In our season finale, we bring your attention to the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), known to the Gwich’in Indian Nation as “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.” Hear the personal story of Bernadette Demientieff, a Gwich’in Steering Committee leader fighting to protect her Nation’s traditional lifeways.

The Gwich’in Indian Nation lives in 15 small villages scattered across northeast Alaska in the US to the northern Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada. The Arctic is their home. The coastal plain of the ANWR has been a location of intense controversy between environmentalists, Native tribes, and the oil and gas industry. The coastal plain is also the birthing and nursing grounds of the Porcupine Caribou Herd - the very heart of the Gwich’in people. The caribou provide food and nourishment for the Gwich’in who are deeply connected to them on a spiritual level.

If oil drilling goes forward in ANWR, the birthrate of the caribou could decrease by 40% - it would be a cultural genocide for Bernadette’s tribe.

In 1988, the Gwich’in Steering Committee was formed in response to threats of oil development in ANWR’s coastal plain. Time and time again, Bernadette has testified in front of US Congress, the United Nations, and public hearings. She has met with banks and insurance companies funding oil infrastructure, framing the drilling and desecration of sacred lands as a Human Rights issue. As the issue of oil extraction gains urgency in the US and around the world, more pressure is put on the oil-rich region of the Arctic.

Key Themes explored:

• How does ANWR benefit or suffer from its designation as public lands?
• What tensions lie between extractive industries and those who call the Arctic their home?
• What are the intersections between climate justice and racial justice in the Gwich’ins’ fight to protect their sacred lands?
• How does Indigenous spirituality inherently connect Native people to their land?
• How do Indigenous communities leverage the Rights of Nature to stop extractive practices?

Resources:

• Take action now with the Gwich’in Nation.
• Learn more about the Gwich’in Nation and Bernadette in this article in Mongabay: “Our identity is non-negotiable” and film by Patagonia: The Refuge | Fighting for a Way of Life
• Prism articles covering Rights of Nature: Indigenous activists look to Rights of Nature laws to stop fracking and ‘Rights of Nature’ laws can strengthen Indigenous sovereignty and provide a pathway to environmental justice, written by Ray Levy Uyeda
• Facts on oil consumption in the United States: Energy Information Administration

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