Drew's Iceland Paper

They really shouldn’t allow high school kids to go to Europe. Being a senior, this should have been my favorite year of high school. But now that I’ve seen Iceland, I‘d rather be exploring new ways of living, working and creating a better future.

In August, I traveled to Iceland for the international Youth Eco-Forum on climate change and renewable energy, where I learned about Iceland’s progressive system of energy production. I also learned a lot about the effects of global warming around the Arctic, especially in Alaska.

Throughout my Iceland trip, I was subjected to much good-natured ridicule for my country’s lack of leadership on global warming. One embarrassing point was my homeland’s thumbing its nose at Kyoto and any other emissions reduction idea. Upon my return, I investigated the matter and was pleased to find that Alaska’s neighbors, California and Oregon, have passed laws requiring reduced emissions; and most of New England has allied with its Canadian neighbors to the same end. Despite the apathy of our current national leaders, Americans have demonstrated a willingness to deal with this issue. Now it is Alaska’s turn. As the state most afflicted by the consequences of global warming, Alaska must set an example and take action now.

Global warming is not something that will go away soon; it will not, like smoking, begin getting better the moment we cease to pollute; carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for upward of 90 years; and the carbon dioxide there now will increase average global temperatures by more than 2 degrees Celsius. Billions of dollars in damages have been accrued, and billions more will pile up; from massive disasters like Katrina, and from less focused but no less destructive disasters like melting permafrost, flooding and erosion. As a youth, I care, because youth today will be coping with these issues throughout our lifetimes.

The world’s fossil fuel reserves are dwindling. The United States consumes twenty-five percent of the world’s oil, and as production peaks and declines, prices will rise exponentially. Gas prices are going up--Enstar, an Alaskan natural gas vendor, recently announced a twenty percent price hike. This will not be an isolated event. Our economy cannot bear the burden of continued consumption at this level; we must diversify or face economic pandemonium when oil production declines.

We have opportunities right here in our own backyard to combat global warming and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. We can support renewable power from projects like Chugach Electric’s Fire Island project. This project would place wind turbines three miles off the coast of Anchorage, producing approximately seven percent of Chugach Electric’s yearly electricity. Alaskans can show their support for this project by going to: www.chugachelectric.com/energy/altenergy/wp_business.html.

Electricity generation is the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and transportation and residential use of energy are huge contributors. The transportation and residential sectors are areas that the American public has tremendous control over, and they combine for nearly forty percent of total U.S. emissions. We must choose to live smarter. By taking the city bus (see www.muni.org/transit1), or implementing LEED design standards for our new buildings in Alaska (see www.usgbc.org/LEED), we would not only reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases significantly, but we would save money and strengthen our state economy.

Global warming is now; the era of cheap oil dead. Whether you support renewable energy for the sake of posterity or as an economic alternative to increasing oil costs, renewable energy projects are a necessary part of the future. However, they are not a substitute for fossil fuel use—we have to take action to curb our energy consumption. Whether by turning out the lights or trading in your Hummer for a hybrid, anything that we do to reduce consumption will not only save money, but also reduce the destruction my generation has to contend with.

In 2003, Iceland consumed 7.8 billion Kilowatt-hours of energy; that same year, they generated 8.4 Billion Kilowatt-hours of electricity from renewable resources. If Iceland can do it, surely Alaska and America can, too

A Letter to Our Leaders

As members of Alaska’s next generation, we are seeing first hand the threats to our state from global climate change as four U.S. Senators experienced on their trip to the Arctic (McCain, Clinton probe melting Arctic, August 18th). The science is clear that the warming occurring now is outside normal variations. Our elders’ traditional knowledge confirm it. Eroding villages, rapidly melting glaciers, beetle outbreaks, and thawing permafrost are just some of the effects of climate change that will have a dramatic affect on our lives. Nobody will have to pay more than young Alaskans like us.

We ask the leaders who represent us to do everything you can to minimize the negative effects that climate change is having on us, our families, and our cultures. We can reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases without hurting our economy.

We will be around for the next 50 years and perhaps have kids of our own. That is why we need you to take action today. Please be a leader in addressing global climate change. Support the use of renewable energy in Alaska. Support national legislation to cap greenhouse gases such as by supporting the Climate Stewardship Act. Alaska Mayors can support the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Agreement. These are good first steps to protect Alaska’s cultures, resources and economy.

Signed by:

Name Age, Community

Forest Sebastian 17 Petersburg, AK
Fherron A. Hines 16 Anchorage, AK
Megan W. Waggoner 14 Anchorage, AK
Derricia Walton 16 Anchorage, AK
Cameron Vincent-Lang 18 Anchorage, AK
Shannon Kuhn 18 Anchorage, AK
Amelia Josephson 16 Anchorage, AK
Sharnel D. Vale 15 Yakutat, AK
Valerie Jensen 16 Yakutat, AK
Lillian Sensmeier 16 Yakutat, AK
Magen James 18 Yakutat, AK
Kathryn McCarron 16 Homer, AK
Katie Aspen Gavenus 18 Homer, AK
Gillian Beran-Maryolt 15 Homer, AK
Leslie Whip 15 Homer, AK
Mackenzie Callis 15 Homer, AK
Emily Kizzia 15 Homer, AK
Lars Matkin 15 Homer, AK
Ethan Martin 15 Homer, AK
Miro Schaad 15 Homer, AK
Whitney Cushing 19 Homer, AK
Elise Marshall 18 Homer, AK
Terri Selanoff 18 Chenega Bay, AK
Jennifer Louise Washington 15 St. Michael, AK
Dara Lockwood 17 St. Michael, AK
Rachelle Sloss 16 Juneau, AK
Gabrielle Vance 16 Juneau, AK
Angela Frank 14 Hydaburg, AK
Cheri L. Alstrom 14 Bethel, AK
Jilann C. Brown 16 Eek, AK
Wayne Brown 16 Eek, AK
Ivan Radtke 15 Nanwalek, AK
Kirsten Huntsman 14 Nanwalek, AK
Nena John 18 Arctic Village, AK
Verner Wilson 19 Dillingham, AK

Kathryn's Letter

Dear Northern Forum:

My name is Kathryn McCarron and I was sponsored by you to go to the Youth Eco Forum 2005 in Akurery, Iceland. I would like to thank you for that amazing experience. I gained an incredible knowledge of other cultures and how global warming is affecting everyone in the world. I also gained a better understanding of how other countries’ governments work and how they feel towards the global warming issue.

The topic of the Eco Forum this year was climate change and renewable energy. I had learned a little bit about climate change at the Alaska Youth for Environmental Action Summer Get-Together in August, but before that I didn’t really know any of the major issues in climate change and even after the get-together I wasn’t sure on how climate change was affecting the world. I was very interested in the topic though.

We started out at the forum by telling everyone the different issues pertaining to climate change and renewable energy that were happening in our regions. We were able to better understand what the other regions were going through and what their governments were doing about climate change. We discussed what we thought could be better and what we could do to help. We laid out the different effects and causes climate change was having on the world. We also laid out different ways to solve and adapt to the problem. We worked on that for most of the week and then we were able to come up with a declaration. The declaration stated all of the causes, effects, mitigations, and adaptations that had to do with climate change and renewable energy. Our finished piece was something the group was proud of because we had written it and our thoughts and ideas on paper would actually go somewhere. We gave the declaration to the mayor of Akurery and to the U.N., among selected others.

The most important thing I learned from this Eco Forum is that knowledge really is power. The more people know how climate change is affecting everyone everywhere, the more people can do about it. We have to convince people that this is a problem and that there are ways to slow down the change. We have to find ways around companies and people that don’t want to realize climate change is happening and figure out a way to get the public involved in finding renewable energy.

I am from Homer and having lived here for many years I have encountered people from all around the world. I have been able to see glimpses into other cultures and other people. I developed a deep love of learning about other countries and a passion for wanting to travel to foreign places. It was amazing to go to Iceland, a place where I probably never would have gone on my own. I got to hear a new language and see how people interact differently. I also got to see little pieces of Russia and Japan with the people form those countries at the Eco Forum. It was neat to learn how Icelandic people truly believe in trolls. They took us to a “troll field” and showed us the trolls frozen into the mountains and they told us that at night they come alive. It was also cool to see what kind of music the Russians and the Japanese listened to. The Russians liked really hard rock music whereas the Japanese listened to Japanese pop.

I would like to once again thank you. I enjoyed this opportunity thoroughly and gained a lot. I will be giving a presentation to my local AYEA chapter and will also be writing an article about the importance of knowing about climate change to my local paper.

Sincerely,

Kathryn McCarron

Tim's Letter

Dear Staff of the Northern Forum,

In my short span of existence on this planet, there have been a few philosophical goals that stood out to me as thoroughly meriting pursuit. While some of these goals can be sought during day-to-day living, such as leading a mentally and physically healthy life, others can only be attained at certain unique times, for example, exploring new cultures and geographies or learning about both what separates and unites different peoples and groups, and working on improving our relationship with the planet in which we all reside. In a move of great generosity (that was perhaps also a wise investment) I was given a once-in-a-lifetime chance, by the Northern Forum, to expand my horizons and to an unprecedented levelwas able to reach towards those philosophical goals.

Due to economic constraints, my only previous travels outside the United States was to Mexico five years ago. I had never been to another region of the Arctic. For these reasons, attending the Forum in Akureyri, Iceland, provided a window to the rest of the world through which I had never been able to look. It is one thing to read or see images or video about a place, and it is quite another to travel there, talk with the residents, feel the ground, smell the air and to interact with a brand new and eye-opening environment. After immersing myself in the environment and culture of Iceland, I find myself an irreversibly better person with more perspective on the world and on my own part of it.

Two additional characteristics of the YEF made it an even more powerful and meaningful experience. Firstly was that not only did I experience the Icelandic culture, but from the non-Icelandic/Alaskan delegates, I learned about life in Hokkaido, St. Petersburg, Chukotka and many other Russian regions. And I did not simply learn about how we are all different, but also what similarities we share, both culturally and otherwise. Had it not been for the Youth Eco Forum, I would never have discovered that so many songs and games have traversed language barriers. I will never forget singing the “Wheels on the Bus” in three languages simultaneously.

What finally made the Youth Eco Forum such a tremendous experience for me was getting to deal with the topic of the forum, and seeing firsthand that we can solve it. In Iceland we saw a nation that runs almost entirely on environmentally friendly, sustainable, renewable energy that is still using only a fifth of said energy sources. We heard of potent and complicated problems involving global warming, yet were able to arrive at potential solutions. In our declaration we enunciated our thoughts and fact- based beliefs, and though it may not be a perfect document, it asks many of the right questions and provides many workable answers. It is a document that will be used to alert others and spread awareness on the consequences and solutions of and for climate change. I offer my deepest gratitude to the Northern Forum for getting to take part and help craft the declaration.

Going to Iceland with the Alaska delegation was for me, an unforgettable manifestation of many of my deepest philosophical desires. My attendance provided for me an experience that I would not have been able to obtain any other way. It is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my living days. For this, on behalf of myself and all the other delegates, I once again thank the Northern Forum, as well as all the other organizations, groups and individuals who made the Youth Eco Forum 2005 not just a possibility, but a reality.

Sincerely,

Tim Treuer

Anchorage, Alaska