The only fair future for Alaska comes from its people
Update: 1 a day ago Published: 1 a day ago
Alaska is living through an unprecedented moment of systemic political, economic and ecological crises. In the coming weeks, two competing visions of Alaska’s response will play out on Dena’ina Ełnena, now known as Anchorage. One vision—Governor Mike Dunleavy’s vision—implies a continued reliance on a boom-and-bust extractive economy that benefits outside corporations at the expense of Alaska’s air, water, land, and people. The other vision – reflected in the Alaska Just Transition Summit – reshapes economics, social and environmental justice, local governance and community self-determination, with the understanding that Indigenous ways of knowing are the foundation of any sustainable future. I know what vision I support.
Since its inception, the State of Alaska has created a structure of dependence on extractive and polluting revenue streams. The result is a current state deficit of more than $3 billion, leaving education and social service budgets devastated. Meanwhile, the very real impacts of climate change in Alaska are life-threatening and growing. The claim that Alaska’s economy can only thrive through resource extraction is false; people lived in reciprocity with the lands and waters of Alaska long before natural resource extraction and colonization.
The Just Transition Summit comes at a critical time of transformation for communities in Alaska, reminding us how to harness the wisdom of our past to confront the challenges of the present. The concept of Nughelnik, or “remembering ahead,” stems from the understanding that the solutions to the intersecting crises our communities face lie in care economies, equity, real sustainability, and reciprocity. This moment is an opportunity for Alaskans to lead a transition to an equitable, ecologically rooted economy and culture. Just Transition Summit brings together community organizers, tribal leaders, artists, union members, faith leaders, investors, elected officials, educators, small business owners and many others from critical sectors to build on a collective vision for Alaska’s resilient future.
In contrast, the Governor offers the status quo of corporate greed, extractive capitalism and exclusion. The upcoming Governor’s False Solutions Conference, known as Alaska’s first “Sustainable Energy Conference,” shows that current state leaders are committed to pursuing emerging energy technologies without any filters of values, ready to reproduce the same structures of exploitation and exclusion of local voices.
The governor’s conference serves only to provide mediocre coverage as a campaign event, bringing together major donors and like-minded business leaders to foster a bleak view of Alaska where resource extraction and labor exploitation continues unchecked, where the voices of outsiders are valued above those of Alaskans, and where the State of Alaska will continue to neglect the voices, cultures, and sciences of Indigenous peoples.
The biggest sponsors of the Governor’s Conference – those giving $50,000 in return for multiple speaking opportunities, private meeting spaces and media – are the same companies that will profit by encouraging fake ineffective solutions, ensuring their own future benefits: Hilcorp, ASRC Energy Services, Ultra Safe Nuclear, Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. Meanwhile, the conference sets exorbitant participation fees, preventing the most affected Alaskans from having a voice. The governor’s conference shamefully excluded the voices of people of color, women and two-spirited people from lead roles, as seen on the conference’s website.
Moving towards a renewable energy economy does not mean substituting natural resources to maintain the profit of the multinationals and politicians who benefit from them. True sustainability means embracing a truly regenerative economy. This month will show the way to two very different versions of Alaska. As a young Alaskan Native woman with deep hope for our future and love for our home, I will choose the future that cares about me, a peak that I can see myself in.
Learn more at justtransitionak.org and join the conversation at Nughelnik: Just Transition Summit 2022.
Ruth Schav’aya K’isen Miller is Director of Climate Justice for Native Movement. Ruth is a Dena’ina Athabascan. She holds a BA in Critical Development Studies with a focus on Indigenous resistance and liberation from Brown University, and has mobilized youth climate action for many years. She works for Indigenous rights and climate justice in Alaska.
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