Category Archives: ANWR

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

Extreme Environmentalists, the Gulf Oil Disaster and ANWR

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Arctic fox and oil barrels on the coastal plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

Arctic fox and oil barrels on the coastal plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Excuse my rant; but, this is my blog, and I’m about to wander in the mtns for a while. Before I go, I need to speak out.

I read earlier today of ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s latest comments about the current disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. She states “Radical environmentalists: you are damaging the planet with your efforts to lock up safer drilling areas”.

Her basic premise is that the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe is the work and responsibility of “extreme environmentalists”. Let’s disregard, for now, the fact that she’s been a proponent of offshore drilling for years now (including her 2008 run for VP where she repeatedly claimed that Drill Baby, Drill “also means safely tapping into our offshore sources, safely, environmentally safe”. In her own words, whilst debating then-Senator Joe Biden she stammered “You even called drilling — safe, environmentally-friendly drilling offshore — as raping the outer continental shelf. There — with new technology, with tiny footprints even on land, it is safe to drill and we need to do more of that“.

“friendly”? If it weren’t so sad it would be farcical; what the hell is “friendly” about extracting crude oil from beneath the ocean? Makes me wonder what kind of “friends” some of these people keep.  If one of my friends came over to the house and started drilling a hole 20 000′ into the lawn I’d say they’re outta their mind.

I’ve no problem with a discussion of the collective responsibility owned by our society. I hopefully made that clear in my earlier post here. But I won’t absolve the oil industry of their responsibility, nor the clowns who would reduce a discussion of the energy policy of the world’s largest energy consumer to a 3-word bumper-sticker slogan: “Drill Here, Drill Now”  of theirs, which is the intent of Palin’s outburst. Sarah Palin’s remarks, along with this childish assessment from Ted Nugent is not an honest critique of any social construct at all. In fact, it’s nothing more than the opposite of that; an attempt to divert attention from the direct and very palpable targets of hella-oil, political corruption and bumper-sticker political campaigns to a somewhat more nebulous, transparent target. That is intolerable. Continue reading →

A Tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico

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Hiker playing Native American Indian flute on the arctic coastal plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Alaska.

Playing a Native American Indian flute on the arctic coastal plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

I’ve been wanting to write for the last week about the current Gulf Oil disaster, but haven’t really been quite sure what to say. There are simply so many tangents to this mess that I’ve not known where to start. The deaths of 11 people seem, unfortunately, to fade into the melée of concern about big oil, political ineptness, poisoned ecosystems, fathomless litigations, ad infinitum. The web we weave seems larger than the spread of oil.

It makes sense, to me, to start at home. The reality is that this catastrophe stares us right in the eyeball. The mirror reflects our own lives – I drive a car, I love my gore-tex and silnylon tents, my synthetic-fill jacket, my polycarbonate cameras. I eat fresh bananas and whole grain breads shipped here from afar. My computer was flown directly from Shanghai, China. The world I live in is a fossil fuel world. That world includes crude oil belching from the ocean floor into the Gulf of Mexico, and on to Gaia knows where.

So I bear responsibility in this mess; I want cheap gasoline, cheap oil. I complained about the soaring gasoline prices just 2 years ago. I failed to demand that the federal government not exempt BP from an environmental impact study. I failed to demand that Minerals Management Services mandate a remote-control shut-off switch on all drilling operations. I failed to demand that the oil industry follow the strictest, safest procedures possible. Continue reading →

Blogs, Social Media, Tweets and Gibberish

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Caribou herd on the coastal plain, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

Caribou herd feeding on the coastal plain, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Click the thumbnail for a larger, more epic, version.

Hey Folks

Recently I read a photographer ask the following question:

Now I know that blogging gets your profile closer to the top of the heap and web traffic will probably go up. The question is have any of you actually seen a raise in the amount of sales as a result? Is it all worth the amount of time that it takes to do all this stuff?

Now, I hope the photographer doesn’t mind me mentioning his name, but I only do so because this guy is a total BAD-ASS. Readers, meet Mr Adam Gibbs. Adam is an amazing photographer, and I don’t mean ‘amazing’ like ‘oh yeah, cool’ – I mean like his images are simply gorgeous. If this photo doesn’t make you cry, you’re computer is broke. If this photo doesn’t move you, it’s time for you to retire from your position as CEO of Exxon-Mobil, Mr Tillerson.

Anyway, the discussion that ensued revolved, as suspected, around blogging, facebooking, tweeting, etc, etc. Is it “worth it”? Continue reading →

Brooks Mountains Range, ANWR, Alaska

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Canning River, Brooks Mountain Range, ANWR, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another image from the summer just gone by. This one was from near our campsite on the Canning River, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). We’d had a nice day paddling, enjoying some sunny weather, found a sweet spot to camp, and then I wandered around into the evening looking for a composition that caught my eye. The unnamed mountain across the river is a ridge leading up to Mt. Salisbury. This is one of my favorite areas in the region, right at the edge of the coastal plain and the Brooks Mountains. Typically these kinds of terrains are interesting; Continue reading →

Muskox photos, Arctic coastal plain, Alaska

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Muskox photos, Arctic coastal plain, alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another image of muskox from our trip to the arctic coastal plain this past summer, and a float trip down the Canning River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. As you can see from the muskox photo, the mosquitoes were out in the droves this summer in the arctic. Fortunately the winds we experienced kept them down much of the time – but I had headed out to shoot these guys in shorts, a long-sleeved shirt and a ball cap – not really the gear I needed to keep the bugs at bay. After about 15 minutes of nonsense, I left the muskox, went back and donned some more suitable attire, and returned to the fray.

Muskox photos from the coastal plain, arctic Alaska.

Cheers

Carl

Pectoral sandpiper, anwr, alaska.

5 Replies

pectoral sandpiper, anwr, alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a Pectoral sandpiper photo, taken on our recent trip to ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. The shorebirds out on the coastal plain were really a treat – we were so lucky to see a number of cool birds. I’ll try to write a thorough report when I get time. In the meantime, dig this.

Cheers

Carl

PS – I edited this after the great biologist Milo Burcham pointed out the error of my initial post, which said the bird is a buff-breasted sandpiper – Milo, of course, is correct, and I, of course, was wrong – the bird is a pectoral sandpiper. Thanks Milo.

Pacific Loon, Section 1002, ANWR, Alaska

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Pacific Loon, Section 1002, ANWR, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a Pacific Loon image I got late one evening near the Canning River, on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, Alaska. This photo took me quite a while, and a lot of walking, to swing. I think it was nearly 2am when I clicked the shutter here. I’d been over near this pond earlier, but not able to get close. I ended up walking around for a long time, finding a few other birds to photograph, and then cam back by the loon pond. This loon and its mate were getting more and more comfortable with this strange tripod-toting creature wandering around, and finally came close enough for me to manage a few photos. I wish the light was a little brighter, and the wind not present, as the rippled effect on the water isn’t as nice as a calmer surface, but one takes what one can in the arctic. At least the wind kept the bugs at bay.

Section 1002, the coastal plain, of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the area hotly debated over with the proposals to drill for oil. I think the wildlife that live there, will be much better off if drilling and gas extraction aren’t allowed; I think we’ll be better off for it, too.

Cheers

Carl

MuskOx Calf photo, coastal plain, arctic Alaska

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MuskOx calf, coastal plain, arctic Alaska.

Hey Folks,

As I don’t have anything new to post from the Skolai Trip I did last week, I’ll post a few more Muskox. This young calf was hanging around with his mom and the herd one afternoon, and it took quite a while before I got a decent opportunity to shoot a portrait of the calf. Muskox really protect their young well, mostly by hiding the calves behind the adults, and often keeping them in the thicker brush. Finally this calf ran out in the open, stopped and looked back, and I took this photo. You can see the Mosquitoes were plentiful up in the arctic this summer.

Muskox photos.

Cheers

Carl

Too cold for off-shore drilling

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Testing the waters of the arctic ocean, ANWR, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Some of you may have read my recent piece on the proposals to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. You can read it here.

For those of you who aren’t aware, another hot issue with proposals to drill is the off-shore sites, in the arctic ocean. We were keen to explore this possibility as well, as the testing we did on the coastal plain really showed how magical this arctic oil is. However, howling winds and chilly temperatures proved that off-shore drilling simply isn’t possible.

Any deeper than this in the arctic ocean and nothing would be the same afterward.

So we said “No”, to off-shore drilling.

Cheers

Carl

Climbing in the Brooks Range, Alaska

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Climbing on the Pipeline, Brooks Mountain Range, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I just got back from a trip to Skolai Pass, in Wrangell-St. Elias, and we got SLAMMED by the weather. It was so ugly, I couldn’t help but feel bad for the people on the trip. I didn’t even take my camera out of the backpack the whole week. So I don’t have any images from this trip. That’s a first for me. Instead, I’ll post some more images from previous trips, including this one from our highly vaunted ANWR Drilling Trip earlier this month. I’m not going to say that this climbing around was my idea – and far be it for me to snitch, but I think you can tell from the looks of the 2 people with me that it was their responsibility – they literally forced me onto this pipeline for the photo. 🙂 🙂

Erika and Bob were great folks, and we had an excellent trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Cheers

Carl