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Writers Speak Out -- And FAST -- on Behalf of Arctic Refuge
Book published in time to hit Congress just as the House and Senate vote onlegislation affecting the Refuge.
The question of whether to drill in Alaskašs Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has spurred writers and others concerned about the refuge to speak out. Thanks to a lot of passion and the availability of new publishing technology, their voices will be heard.A book, titled Arctic Refuge: A Circle of Testimony, will be presented to Congress at a press conference on Wednesday, March 28, 2001. The book includes testimonies from such respected thinkers as Jimmy Carter, Wendell Berry, Rick Bass, Scott Russell Sanders, Terry Tempest Williams, Bill McKibben and Barry Lopez, as well as members of the Gwich'in Nation. The Gwich'in, Native Americans whose lives are still dependent on the caribou, would be directly affected if drilling were to be allowed.
The book is timed to hit Congress just as the House and Senate vote on legislation affecting the Refuge.
For many of the contributors, the struggle to save the Arctic Refuge (often known by its initials ANWR or "an-war") has come to represent one of the most pressing and fundamental questions of our time--when and how we will finally step forward and begin the essential move toward a sustainable energy policy. In answer Bill McKibben says, "I vote now and I vote for the caribou."
President Bush's recent decision to roll back regulation of carbon dioxide emissions raises the stakes and gives the dispute increased relevance with each daily commute.
"Using the latest technologies makes it possible for these thinkers to join the debate rather than have their comments come well after the votes are cast," said Emilie Buchwald, publisher of Milkweed Editions, an independent press based in Minneapolis that stepped in to coordinate production of the book. Milkweed's nonfiction publishing program, called The World As Home, is dedicated to literature about the natural world.
The idea for the book began in January, after the election results made it clear that drilling in ANWR was on the table. With time short on all fronts, Alaskan resident Hank Lentfer joined forces with Carolyn Servid, a writer and director of the Island Institute in Sitka, Alaska, to send out a call across the country. The response was immediate and passionate.
"Išm just some hick in Alaska who got fed up," Lentfer says. "I was amazed at the community of people, the networks already there and ready to act." Lentfer says he is also responding to the idea that no one in Alaska is against the drilling.
The book, a paperback produced using "print-on-demand" technology, moved from concept to completion in two short months. The book also will be posted for download at The World As Home. Additional copies of the book will be available from Milkweed (1-800-520-6455). All proceeds go to further advocacy on behalf of the Arctic Refuge.
The essays come from a diverse group including global leaders, Native Americans, biologists, writers who live in Alaska, and writers who may never even see the Refuge. They write about previous experiences with Big Oil in Alaska and the probable impact drilling would have on the ecology of the region. Caribou raise their young on the Alaskan coast and polar bears spend half of every year hibernating in the regionšs dense snow pack. The essays speak to the major issues of global warming, the need for a sustainable energy policy, the lessons learned from indigenous cultures, and the need not to destroy one of the last great placesand one of the most fragile on the planetfor what would be at best a brief and temporary gain.
"The 'Einstant book', created by commercial publishers to get the first book out on a hot news topic to make money, has been a publishing phenomenon at least since Watergate," according to Buchwald. "Milkweed is applying the same skills and technologies to create a valuable document that addresses a critical social issue, e.g. the threat to the integrity of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, in a timely way."