トミー・コールドウェルさんのインスタグラム写真 - (トミー・コールドウェルInstagram)「Post I of 2 I oppose oil exploration in the Arctic wildlife refuge because we need a reminder of what the world looks like with minimal human impact. But when deciding how to advocate for land, it’s imperative to understand the viewpoint of the people that live there. I expected to find opposing views from the indigenous communities. After all, much of their money comes from the oil industry. But what I saw in Ft Yukon was a community very united in the fight against drilling. Darrel Vent SR, who is Athabaskan and lives in Husila spoke of how the pipeline split the caribou herd and how they don’t come to his area anymore and the fish spawning has moved because of warming waters. Ice pack breaking up allowed waves to erode away foundations forcing five houses in his village to relocate last year. Chuck Peter, A Gwich’in Hunter talked about how the Ft Yukon River, which is their main way of getting around, is now dangerous in winter because of warm periods during the freeze up. People are falling through the ice and dying. Siqiniq Maupin, Inupiat from Nuiqsut, thinks the Prudhoe bay oil fields are responsible for diseased fish and black bone marrow in the Caribou. I could go on for pages. Can money from the oil companies fix this? The Gwich’in seem to feel that reliance puts them in a vulnerable spot. They say even now 89 percent of the indigenous are jobless from a traditional western money-based viewpoint. In a place where a gallon of milk is around $16 the money they get doesn’t go far. But they are hard workers and feel wealthy when the land provides. Bad weather kept us from our original plan to end out our trip in Kaktovik where we likely would have found the opposing viewpoint. There the oil money is more plentiful and the majority of the food comes from whale hunting which in theory won’t be as effected by drilling.」7月6日 13時40分