Explore: Alaska’s Arctic
Resources for your At Home Experience
Explore: Alaska’s Arctic
Resources for your At Home Experience
Welcome to your Resources Page!
On this website, you will find additional materials to compliment your virtual trip and help you continue your learning journey. Thank you for Packing Light or embarking on an At Home Adventure through the Arctic.
To access the webpages linked to in your itinerary cards through a QR code, use the following instructions:
- Open your smartphone’s camera and point it to the code. Do not take a photo.
- Once the code is properly framed, a website link will appear at the bottom of your screen.
- Click on that link and enjoy the contents!
If you prefer to view the materials on the computer rather than your phone, follow the url provided on the cards.
If you purchased the At Home Adventure, you will find a cardboard VR headset in your travel package that is used to watch Earthjustice’s Too Wild to Drill virtual reality film. To set up your headset, follow the instructions below
- Open the cardboard box and pull out the headset.
- Open the Velcro flap and unfold the inside flaps.
- Flip them over and attach the felt buttons on each side to the Velcro on the side of the headset. This will make your viewer.
If you chose Packing Light, you can purchase a cardboard VR headset to compliment your journey.
After setting up your VR headset included in your At Home Adventure, open the YouTube app on your smartphone. You may need to download YouTube from your app store as well.
- Search for “Earthjustice Too Wild to Drill”.
- After clicking on the film, go full screen and press the headset icon in the lower right-hand corner. It should look similar to the headset you’ve built.
- Slide your smartphone horizontally into your VR headset and enjoy the film!
If you are Packing Light or prefer to watch the film without a VR headset, here’s how to watch the film on your computer:
- Find the film on YouTube
- Put it in full screen.
- You can then use your mouse to drag the screen and look around in a 2D format.
Email Matt Horst at travel@earthjustice.org and he will walk you through it.
Included in your travel package is a postcard with a photograph from Kiliii Yüyan on the front. Use this postcard to contact your representatives and advocate for a flourishing ecosystem in Alaska and the Arctic. Or, send your postcard to a friend, and sign one of these Earthjustice Action Alerts online:
We compiled a short list of recommendations to share with you, including books to read, recordings to watch, actions to take, and Arctic products that can be shipped right to your door.
Indigenous Websites
As referenced in your itinerary cards, please find more information about the Indigenous tribes from your journey below.
Presentations
- The Last Oil: a symposium on Indigenous-led movements and environmentalists' ongoing efforts to protect the Arctic, hosted by the University of New Mexico in February 2018
- Kiliii Yüyan’s presentation at the 2019 National Geographic Storytellers Summit
- Earthjustice’s Alaska Town Hall, December 2020
Documentaries & Radio Programs
- Rock, Paper, Fish (2019)
- Encounters North radio program
Books
- In Search of the Canary Tree by Lauren E. Oakes
- Being a Beast by Charles Foster
- Two in the Far North by Margaret Murie
- The Firecracker Boys by Dan O’Neill
Music
Arctic Refuge: A Gathering of Tribes — featuring a compilation of flute music, songs, chants, and other instrumental music, portions of the CD’s proceeds will go towards the preservation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Gwich’In Steering Committee, and other organizations working to preserve the region.
Children’s Activities
- Coloring Culture: download an Iñupiat Coloring Book with the drawings and Iñupiat names of mammals found in the Arctic, created by artist Britt’Nee Kivliqtaruq Brower.
- Seasons of Alaska: Read with your child and join this whirlwind tour through Alaska’s seasons in a four-book series created by Alaska Native authors and photographers.
... and more
To purchase items similar to those included in the At Home Adventure, visit the links below.
- Alpenglow Candle Co.: A local candle shop that captures the essence of Alaska in delightful, handcrafted candles.
- Birch Syrup: Alaska Wild Harvest, an Alaskan-based company, uses certified organic and sustainable practices to harvest birch syrup from Alaska’s forests.
- Britt’Nee Kivliqtaruq Brower artwork: Explore Britt’Nee’s visual representation of the Iñupiat culture. Through her art and jewelry, she advocates for the revitalization of Iñupiat language, arts, storytelling, and traditions.
- Klara Maisch artwork: Her sketches, paintings, and wood workings have been featured in exhibits and public art commissions throughout Alaska, Washington, California, and Hawai’i. Take a look!
To access the webpages linked to in your itinerary cards through a QR code, use the following instructions:
- Open your smartphone’s camera and point it to the code. Do not take a photo.
- Once the code is properly framed, a website link will appear at the bottom of your screen.
- Click on that link and enjoy the contents!
If you prefer to view the materials on the computer rather than your phone, follow the url provided on the cards.
If you purchased the At Home Adventure, you will find a cardboard VR headset in your travel package that is used to watch Earthjustice’s Too Wild to Drill virtual reality film. To set up your headset, follow the instructions below
- Open the cardboard box and pull out the headset.
- Open the Velcro flap and unfold the inside flaps.
- Flip them over and attach the felt buttons on each side to the Velcro on the side of the headset. This will make your viewer.
If you chose Packing Light, you can purchase a cardboard VR headset to compliment your journey.
After setting up your VR headset included in your At Home Adventure, open the YouTube app on your smartphone. You may need to download YouTube from your app store as well.
- Search for “Earthjustice Too Wild to Drill”.
- After clicking on the film, go full screen and press the headset icon in the lower right-hand corner. It should look similar to the headset you’ve built.
- Slide your smartphone horizontally into your VR headset and enjoy the film!
If you are Packing Light or prefer to watch the film without a VR headset, here’s how to watch the film on your computer:
- Find the film on YouTube
- Put it in full screen.
- You can then use your mouse to drag the screen and look around in a 2D format.
Need help?
Email Matt Horst at travel@earthjustice.org and he will walk you through it.
Included in your travel package is a postcard with a photograph from Kiliii Yüyan on the front. Use this postcard to contact your representatives and advocate for a flourishing ecosystem in Alaska and the Arctic. Or, send your postcard to a friend, and sign one of these Earthjustice Action Alerts online:
We compiled a short list of recommendations to share with you, including books to read, recordings to watch, actions to take, and Arctic products that can be shipped right to your door.
Indigenous Websites
Presentations
- The Last Oil: a symposium on Indigenous-led movements and environmentalists' ongoing efforts to protect the Arctic, hosted by the University of New Mexico in February 2018
- Kiliii Yüyan’s presentation at the 2019 National Geographic Storytellers Summit
- Earthjustice’s Alaska Town Hall, December 2020
Documentaries & Radio Programs
- Rock, Paper, Fish (2019)
- Encounters North radio program
Books
- In Search of the Canary Tree by Lauren E. Oakes
- Being a Beast by Charles Foster
- Two in the Far North by Margaret Murie
- The Firecracker Boys by Dan O’Neill
Music
Arctic Refuge: A Gathering of Tribes — featuring a compilation of flute music, songs, chants, and other instrumental music, portions of the CD’s proceeds will go towards the preservation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Gwich’in Steering Committee, and other organizations working to preserve the region.
Children’s Activities
- Coloring Culture: download an Iñupiat Coloring Book with the drawings and Iñupiat names of mammals found in the Arctic, created by artist Britt’Nee Kivliqtaruq Brower.
- Seasons of Alaska: Read with your child and join this whirlwind tour through Alaska’s seasons in a four-book series created by Alaska Native authors and photographers.
... and more
To purchase items similar to those included in the At Home Adventure, visit the links below.
- Alpenglow Candle Co.: A local candle shop that captures the essence of Alaska in delightful, handcrafted candles.
- Birch Syrup: Alaska Wild Harvest, an Alaskan-based company, uses certified organic and sustainable practices to harvest birch syrup from Alaska’s forests.
- Britt’Nee Kivliqtaruq Brower artwork: Explore Britt’Nee’s visual representation of the Iñupiat culture. Through her art and jewelry, she advocates for the revitalization of Iñupiat language, arts, storytelling, and traditions.
- Klara Maisch artwork: Her sketches, paintings, and wood workings have been featured in exhibits and public art commissions throughout Alaska, Washington, California, and Hawai’i. Take a look!
Contact Us: If you have questions, please contact our travel team at travel@earthjustice.org.
Photographer Kiliii Yüyan illuminates the hidden stories of polar regions, wilderness, and Indigenous communities. Informed by ancestry that is both Nanai/Hèzhé (Siberian Native) and Chinese-American, he explores the human relationship to the natural world from different cultural perspectives.
Kiliii has produced many stories on Arctic communities, including a multi-year National Geographic project on the subsistence culture of the Alaskan Iñupiaq, as well as stories on the Russian Chukchi and Greenland’s Iñuit community. He is currently at work on a global project covering Indigenous-led conservation. His public talks inspire others about photography, Indigenous perspectives, and wilderness around the globe.
Kiliii is based out of Seattle, but can be found across the circumpolar Arctic much of the year.
Michael Wald has been leading wilderness trips since 1991, helping others understand and enjoy wild-lands from Alaska to Labrador to the Antarctic in all seasons. In addition to guiding, Michael has worked on research projects across arctic Alaska and taught science and outdoor education courses. His skills as a guide and naturalist bring many accolades to Arctic Wild.
In the winter Michael does the scheduling, booking, and logistics for Arctic Wild from the relative warmth of Haines, Alaska, where he and his wife Sally are raising their two growing boys.
When not exploring forest, ocean, or tundra he can be found working on a variety of Alaska conservation projects. He doesn’t like to sit still, but if you email him about a trip in the Arctic, he’ll write you right back!
Eric Jorgensen has seen the power of the law help make fundamental change happen across the state. He has spent over 30 years working at Earthjustice, with the last 15 devoted to the Arctic. He sees enforcing the laws as a critical part of the fight to end oil development and bring about a new vision for sustaining the Arctic.
One of the transformative experiences of Eric’s life took place on a long journey down a remote river in the Western Arctic, surrounded by thousands of migrating caribou, golden grizzly bears, solitary wolves, stoic musk ox, swift peregrine falcons and beautiful landscapes; he returned once again inspired and committed to the work of Earthjustice.
Eric is thankful to live and work in Alaska and protect its future, and pleased to share a bit of his life’s work with you.
Erik Grafe focuses much of his work on the Arctic, working with conservation and Alaska Native groups to fend off attempts by oil companies and the federal government to open new lands to oil and gas operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, the Western Arctic, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Arctic is one of the most obvious places on Earth to say ‘no’ to Big Oil and heed climate science that tells us we need to move rapidly away from fossil power, not expand it.
What Erik loves best about living in the far north is that it is a place of constant change, particularly in the quality and quantity of the light and the comings and goings of birds and caribou and whales and salmon. Whether you visit in person or not, he hopes you’ll advocate for this place, its people, and wildlife.
Rebecca Bowe is the Communications Strategist for Earthjustice’s Northwest and Alaska regional offices. Prior to Earthjustice, she spent 11 years working as a professional journalist, including at KQED News and the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and continues to do occasional freelance reporting on environmental justice issues.
Since stepping into her current role, Rebecca has had the good fortune of traveling to Alaska on multiple occasions for meetings with the Alaska team. In 2018, she produced a short film in virtual reality, called Too Wild to Drill, to inspire people to oppose oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She is delighted to share the power of this VR film with you.
Rebecca lives in Portland, Oregon and has ventured out to public lands as often as possible since the pandemic began.
Britt’Nee Kivliqtaruq Brower is a strong proponent of Iñupiat values and their relevance in our modern age. She advocates the revitalization of the language, arts, storytelling, and traditions of her Iñupiat culture, and brings this passion to her artwork. Her work explores the visual representation of the Iñupiat culture through qupak designs, which are recognized as the geometric motifs on the trims of regalia. Her work in prints and children’s coloring books incorporates traditional qupak motifs and adds a modern twist to honor traditional elements of her culture. All of her artwork is made with intentions to teach about the Iñupiat culture, to help with cultural identity and cultural recognition for passing down indigenous knowledge and traditional skills to the future generation of culture bearers.
Klara Maisch is an artist, instructor, and guide who grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska — a place located on the traditional lands of the Dena people of the lower Tenana River. Through her experiences living in Alaska and guiding for Arctic Wild, navigating vast natural landforms has trained her to closely observe her surroundings that has, in turn, translated into her work. The backbone of her artistic process relies on information gathered in the field. Through this firsthand approach, Klara can respond to changes that occur within an environment over a period of time, empowering her to grasp the underlying structures of complex places.