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

November 13, 2018 | Threshold Podcast
By
Amy Martin
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.

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. 

LEARN MORE

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.

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.

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.

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

Bowhead whale skull 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.

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.

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.

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.