News Blog

It doesn’t take long spending time with dogs, bears, birds and bees to know they communicate. Some animals even manipulate. Only human animals uniquely share knowledge, wisdom, tall tales and lies through stories. The writer Margaret Atwood describes the origin of storytelling as the coupling of language with concepts of the past, present, and future to help people learn about what happened before—to teach people things to avoid having to learn by trial and error every time.… Read More

A report released this month shows that the number of documented spills between 1995 and 2020 at the five major operational hardrock mines in Alaska far exceeded those estimated in permit applications and environmental reports.… Read More

The Alaska legislature finishes its first session of the year in mid-May, and there’s a lot going on. Some of it sounds weedy, confusing, even like good news for climate. There’s more than meets the eye, though, so let’s take a look under the surface. … Read More

We first crossed paths with Warren Keogh when he served as vice president of the Castle Mountain Coalition – a citizen group that has worked to promote the health of the Matanuska watershed for decades. We talked to him about Alaska, advocacy and how he contributes to the health of land, water, and communities. … Read More

We often hear from Alaska’s political players about the need to extract more oil in Alaska, but it’s reached a crescendo in recent weeks. They’re now taking advantage of the suffering of Ukrainians to use the mantras of “national defense” and “energy independence” to promote fossil fuel interests.… Read More

What does it mean to intervene in a lawsuit? Let’s use our recent legal action to protect the Arctic Refuge to explain. … Read More

Rachel Briggs made her first two oral arguments as an attorney during the COVID pandemic; Bridget Psarianos argued in court for the first time, then again online, after ten years an attorney. Here, they tell their stories about arguing in court for the first time.… Read More

The Biden administration failed to rescind permits for the Ambler road proposal while refusing to acknowledge the full and long list of legal problems with the Interior Department’s approval process.
This means the applicant, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, can continue funding and working on the project with outside corporate mining interests.… Read More

The thick sludge of winter can get to me sometimes. The dark, the cold, the cycling from snow to slush to ice to snow to—you get the picture. All of it gets old. I suppose that’s how cycles feel sometimes. That’s why we have to break out of them—at least in terms of our emotions and perspectives.… Read More