November 8 can not come soon enough, because the endless political ads will cease to foul our airwaves on November 9. Usually, Alaska is ignored by the large donors with bags full of money to throw into the wind, but this year, we are suffering with the rest of the Lower 48.
The parody video above was done by the late comedian Trevor Moore. May he, and Clint Webb, rest in peace.
…and a very different world.
John Denver was in Alaska to film a television special in 1975, and someone thought: “Hey! Let’s have John run around a derelict mine!” In 1975, Kennecott Mines had not yet been listed as a National Historic Landmark, so I’m guessing Denver was not the only individual to run across the rooftops. One more item on the lists of things not allowed today.
The music added to the video was from a 1981 John Denver concert. Song credit, of course, goes to Hall of Famer Chuck Berry.
The Ikaaġvik Sikukun Story:
The reduction of sea ice off of Alaska’s coast is the subject of the new documentary “Ice Edge”. Iñupiaq residents of Kotzebue went to work with researchers at the University of Alaska – Fairbanks and Columbia University to document the changes, as well as look towards the future.
Seals are a vital component to the Native diet along Alaska’s northwest coast. The study finds that over the past 17 years, the seal hunting season has decreased at least one day, and sometimes more, each year, due to the change in sea ice.
The documentary can be watched on YouTube in its entirety. It is sectioned into 14 segments, to make it easier to watch a little at a time. On Thursday, one can join a viewing party and take part in a Q&A afterwards, on youtube, facebook, and other social media suspects. The live viewing party begins at 10am AST on Thursday January 27.
Voyaguers Wolf Project placed a camera trap on one end of a beaver dam near Voyaguers National Park in Northern Minnesota. This six minute video shows the variety of wildlife that made use of the beaver’s bridge to cross the pond.
“Salmon is a language that binds us together”
The Eklutna River, in South-central Alaska, was once a source of a thriving salmon population. A hydroelectric dam was built in the late 1920’s to send power to the growing town of Anchorage, ending the Eklutna’s salmon run. The dam stopped being a power source in 1955, and the residents of the village of Eklutna have been trying to get the dam removed for decades.
That finally happened in 2018, when the Lower Eklutna dam was removed. That was only step one in the battle to return salmon to the river. Now, the river needs to get its water back.
The water from the river was diverted from its natural valley to a tunnel which provides power to the grid. The Eklutna power station is a clean, renewable source of power, but 90% of the water flow, only adds 3% to the power grid. The other 10% of the river’s water adds up to 90% of Anchorage’s water supply. Zero percent goes to the river.
The 8-1/2 minute video details the effort to regain some balance and allow water to flow back into the river basin.
The powerful lure of the aurora borealis:
After a year of planning, three photographers came to Fairbanks to attempt something never accomplished. They would try to “capture cinema-quality footage of the northern lights” from the stratosphere.
The new film from Lost Horizon Creative, documents the team’s efforts to overcome not only the technical aspects of filming above 100,000 feet, but also the incredible vastness that is Interior Alaska. The 30 minute short film is well worth viewing if you are even remotely into the aurora borealis, Alaska or photography.
The trailer for the film is above, the entire film can also be viewed on youtube.
“What can we learn about ourselves looking back in time”?
A short film that came out recently inspired by the story of Ada Blackjack. The 6-1/2 minuet short, was filmed and produced in Alaska. Based, in part, on the biography Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic, by Jennifer Niven.
Part III: “We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had a lot of food.”
This is the third part of the After the Ice series. The video is less than 6 minutes long. Part III delves a bit into the Arctic Report Card, which is an annual assessment, and how our local Arctic population is finally getting a seat at the climate table.
Part II: “It’s heaven on earth.”
The second video from ARCUS on the loss of sea ice in the Arctic. It’s just under 7 minutes. This video highlights what the loss of sea ice is doing to the land where these villages are located.
The Eskimo Ninja, Nick Hanson, appears in Part II, and is quoted above.
