THE MAGAZINE OF THE ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SPRING 2019 Behind the Scenes of WE UP Climate Change and the Human Condition “Home” as Memories Two Decades of Sister School Exchange GRANT REPORT STATE OF CHANGE Reflections on climate and the human condition in Alaska Text and photos by Joe Yelverton 6 ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SPRING 2019 ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SPRING 2019 7 idden in the Romanzof Mountains of Alaska’s Eastern Brooks Range are the chapters of an unfinished story. North of the Arctic Circle, in an amphithe- He left the warmth and safety of his camp, ater surrounded by granite peaks, lies the leaving behind his unaware colleague, a McCall Glacier, anonymously recording our man he’d been working closely with for the history, compiling the weather and seasons past five months, and he walked down the of snowfall like pages in a mystery novel. A glacier about three hundred yards where he story about the holocene, the ways of man, sat down in the snow. The same spot where the way planet earth has changed. his frozen body was found a few hours later. In 1957 an esteemed scientist from Wash- This is where my fascination began—with ington State decided the McCall glacier had the purpose of Hubley’s work, and especially a story to tell. Dr. Richard Hubley believed the mystery of his death—leading me to dis- the McCall held important secrets, possi- coveries, as much about science as the hu- bly even insight into our future. The young man condition. micro-meteorologist was the chief scientist Long before the term “climate change” of a four-man project intended to last six- was coined, and before “global warming” teen months in the field, through the Arctic was a part of everyday vernacular, Hubley winter. believed there was a connection between At the 8,200ft level of this remote glacier, glaciers and climate. His research came long Hubley’s team set up camp in a modest re- before environmentalists began trying to search hut built on a layer of firm snow; “save the planet.” And before many scientists beneath that, deep ice measuring hun- were demonized, distrusted, and accused of dreds of feet thick, thousands of years old. having a biased agenda. The temporary shelter held a wide range Hubley also died long before the Arctic of equipment—radiometers, solarimeters, National Wildlife Refuge was established, thermometers, fundamental weather in- before Prudhoe Bay and the adjacent oil- struments, apparatus for surveying ice, and fields were developed, and long before Alas- shovels for digging snow pits. The team ka became flush with cash from oil royalties. stocked enough provisions to last through the winter. On a small bookshelf inside the BELONGING TO THE LAND hut, works from various philosophers, and The Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska is one poetry by Robert Service. of the largest intact and undisturbed eco- Affixed to the top of the hut, sat a small systems in the world. Nearly 25,000 square Photo by Joe Yelverton miles of undulating terrain, covered in • anemometer, spinning in the wind. A sim- ABOVE: Qaiyaan Harcharek, an Iñupiaq whaler and resident of Utqiagvik, stands on the Arctic Coastal Plain, the frontline of climate • ple device, a poetic metaphor—measuring treeless tundra, bordered to the north by change. PRECEDING PAGES: A boy pops a wheelie on the dirt roads of Utqiagvik. something we can’t see, attempting to un- the austere shores of the Arctic Ocean, and derstand a force of nature that’s invisible, ex- to the south by the foothills of the distant cept for its effect. We can’t see the wind but Brooks Range. Only one road crosses the We often think of land belonging to its inhabitants. In the Arctic energize every living thing. At midnight in Utqiaġvik you’ll see kids we can feel it, and we can see its manifesta- entire “North Slope.” The Dalton Highway, a they say the inhabitants belong to the land. jumping on trampolines, riding their bikes, doing all the things kids tions. Like many quandaries of science, even lonely ribbon of gravel that provides vehicle Sometimes the result, Qaiyaan Harcharek is a 35-year-old Native Alaskan Iñupiaq, born do at midday in an ordinary rural town. complex human emotions—sometimes the access to oilfields at Prudhoe Bay. and raised in Utqiaġvik, the northern most settlement in the United As we continued along on a road heading south outside of town, result, the aftermath, is the only thing that Despite the footprint of the oil industry, the aftermath, is the States, the place formerly known as Barrow. I was mesmerized by the passing view, an exposed landscape that gets our attention. the plains remain otherworldly. Harcharek offered to drive me on a tour of the village and its sur- evokes a sense of something sacred, but also a feeling of vulner- For a time the McCall scientists split into The Alaskan Arctic is as undeniably com- only thing that gets our roundings. As a former city council member, he sponsored the ordi- ability. two teams, Hubley and his fellow scientist, plex as it is fascinating. Also a battleground. attention. nance to restore his town’s original Iñupiaq name. What might seem I was hanging on Harcharek’s words, his stories about life in a Robert Mason stationed at the upper camp, Some people devote their lives to protecting like a simple thing was actually a powerful act: a step toward restor- place with a relatively unknown and sometimes troubled history. while two other colleagues worked at a low- the pristine wilderness and everything inex- ing one’s heritage. When it came time to vote on the change the town We discussed first contact with Yankee whaling crews, the epi- er camp. The teams worked independently, tricably connected to it. Others are focused was almost evenly split. In the end the anglicized name was traded demics and disease they brought. The slow tide of cultural geno- but remained in constant contact via radio. on undoing these protections, and extract- for one with greater cultural importance. The vote reflected a deeper cide brought by early colonialism, and boarding schools created by Except for a lone VHF radio the remote lo- ing its valuable resources. sentiment, and disparate ideologies. Christian missionaries that affected Natives all over Alaska. cation kept them virtually cut off from the Meanwhile the Arctic hangs in the bal- It was summer in the land of the midnight sun. Also called a polar There was a palpable sense of pride in Harcharek’s connection outside world. ance, warming at a rate twice as fast as the day—a single day that’s actually 82 straight days long, when the sun to his heritage, also an understandable undercurrent of resentment Late in the day on October 28 Hubley in- Southern latitudes. The frontline of climate circles the sky and never actually sets. This is a time of year when in some of his stories. He attributes his own personal struggles exorably altered the course of his research. change. the Arctic is flooded with an ambient quality of light that seems to with depression to historical trauma, unresolved grief passed on. 8 ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SPRING 2019 ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM SPRING 2019 9 A manifestation of the wounds inflicted on Eventually our conversation hit the past generations, when crimes committed broader topic of oil, and since I was a for- against a society’s culture shapes the iden- mer oil-industry employee, at least this was tify of descendants. something I was fluent in. I asked if there As an English speaking white person I’m was anything oil-related that concerned not sure I’ll ever be able to appreciate what Harcharek. it’s like to be forcibly relocated, to lose my “Encroaching industry,” he answered, home, or my language, or to be living under “They’re moving east and west,” referring to the threat of punishment if I follow my cus- inevitable expansion of the National Petro- toms. Or to have any of that as part of my leum Reserve. ancestry. I’m not sure my customs are even “At the cost of what?” he added. sophisticated enough to pass muster as cul- “Our people are so reliant on money. Fuel, tural traditions, or for that matter if I even good health care, beautiful schools. Without have a culture, so perhaps true empathy is taxation from industry we wouldn’t have impossible in my case. that. But it’s on our land. We understand Last summer I read an article in the An- where our money comes from and it’s not chorage Press, “Of Shamans, My Ancestors, that we aren’t grateful.” and Genocide” by Alaska Native Johnny He goes on to talk about the ways he be- Tetpon. He wrote, “Non-Native writers who lieves his culture is facing a different kind of reiterate the things I am talking about— threat than in years past. Not just the threat sympathetic as they may be—do not know related to climate change, which in many really know what they are talking about. ways is more profound than anywhere else Their take is third-hand; mine is first-hand on the globe, but how the perceived benefits because I am the one who experienced it.” from industry are in some ways overwriting I thought a lot about his words, especially the Iñupiaq culture. these: “The search for truth for me, just for Harcharek’s sentiments reminded me of me, and not anyone else, took me back to- a passage in The Way of the Human Being, ward my ancestral beliefs.” written by southwest Alaska Native Harold I realized that’s what I’m looking for—the Napoleon.