As the New Year begins, we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood. Depending on what choices we make as a state, nation and world, we are faced with two very different Alaskas 50 years from now.
If we seize our opportunities, "The future's so bright, (ya) gotta wear shades."
We have abundant renewable energy -- wind, geothermal, hydro, biomass, ocean -- plus water to make hydrogen. We enjoy many robust fisheries and the jobs they create, which rely on intact ecosystems and sound management.
Thanks in large part to the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, we have extensive, protected, intact wildlands and wildlife, which make us a favored tourism destination. They also provide federal employment, science opportunities and other sustainable jobs. And we have vibrant Alaska Native cultures with a strong subsistence base, as well as other cultures with their important connections to the land.
But there's a nightmare scenario of Alaska's future, and it looks like this:
• Global warming is uncontrolled and we are experiencing pervasive erosion in over 180 communities, dying forests, massive summer fires, a corrosive ocean, warmer streams and rivers jeopardizing salmon, extirpated species, human health jeopardized by West Nile and Lyme disease, deadly storms and more.
• Alaska is faced with out-of-control hydrocarbon fuel costs, further damaging rural life and our economy.
• Protections on our lands have unraveled and important ecosystems have been compromised or destroyed through overly risky development, cyanide reservoirs unleashed after major earthquakes, swaths of prime land lost to surface mining and more.
• Subsistence has been dramatically diminished with significant, adverse cultural consequences.
• Our sustainable economies and ecosystem services have been significantly compromised.
The positive scenario, on the other hand, would look like this:
• Alaska's thriving protected wild places are providing extensive, sustainable jobs in many sectors including tourism, fisheries, federal land and marine management, science/research and quality of life. As a state, we offer sustainable jobs in exciting industries that keep youths here.
• Greenhouse gas emissions have been controlled, thereby protecting our ecosystems, ecosystem services and our moral and spiritual obligations to our fellow species and future generations. Through the use of cap-and-trade adaptation funds, we have relocated unsustainable villages and taken other critical adaptation measures to make our state more resilient, insuring our cultural, ecosystem and infrastructure integrity.
• Alaska is one of the leading renewable energy generating centers for the world, and among other economies, we are exporting large quantities of hydrogen. We have affordable renewable energy throughout Alaska, including villages that run on hydrogen fuel cells, and a network of greenhouses that are fueled by renewable energy.
• We are hosting a strong university with a cutting-edge focus on northern ecosystems, renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate change adaptation.
• And the subsistence way of life is thriving, as is our quality of life economy;
How do we get there?
We need to avoid unacceptably risky development; eschew compromising our protected areas; reject undermining subsistence ways of life; and stop the runaway emissions of greenhouse gases. We must address global warming through legislation and international action, including funding for adaptation, especially for village relocation.
We should invest heavily in renewable energy and energy efficiency and conservation throughout the state and in our university, while encouraging renewable-energy firms to locate here.
Finally, we need to maintain our intact ecosystems and protected areas, and honor subsistence.
As Wayne Gretzky has noted, we need to "Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it is." The puck is going in the direction of renewable energy, sustainable economies and promoting ecosystem services.
To achieve the positive scenario for Alaska, we require a state vision, leadership, a commitment to intergenerational equity and the confidence to proceed.
Yes, we can; and yes, we must.
Happy 50th anniversary, Alaska.
Deborah Williams is president of Alaska Conservation Solutions in Anchorage.
By DEBORAH WILLIAMS