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