A ruling by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife that the polar bear is threatened, as claimed by the Center for Biological Diversity, will be felt even more profoundly by Alaskans than by the rest of the country. The petition specifically targets oil exploration and development, shipping and fishing as industries which could [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, Federal Government, Gas/Oil Development, Weekly Cartoon, environmentalism, global warming | Tagged: Alaska, climate change, environment, global warming, polar bears, politics | No Comments »

Without hydroelectric power, Alaska’s interior is dependent upon diesel and coal-powered electrical plants. And Juneau’s avalanche-induced power crisis suddenly leaves them in the same situation. Naturally, the costs are more than some Alaskans are willing to bear.
This week’s cartoon about Alaskan home heating costs even has Santa surprised–but for a different reason.
Click on the [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, Weekly Cartoon, environmentalism | Tagged: Alaska, electrical, energy, heating, hydropower, Juneau | No Comments »

The April 16th avalanche that severed the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) from its main source of hydroelectric power has residents scampering for ways to save energy and make financial ends meet. Coming on the heels of the mortgage lending snafu, skyrocketing fuel and heating costs, rising food prices, lower quotas for commercial fishermen [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, environmentalism | Tagged: alaska juneau economy politics | 1 Comment »

Buying the “big-bang” theory and evolution as the sole means of creating the universe may take an even greater leap of faith than believing what is written in the Bible. On the other hand if creation took millions of years, maybe there’s a reason…
(Click on the image to view the entire cartoon.)

Filed under: Weekly Cartoon, environmentalism | Tagged: Alaska, earth day, evolution | No Comments »

Most U.S. businesses are unaware of the full implications if the polar bear or other marine mammal is declared an endangered species based on melting sea ice as a result of man-made global warming.

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, Federal Government, Gas/Oil Development, Wildlife, environmentalism, global warming | Tagged: Alaska, climate change, endangered species, environmentalism, global warming, polar bear, sea ice, threatened | 1 Comment »

In only two hundred twenty five years, about three lifetimes by today’s standards, the United States has progressed from a group of colonies to the single leading economy in the world. Our capitalist economy has two main factors that other economic systems (i.e., communism, socialism and fascism) lack: private land ownership and the individual profit motive. 
But there are some ways that Alaska’s [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Federal Government, Gas/Oil Development, environmentalism | Tagged: Alaska, business, economy, environmentalism, gas, mining, oil | No Comments »

After one year and $5000 from the Haines Borough Assembly, the Haines Energy Task Force (HEFT) has presented their work: a 63 page draft report entitled Peak Oil & Energy Transition, that purports to help prepare Haines for all of the inevitable catastrophes that will happen when there’s not enough oil to go around.

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Haines, environmentalism | Tagged: Alaska, energy, environment, environmentalism, Haines, HEFT, peak oil | 7 Comments »

I’m down to my last cord of dry firewood. We’ve had a cold December and January, a warmer February, and I was just looking forward to spring when I saw this news tidbit on www.dailytech.com:
“All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA’s GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, Haines, environmentalism, global warming | Tagged: al gore, Alaska, climate change, global warming, weather | No Comments »

This year we have no less than three clean water initiatives that could end up on the ballot, and one bill along the same lines in the Legislature.
A reading of each of these measures reveals that they are less about safe water than stopping construction of new mines by severely limiting what can be done [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Alaska cartoon, environmentalism | Tagged: Alaska, environment, fishing, mining, salmon | No Comments »

While living in Nome during the early 1990’s, I recall being told by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) personnel that the walrus population was at an all-time high. So naturally it piqued my curiosity when I learned that the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a petition with the USFWS last week, requesting that [...]

Filed under: Alaska Politics, Federal Government, Gas/Oil Development, environmentalism, global warming | Tagged: Alaska, arctic, environment, marine mammal act, walrus | 2 Comments »