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Story November 13, 2018

Threshold Podcast — Season 2 Episode 8: 'Oil and Water'

Country:

United states

Author:

Amy Martin
Grantee

Winfred Obruk points to the lost beach in Shishmaref, Alaska, where the community's playground and fish-drying racks are now under water. The island faces rapid erosion due to the effects of climate change, and residents have voted twice to relocate. They are determined to move as a community, but while they try to navigate this costly and complicated process, the Chukchi Sea pushes ever-closer to their homes." Image by Nick Mott. United States, 2017.

English

Season two of Threshold takes listeners to the homes, hunting grounds, and melting coastlines of...

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Bowhead whale bones form an arch on the beach near in the Iñupiaq community of Utqiagvik, Alaska, once known as Barrow. Whales have been a crucial food source along the harsh and isolated Arctic coast for millenia. Image by Amy Martin. Alaska, 2018.

Episode 8

Oil and Water

What happens when the thing you can’t live without in the short term is the same thing that threatens your very existence in the long term? That’s our question for this episode, viewed through the eyes of two whalers from Utqiagvik, Alaska.

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MAP OF THE NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH

This map shows the boundaries of the North Slope Borough in northern Alaska. Note: the map shows the northernmost city as Barrow. Several years ago the community voted to return to the original Iñupiaq name — Utqiagvik. The North Slope Borough Petroleum and Mineral Resources map can be found here.

THE LIBERTY ENERGY PROJECT

On October 24, 2018, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced plans for an oil and gas production facility in federal waters off Alaska. More information is available in the press release, and at this website.

WHAT IS THE NATIONAL PETROLEUM RESERVE?

This in-depth look at the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska has some very helpful maps and other information.

Signs of subsistence hunting are everywhere in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Image by Amy Martin. Alaska, 2018.

Price Leavitt, the executive director of the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Image by Amy Martin. Alaska, 2018.

Sign in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Image by Amy Martin. Alaska, 2018.

Bowhead whale skull in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Image by Amy Martin. Alaska, 2018.

David Leavitt looks at family photos in his home in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Image by Amy Martin. Alaska, 2018.

Stained glass window in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Image by Amy Martin. Alaska, 2018.

Gordon Brower, grew up hunting whales from camps on the sea ice near Utqiagvik, Alaska. In his youth it was normal for the ice to stick around well into the summer and build up from year to year. Image by Amy Martin. Alaska, 2018.