Too many pandemic lessons have gotten lost as the engine of  “normal” revs back up. COVID awareness around the deep unfairness and unhealthiness baked into our economic and social systems has been swept under the rug of consumption and record profits and business as usual.

Even the lessons about how to prepare for deadly pandemics, wildfires, and storms has been forgotten in the rush to “get back at it.”

But business is not usual. Life is not “normal.” We’re already in a pot of hot water that’s set to boil, and we’re still resistant to change.… Read More

Motions can ask the judge to do an array of things, like changing where the case is heard, telling one party to release evidence or information to another, or agree to decide a case without oral argument. In our lawsuit challenging the approval of the Willow oil and gas project in U.S. District Court, we sought a preliminary injunction to stop ConocoPhillips from permanently and irreparably doing harm in the western Arctic while the court rules on our case.… Read More

I took some time off to see my family in early March. Within a day of returning, it felt like I hadn’t left at all.

Instead, I felt like someone delivered a soggy old cabbage sandwich made up of somewhat good news stuffed with clearly bad news. I’m as hungry for good news as anyone, but this dish tastes bitter.… Read More

The Biden administration approved the ConocoPhillips’ Willow project today, locking in oil and gas drilling and massive greenhouse gas emissions for decades. This decision undermines Biden’s climate promises and puts industry interests before the health of people and the planet.… Read More

Summer officially runs from summer solstice on June 21 to the fall equinox on September 22, but in Alaska it feels more fleeting. Already, it seems half gone.

Maybe it’s because the changes in light feel palpable, and plant and garden growth comes so fast you can hardly keep up.

Salmon runs suddenly get hot and then quickly wane; berries get plump and within weeks picked over by bears and dogs and humans; shorts and t-shirt days feel almost oppressive when coupled with wildfire smoke and no wind, yet will soon give way to the first frost.… Read More

By Dawnell Smith Agencies produce environmental impact statements to analyze and assess the impacts of a project proposal on people and the environment. An EIS is meant to help agencies make good decisions about proposals that impact land, water, animals, … Read More

By Dawnell Smith The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released a draft supplemental environmental impact statement last week for the massive ConocoPhillips Willow proposal for the western Arctic, with the shortest public comment period legally allowed. The project would spew … 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 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