Defending the Arctic Refuge: A Photographer, an Indigenous Nation, and a Fight for Environmental Justice

Flows, Migrations, and Exchanges

by Finis Dunaway

Tucked away in the northeastern corner of Alaska is one of the most contested landscapes in all of North America: the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Considered sacred by Indigenous peoples in Alaska and Canada and treasured by environmentalists, the refuge provides life-sustaining habitat for caribou, polar bears, migratory birds, and other species. For decades, though, the fossil fuel industry and powerful politicians have sought to turn this unique ecosystem into an oil field. Defending the Arctic Refuge tells the improbable story of how the people fought back. At the center of the story is the unlikely figure of Lenny Kohm (1939-2014), a former jazz drummer and aspiring photographer who passionately committed himself to Arctic Refuge activism. With the aid of a trusty slide show, Kohm and representatives of the Gwich'in Nation traveled across the United States to mobilize grassroots opposition to oil drilling. From Indigenous villages north of the Arctic Circle to Capitol Hill and many places in between, this book shows how Kohm and Gwich'in leaders and environmental activists helped build a political movement that transformed the debate into a struggle for environmental justice.

In its final weeks, the Trump administration fulfilled a long-sought dream of drilling proponents: leasing much of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain for fossil fuel development. Yet the fight to protect this place is certainly not over. Defending the Artic Refuge traces the history of a movement that is alive today--and that will continue to galvanize diverse groups to safeguard this threatened land.

344 pages, Hardcover

First published April 12, 2021

Reviews

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Environmental history is largely written about the national organizations and their battles in Washington, D.C. over policy, legislation, and law. Finis Dunaway’s Defending the Arctic Refuge tells the story of a handful of activists who crisscrossed the United States in a multi-decade effort to stave off oil drilling in a unique environment. Using a trickle up approach, these activists held lectures, a slide show, and courted local newspapers (back when the existed) to win over people throughout the country to their cause. These converts, in turn, pressured their representatives and senators to block drilling throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. The activists earned the respect of the indigenous people of who lived near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in a way that the national environmental groups were unable to do, simply to listening to their concerns. The inclusion of the native perspective and speakers and highlighting that the threat that drilling posed to a way of life that had lasted for millennium in a quest for short-term game, changed the battle over ANWR from solely an environmental issue to one of human rights. Defending the Arctic Refuge is a handsome volume. It includes numerous stunning photographs that shaped public opinion.

[elaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Environmental history and grassroots activism in a super digestible format!