention would be costly and dangerous.

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Alaskans have a duty to examine the question of rewriting the constitution every ten years. However, voters have never approved opening up the whole constitution after it was first crafted in 1956 and laid the legal foundation for what was to become the State of Alaska in 1959.

Why We Endorse Voting No On A Constitutional Convention

There are some in Alaska who wish to modify portions of the constitution largely to rearrange the social fabric of Alaska and to one degree or another, but all scenarios where we hold a convention and rework our laws come with challenges intended and not intended.
If we vote to hold a Constitutional Convention, the result will be confusion, debate, and amplification of societal divisions. Delegates are to be elected, which will likely result in incumbent lawmakers who know well how to run in elections forming the majority of the delegates. We will then have the same folks who can’t agree on an annual budget or who to name as Speaker of the House, in charge of rewriting potentially the entire state constitution. Any estimate on time-frames for this Convention had best be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled. The same goes for the cost estimate just to hold the Convention.

A Constitutional Convention in Alaska will be a battleground for national politics. High-profile politicians from around the country will weigh in. Money from nationwide groups will pour in to help sow confusion, tip the scales, distract and divide Alaskans. Koch Brothers will pour money in. National Right to Life groups will pour money in. Religious Education groups will pour money in. The national sport-fish lobby will pour money in. Global mining and oil and gas will pour money in. Local non-profit groups will battle one another on social media and public forums. Neighbors, already believing that Civil War is imminent and that the political system is rigged, will have even more reason to stay away from the neighborhood barbecue.

The battle over the foundational document for our legal system in Alaska will be as ugly as anything we have seen in our political lives. In the end, millions will be spent lobbying delegates. The state will incur tens of millions of dollars in legal costs associated with holding and defending the Convention and rewriting all of the statutes that will be altered or invalidated by the changed constitutional language.
After years of acrimony, division, debate, and influence by outside lobby, the outcome could be a constitution that changes fundamental protections for land and water. For instance – Article 8 of the constitution states that:

“The legislature shall provide for the utilization, development, and conservation of all natural resources belonging to the State, including land and waters, for the maximum benefit of its people. Wherever occurring in their natural state, fish, wildlife, and waters are reserved to the people for common use.”

A few tweaks to the language and private companies that impact salmon habitat, and increase climate change could end up with greater rights than Alaskans. Decision makers could abolish the Judicial Council and our state judiciary’s independence paving the way for measures that could erode our democracy. You can bet that attorneys for the delegates will insert numerous poison pills throughout the constitution whose impact will not be known when the new document is ratified.

Alaskans have enough on their plate fighting climate change, protecting our democracy, our salmon runs, and the health of our communities. A big, expensive and divisive battle to rewrite the very foundation of our state’s laws is not wise. Recall again that when the constitution was initially written, it was by a group of individuals fighting for statehood. At the end of the day, they were aligned around a common purpose. A convention today lacks that spirit entirely and would be good for fanning the flames of division but bad for Alaska.

Vote No on One,
The Alaska Center

Labor Day: Clean Energy Union Jobs for Climate

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[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]Hi all,
As we look forward to the upcoming three-day weekend and plan how to spend the time with loved ones and with the land, you wouldn’t be alone if you’re wondering why we have a “Labor Day” at all.
Labor Day is a holiday to commend workers and the labor movement–it came about as a national holiday in the wake of massive labor disputes (the New York Times tells the history much better than we could ever hope to). It’s an excellent chance to thank the labor movement for the benefits we all enjoy today (including wage and work condition standards, an 8-hour work day, the end of child labor, and the list goes on).
Looking forward, there are plans to make beyond the Monday holiday. For starters, in the environmental movement, we need to work on building partnerships with our labor allies.
We’re often told (by some losing far-right candidates in particular) a false narrative about labor and the environment: it’s a pick one question between addressing climate change and supporting the economy. This narrative couldn’t be further from the truth–not only is the clean energy sector growing while traditional oil/gas is declining but creating climate solutions means creating jobs. A Just Transition includes and necessitates unions. The BlueGreen Alliance (an L48 nonprofit uniting the labor and environmental movements) puts it well: “Americans face the dual crises of climate change and increasing economic inequality, and for far too long, we’ve allowed the forces driving both crises to create a wedge between the need for economic security and a living environment. We know this is a false choice—we know that we can and must have both, and we need a bold plan to address both simultaneously.”
There is a massive opportunity for good jobs for Alaskans in creating a clean energy future (this study from the Alaska Climate Alliance does an excellent job, among others). And, at long last, we’re seeing momentum toward harnessing that opportunity from the federal level in the form of the historic Inflation Reduction Act. As we mentioned last week, the IRA’s wage and apprenticeship program requirements mean that the millions of clean energy jobs will meet union-created working standards. It is an essential step in the right direction for the clean energy industry, which often lags behind the standards of living that union workers in the fossil fuel industry have fought for and won over decades.
This Labor Day, we encourage you to support our labor partners. If you’re in Juneau or Fairbanks, please consider joining the festivities! (No events yet in Anchorage–but stay tuned to our labor friends on social – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook)

Fairbanks: Parade starts at 10 AM at Noel Wein Library; Picnic in Pioneer Park 1-4
Juneau: Picnic from 11-2, Sandy Beach Log Cabin

In solidarity,
The Alaska Center

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Support Black Business Month

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August is Black Business Month, a time to celebrate and amplify Black leadership in economic development and entrepreneurship across the country. Today we want to reflect on the importance of amplifying Black leadership in diversifying our economy and helping make the transition from an extractive economy to one that is thriving, just, and sustainable. There can be no climate justice without racial justice.

Across Alaska, we are straining our pocketbooks to pay ever-increasing utilities, food costs, and gas while simultaneously, our climate is in crisis. It has never been more evident: we desperately need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and create safe jobs that grow our workforce, sustain our resources, and help our communities thrive. This transition can range from new regenerative businesses like kelp harvesting, to broad-based investment in renewable energy, to supporting our small local artisans and businesses. However, the policies and projects we move forward with are only part of the solution. In supporting a just transition in Alaska, we also need to consider who is moving this process forward and ensure a diversity of representation in leaders and business owners.
Alaska and our country have been built on exploitation and extraction. Black and marginalized communities have carried an overwhelming environmental burden for centuries. Despite facing disproportionate impacts of the climate, economic, and health crises, Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color are at the forefront of developing new, innovative, and regenerative economies that support sustainable growth. By supporting this work, we can change the story of what economic development looks like in Alaska and take steps toward economic justice.

There is inspired Black leadership across our state, creating new opportunities for all Alaskans. Check out the Alaska Black Business Directory to support Black businesses in your community.

If you are in Anchorage, we encourage you to attend these amazing events brought to you by Umoja CoWorking and Incubator space and The Alaska Black Chamber of Commerce:

Business Mixer: 6PM August 27 at Umoja Coworking Space “Network, connect, build and learn how Black Chambers help.”
Onsite Childcare provided

Business & Economic Empowerment Retreat: September 17 at Dimond Center Hotel.
“Take some time to recharge and focus on your economic growth and development while hearing from State and National Speakers to include Calvin Martyr, Founder Blackout Coalition.”

To register to attend or sponsor or donate (All amounts help- both monetary and in-kind) check out this link: www.alaskablackbusinessdirectory.com/support

For more info and to get involved in either of these events email alaskablackchamberofcommerce@gmail.com

A just transition is for all of us, and we can get there by supporting the innovators in the new economy we are building.
The Alaska Center

A Big Step Forward For Climate

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The passage of the most historic climate legislation in U.S. history should give us a moment of hope for the process of lawmaking and Democracy in our country – a brief, sweet moment of exaltation.

Now on the next beat, as heatwaves, wildfires, and floods rage across the globe, we must also take some time to recognize the urgent need for the legislation and the bitter tradeoffs that occurred with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). We are looking at the sacrifice of millions of acres of offshore oil and gas leases in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and elsewhere before federal leases for renewable energy production can be offered. This means, in many instances, especially in Alaska, that coastal and Indigenous lands are Joe Manchin’s tradeoff for the compromise that got the bill through congress. This is a bad compromise, even with the IRA’s historic investment in environmental justice.

On the next beat, it is good to remind ourselves that this is just the starting point for a much larger race to save the planet, defeat racism and protect Democracy. The majority of Americans are with us, and momentum continues toward a just future.
Many of the provisions of the IRA will reverberate in Alaska. The bill contains important apprenticeship and wage requirements that will provide good jobs for Alaskans, and makes sure the clean energy industry catches up to the union-created standards of working that the fossil fuel industry requires.

The IRA substantially increases support for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s existing efforts to address methane emissions. It creates a new system of fees that would impose charges on oil and gas infrastructure owners if methane emitted from that infrastructure exceeds specified thresholds. Methane emissions are a significant problem for Alaska’s aging oil and gas infrastructure. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas causing steep increases in global temperatures.

The IRA will extend and create clean energy tax credits, including the existing tax credit for electricity produced from renewable resources, which has been a major benefit to the Solarize Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, and Mat-Su programs. The IRA also creates a new tax credit that rural electric cooperatives like ours on the railbelt in Alaska can apply for to finance new clean energy generation facilities. This will make policies to require utilities to adopt renewable energy generation (like the Renewable Portfolio Standard) more financially achievable in the near term.

The IRA creates a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to be funded at $27 billion over the next decade to better leverage private sector investment and community lenders to build wind, solar, electric vehicle, and energy efficiency projects at the community level. Of that money, $7 billion will go directly to state-operated Green Banks. The legislation to establish an Alaska state Green Bank will likely be re-introduced in Alaska in the 2023 legislative session. (Note that previous legislation proposed to put the Green Bank in the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, an agency that lacks transparency and accountability, so many groups opposed this.) With your help, we can ensure that a state Green Bank in a more trusted agency like the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation becomes a reality.
The transition to clean transportation is facilitated by a $4,000 consumer credit for lower/middle income individuals (i.e., couples making less than $300,000 and individuals $150,000 annually) to buy used electric vehicles and a $7,500 tax credit to buy new electric vehicles. We must advocate with our local utilities and governments to continue the rapid build-out of fast charging stations in Alaska.
With the passage of the IRA, there will be many programs and opportunities for individuals, homeowners, business owners, utilities, local governments, state agencies, Tribes, Native Corporations, and NGOs to save energy costs, decrease emissions, and more in Alaska. We need to work with our elected leaders to ensure that the benefits of the new legislation move forward with equity and at a speed that meets the moment of our climate crisis.

Onward!
The Alaska Center

Climate Action Plans are Community Care

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[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]Let’s talk about the beloved Climate Action Plan, where everyone from artists, foragers, to bus drivers are climate action experts. At the intersection of immense natural disasters and a lack of systematic preparedness, Climate Action Plans (CAPs) provide a necessary opportunity for neighbors to create the solutions to a crisis they all face.
Every year, the climate crisis clarifies two things: we are collectively unprepared, and our definition of suffering is expanding. We know the thousands of dollars of damage to our homes and cars from the snow and ice. Neighbors are traumatized from the fire evacuations; their empty suitcases are still by the door. Some of us can still hear the rumble of a mudslide burying a part of town. Others are now buying inhalers because the smoke was that bad.
Preparing for a crisis is hard when you’re currently in multiple. However, in these moments, the people suffering have the solutions to the crises. CAPs remind us that we need not know all the answers. Together, we are the solution.
Since the early 2000s, tribal governments and cities across the state came together to create their own Climate Action Plans: Pedro Bay, Homer, Sitka, Anchorage, and Juneau. Fairbanks is next on the roster as their Borough is currently soliciting feedback to draft their Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. Fairbanks Borough residents are encouraged – now needed to join the CAAP Public Summit Event Saturday, August 13, from 10 am – 3 pm at the Borough Chambers. This summit is an opportunity to share the solutions residents need the Borough to implement.

More About Fairbanks’ CAAP >>>
Our leaders need to hear the breadth of the issues residents face. They need to see the wealth of ingenuity our communities have to offer. Without it, the CAAP will fall short.
For Alaskans outside of Fairbanks, you can support this momentum by ensuring we elect climate action champions in the Special, General, Midterm, and local Municipal elections. A CAP’s success relies heavily on climate action-oriented community and government leaders. On August 16, voters can ensure those leaders can help bring climate action to fruition. From voting to testimony, CAPs will require many forms of engagement to be successful. When we do this work together, the future looks bright. These are our communities and these should be our Climate Action Plans. Nothing for us without us.
The Alaska Center

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STATEMENT: On House Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act

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THE ALASKA CENTER STATEMENT ON HOUSE PASSAGE OF THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT

ANCHORAGE, AK- “The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is cost-saving legislation that makes long-overdue investments in clean energy, improves energy security, and will build a more affordable, healthy, and just future. This legislation will bring critical cost savings to Alaskan families and begins to address decades of disproportionate impacts of climate on communities of color and low-income communities. The IRA is urgently necessary legislation, and we are ready to support implementation that works for and with climate frontline communities.

This legislation is not perfect, and we know there is much work to be done, but it is vital to acknowledge the most significant climate policy moment in history and we are excited to see President Biden sign it into law. We can now look forward to continued work alongside our partners across Alaska to further transformative climate, care, jobs and justice investments to tackle the overlapping crises facing our communities, as part of a just transition.”- Jenny-Marie Stryker, Political Director, The Alaska Center

Contact:
Leah Moss,
Communications and Creative Director, The Alaska Center
917-613-6791, leah@akcenter.org