On the Road from Panama 11/11/2017 and Alaska 12/19/2017

In Jean-Francois Revel´s book on Flight From Truth he makes the statement that ¨a Democracy commits suicide when it is invaded by falsehood and totalitarianism when it is invaded by truth.

Where there is a descent into falsehood the likes of which we have not heretofore seen by any administration it is the collective responsibility of an aroused citizenry to expose these lies for what they are by active protest and civil disobedience when and where appropriate.  

At stake is our democracy and the lofty values of our founding fathers.  This is a fight for the soul of America and the fate of the Arctic Natl. Wildlife Refuge emblematic of a larger struggle and pervasive rot within our body politic.  

Many have paid the ultimate price defending this country and those universal values that unite us and define us as people;  honesty, integrity, courage, compassion, love and humility.  If we cannot say no not here and exercise restraint what does that say about us as a people.  Is no place sacred?

There is no more persistent lie put forward by oil development proponents in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge than a mere 2000 acres in total would be affected or that we can somehow make what amounts to rape of a wild place seemingly innocuous using advanced technologies.  This is as believable and improbable as an elephant tip toeing through a field of tulips and leaving them unscathed.  

Other egregious lies masquerading as truth are the denial that climate change is happening and it is not caused by humans burning fossil fuel despite evidence to the contrary; that the Republican Tax bill will boost the economy and is not a trickle up tax bill benefiting the already rich while those with less are left with the crumbs. 

And I write now on the eve of a decision by Congress to pass a tax bill that includes exploration for oil within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR not AN WAR)within it.  A similar Letter-to the-Editor of the Fairbanks Daily News Miner was titled Trashing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 

Most would consider moiling for oil in the Vatican or the Sistine Chapel as sacrilegious.  Why then is it not so in a place of such surpassing beauty as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?  It is a measure of the disconnectedness of our elected representatives and others of like mind from their roots in the natural world that they would even consider such a gross travesty. 

Post calving aggregation on coastal plain of Arctic Refuge near Beaufort Lagoon by Ken Whitten

The Athabaskan people of Arctic Village and Old Crow have told us for their sake and their welfare don´t do this.  The coastal plain of ANWR is the birthing grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd which are sacred to them and would be placed at risk.

Their motivation is not about money, it flows from the heart out of love of place and life and the caribou upon which they depend.  They have been ignored.

And yet which of these motivations has the more powerful moral authority and which the least, love or greed?  

They do not stand alone - they have the "wind and light" at their backs!

.    

I have seen the ugliness of seismic trails which must precede drilling and last for decades.  Some heal some do not.  Scars remain on the land once the delicate thermal balance of the underlying frozen/permafrost ground is upset - likened to scarifying the Mona Lisa.  Then there is what follows.  

An oil field(s) if oil is found, is industrial sprawl on a mega scale, interconnected by roads and pipelines, with bridges spanning rivers, in short a wild place forever degraded and no more.  This is the reality of the oil discovery at Prudhoe Bay and the industrial sprawl that ensued.   

 

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge belongs to all Americans as public lands not just Alaskans.  It is  a reminder of what all of the North Slope of Alaska once looked like in its natural wilderness state before the heavy hand of technology changed the landscape forever. 

If this is allowed to stand there will be nothing left on Alaska's North Slope that has not already been degraded by the search for oil.  Like the extinct passenger pigeon once numbering in the millions it will be no more forever..  We will have lost something far more valuable, not only a sacred place but our integrity.   This is madness of the highest order.  This fight is far from over regardless of what Congress does.

There are consequences for everything we do and say in life.  For some of you, how will you answer your children when they ask you, why did you let them "bugger it all" when you could have said no? 

Peace Rider

On the Road from Panama 12/07/2017

Wow it has been almost a year ago since I posted anything.  Then I was in Panama when it seems there is more time on hand to write.  So if anyone is still checking on Don´s whereabouts here goes.

My apologies, life it seems has a way of keeping us busy, too busy at times when it means being disconnected from friends in far flung places.

I´m doing well with summers devoted to trying to finish my Spirit House.  A report on that follows.

I also now have a part-time job as a tour guide for Northern Alaska Tour Company.  I started with the company in August of 2016.

I have not given up on long distance bike riding for a purpose.  I remain open to possibilities and the where and what the Universe would have me do next.  That remains a bit murky yet but an outline is emerging and will share that as events unfold.  In the meantime there is writing to do and will post what ensues from that.  The most recent is Trashing a National Treasure about what our Congress in its ill advised wisdom would do to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  That was written for the Fairbanks Daily New Miner as a letter to the editor before I left on 11/13/2017.

First I wanted to give a progress report on my Spirt House/Yurt, what a friend playfully called a Spurt.  I didn´t begin working on it through the previous winter but got an early start in the spring of this year.  I attached four rows of nailers for the siding with long screws over six layers of 1¨ foam insulation  I had thought to stucco the outside but changed my mind.  I had no experience doing that and decided instead on using stained, rough sawed green white spruce planks with battens covering the seams.

The next project was building an exit through the joists for a wood stove chimney.  I debated whether to run it through the wall then vertically up the side and not penetrate the rubber roof.  In the end I came up with a workable design to run it vertically through the joists and seal the rubber roof over a small plywood deck around the chimney.  I was worried the stove wouldn´t draw properly with a horizontal run through the wall.   I didn´t get the stove bought (a Jotul Model 118, Black Bear) and finally installed until late in the summer and finally was able to heat the place.   It was heavy, 320 pounds of cast iron.  It took me and three other friends to get it from truck inside.

I didn´t keep track of all the time I spent thinking and then building the front and only door to the place but it was well over a month.  Still for all the time spent I was happy with the result in the end.

For starters the door height was non standard.  And I also didn´t want a conventional square door.  Instead I built in an arched top, one complication to framing, then I used wood on the interior and exterior sandwiching 2¨ of foam insulation in between.  That threw it into a thickness, 3 1/2 inches, that most door hardware wouldn´  After some searching I found a deadbolt made by Schlage that would accommodate a door this thick.  The door handles inside and out are a nearly matched pair of antlers from a young bull moose a friend and I hunted up some years back.  Wood on the outside is planed down planks off an abandoned garage roof I tore down the spring before.  It has an aged look from the staining where nails penetrated the wood.  For the inside I used 5¨ tongue and groove smooth white spruce milled locally.  Door jambs came from the same source as the outside of the door.

Door seals and floor jamb are similar to a Swede door a friend had installed in a storage building.  The floor seal is a strip of aluminum set into a wood jamb.  When the door closes a tubular silicone rubber weather seal inset in the door bottom butts up against it.  The other three sides of the door are similarly sealed, inset in the door or the jamb.  To close the door requires a little pull on the antler to overcome the resistance of the seals and close the deadbolt.

These details may be a bit boring side from someone not into construction as I was.  For me this project has been more about the creative process and finding solutions to problems as they arose.  There were many, the door being especially challenging.

Lastly, what to put on the outside of the door for trim?  I tried flat 1x4 boards at first but was left unsatisfied by their appearance.  A moment of inspiration came and resulted in the creation of an Alaskan version of a Japanese Torii,  two vertical posts supporting horizontal beams with a slight upward arch.  Japanese Torii mark the entrance to a sacred space like a shrine.   I used round logs cut from nearby standing dead white spruce.  This took a lot of fussing and carving to shape with a draw knife and chisel to get a decent fit.

Emphasis here is on decent.  I finally had to let go of my perfectionist tendencies and accept what resulted as the best I could manage.  Flaws are apparent for the most part only to the builder.

Finally in October before the snow came I added a raised walkway in front where melt water accumulates in the spring.

All for now.  Trashing a National Treasure to follow.  Peace Rider