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!

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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