MISSION The Northern Alaska Environmental Center promotes
conservation of the environment in
Interior and Arctic Alaska through
advocacy, education, and sustainable resource stewardship.
Northern Line
What is Wilderness really?
What does the Wilderness Act say? Do we recognize the full range of purposes it was intended to serve?
We know that wilderness designation protects a landscape's scenic condition, maintains it as a repository of wildlife habitat, clean water, biodiversity, natural processes, and provides opportunities for adventurous recreation, inspiration, and restorative experiences.
But the conservationists who wrote and fought for passage of the Wilderness Act were also concerned with something that transcends those attributes and benefits of an area that can be counted, measured, or programmed into a computer model. Something about a place we dedicate to nature's freedom that reminds us of our capacity to rise above the materialism that rules the major part of our lives.
Implicit in the wilderness concept is a message about our place in the larger scheme of things, about our relationship with the biosphere we jointly inhabit.
For a society caught up in the rush toward more and more consumption and an ever higher standard of living, what advice did the authors of the Wilderness Act offer? At a time when our profligacy is fundamentally altering this shared planet, how can an understanding of the deeper meaning of wilderness contribute to attaining a sustainable future?
For a thoughtful exploration of these questions, click to download and read "A Christmas Letter: Yes Virginia, there is Wilderness."
[ Download/View File ]
Dec 14, 2007, 18:54
Northern Line Energy Odds and Ends
Our last issue of the Northern Line included an article highlighting the results of our energy survey. One purpose of that survey was to learn how the Northern Alaska Environmental Center could best assist our members and the larger Fairbanks community in their energy conservation efforts.
Jul 10, 2003, 12:08
Northern Line Forest Facts – Boreal Carbon Credits
The spindly black spruce in our northern forests and the slow-to-decay needles they drop may turn out to have hidden value. The last Alaskan legislative session in Juneau saw the introduction of a bill that proposes tapping into an atypical forest resource: carbon.
Jul 10, 2003, 11:55
Northern Line Modern Mining Myths
Modern metal mining is producing a legacy of dead rivers, ruined landscapes, and groundwater dangerously polluted by heavy metals and chemicals. Ecological damage of this magnitude isn’t just happening in countries with lax environmental regulations. It’s also happening in the United States, despite environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act.
Jul 10, 2003, 11:16
Northern Line Reduce, Reuse, Recycle -- Saving Electricity
Please remember to follow the "three R's" -- but keep in mind that in most cases, using fewer resources in the first place is much more effective than recycling what has already been wastefully consumed.
Jul 10, 2003, 11:09
