What’s next in AK erosion? Read Katrina’s saga

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

The Unorganized Borough can’t wait for others to prepare for us. Why? Track the entries at The Voices of New Orleans, http://www.chinmusicpress.com/books/doyouknow/voices/ especially for the terms FEMA and Army Corps (and for Newtok, Alaska). The archive list of titles is News Archive – http://www.chinmusicpress.com/books/doyouknow/voices/news/ (Unfortunately there is no search function other than your browser’s for titles.)

“While the United States government is immune for legal liability for the defalcations alleged herein, it is not free, nor should it be, from posterity’s judgment concerning its failure to accomplish what was its task,” the judge wrote. “This story — 50 years in the making — is heart-wrenching. Millions of dollars were squandered in building a levee system with respect to these outfall canals which was known to be inadequate by the corps’s own calculations.”

Though the ruling spotlighted many missteps by the corps over the years, it made little of other possible factors, including culpability of former local officials overseeing levees and drainage, and particularly their rejection of the corps’s original plan for floodgates on the drainage canals that so devastated the city. [emphasis added]

http://www.chinmusicpress.com/books/doyouknow/voices/news/ 2008/02/nyt_of_course_the_suit_was_thr.html

2011-02-23 The website no longer exists but maybe the relevant posts exist at the Wayback machine, Excuse Me, but New Orleans is not Newtok, Alaska

Hartford: Safe in ivory tower, prof declares NOLA dead

NYT: Of course the suit was thrown out

Hartford: Safe in ivory tower, prof declares NOLA dead Source: Hartford Courant July 06, 2007 Source: Hartford Courant Here’s another one of those supposed deep thinkers who just wants to lay it on the line. New Orleans as we know it is dead, he says. As dead as the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta. Harumph. Look at my Ph.d. framed nicely on my wall:

“I think he’s saying two main points–
1) sustainable living is living within one’s environmental means. The environment is in constant flux and the cultural response (what people do) ought also be flexible, to adapt. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Rivers delta is a living biocultural system, for example.

2) ethically and morally, wouldn’t barricading NOLA against environmental change in the delta be the same as barricading change in the YK delta? and therefore the billions of dollars required for either delta to rebuild the way it was, bad infrastructure and all, (rather than working with the change) come equally from everyone else?

Now, if the efforts were directed towards living *with* a delta system, the costs over the next 100 years would be considerably less and the resilient cultures even stronger. This isn’t “writing off” the deltas and their people; it’s preserving them.

NOLA is equally entitled to re-build bad design as YK. In fact, the Army Corps would love to fix our delta the same way they fixed yours over the decades. If we “re-build” one delta, then ethically “re-build” the other. We’ll go first.

Posted by: mpb | July 7, 2007 11:45 AM

Thanks for your response. Perhaps you should have written the article. Your points are cogent and I don’t disagree for the most part.

But the professor claims that the people of the Yukon delta aren’t playing the race card when they emphatically are (check out the NYT article linked in the post above this one). The professor is at best ill-informed on the subject. His desire to strip away race and greed and other “secondary” issues in our understanding of the broken levees is horribly misguided. We need to understand all the elements of the problem, not just global warming, because, again, the floods of NOLA could have been prevented.

Rebuilding bad design, as you say, is not a great option. But the Dutch don’t have bad design. Why do we have to?

Posted by: Bruce | July 7, 2007 10:18 PM”
http://web.archive.org/web/20071109080817/www.chinmusicpress.com/books/doyouknow/voices/news/2007/07/hartford_safe_in_ivory_tower_p.html

One remote Alaska village fights to stay alive — and stay put
Jill Burke | Feb 22, 2011 http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/one-remote-alaska-village-fights-stay-alive-and-stay-put

Koyukuk has been unable to secure upgrades to its inadequate sewer system. How did a village along one of Alaska’s Interior river systems suddenly find itself keeping company, at least on paper, with a handful of sea-battered coastal communities imminently at risk of falling into the ocean? Koyukuk Mayor Jason Malemute isn’t sure. But he’s determined to get the place he’s called home nearly all his life off the list of Alaska villages that must be relocated to survive….

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Site Search Tags: NOLA, Katrina, preparedness, self-reliance, lessons+learned, FEMA, Army+Corps, Newtok

Publication: Coastal Erosion Responses for Alaska

New Publication Available Coastal Erosion Responses for Alaska: Workshop Proceedings Alaska Sea Grant Editor: Orson P. Smith Price: $10 USD For further information, please go to:
http://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/AK-SG-06-03.html
or contact: Doug Schneider, Information Officer Alaska Sea Grant E-mail: fndgs AT uaf DOT edu Phone: 907-474-7449

In January 2006, Alaska Sea Grant sponsored a workshop where coastal engineers, community leaders, scientists, and others discussed strategies and techniques applicable in Alaska for dealing with coastal erosion. This publication is a product of the workshop and contains ten articles by coastal engineering experts that address coastal processes and trends that drive shoreline retreat and coastal erosion. Topics include non-structural coastal zone management, constructed responses that have proved successful, and limitations of constructed works.

Information from these articles will prove useful to coastal managers, civil engineers, state and federal emergency planners, concerned residents, and community leaders facing problems with coastal erosion in Alaska.

The Alaska Sea Grant is a program of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that funds marine research, provides education and extension services, and distributes information about Alaska’s seas and coasts.

For further information and to order the publication, please go to: http://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/AK-SG-06-03.html
ArcticInfo is administered by the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS). Please visit us on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.arcus.org/

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Site Search Tags: erosion, SeaGrant, NOAA, Alaska, ARCUS

Photos of Lower Yukon River spring flooding

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, Unorganized Borough, YKAlaska

Craig Spacek’s photostream usually has interesting photos from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

He’s just posted some of today’s river flooding in Emmonak.

2009-05-26 from Alaska PrideMay 2009 Eagle, Alaska Begins Recovery After Ice Jam Flood Takes Out 30 Homes, Contaminates The Well With E.Coli, And Spreads Diesel Pollution View all posts on the 2009 Interior Alaska floods HERE, in inverse chronological order. The most recent post will appear first.

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Site Search Tags: Emmonak, erosion, Yukon+River, flooding, preparedness, photos

Talk of Alaska about swine flu APRN.org

Tags

analytical anhropology, Bumsted, Grassroots Science, Unorganized Borough, YKAlaska

Steve Heimel yesterday discussed on APRN.org Talk of Alaska: Holding Off Swine Flu, with Dr. Jay Butler, State Epidemiologist, Department of Health and Social Services.

http://media.aprn.org/2009/toa-20090505.mp3 Swine Flu Talk of Alaska

Their blog comments are handled by Disqus which means it is nearly impossible to participate (my browser re-draws into one pixel wide; log-ins never work; comments don’t appear) so I will post my comment here and hope it trackbacks over there.

Preparedness comes in many forms, including (or especially) accurate information for the public to decide their risk. I think creating a false sense of security about infectious diseases or flooding and erosion is worse than the emergency condition itself.

My 3 things everyone should know to prevent bird flu (pandemic flu) are * Katrina was no Girl Scout (be prepared);
* learn the words and tune to Happy Birthday (wash hands while singing two rounds of Happy Birthday or Good Morning to You, properly, in English or Yup’ik); and
* practice safe sex (which implies that one has enough respect for self and other not to abuse alcohol and drugs, too. The result is fewer chronic illnesses like untreated depression, chlamydia, TB, and hepatitis which weakens one’s immune system.) More at How to avoid swine flu H1N1, or any other, quick list, from https://ykalaska.wordpress.com/

Always ask yourself and your experts– does it make sense?
Does mass dispensing exercise prove disaster readiness
Mass disease pass, 2007

Displaced person in Palin’s Alaska

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

There are a lot of us in 2008. Those with greater resources left last year (2007); nearly 15% of Bethel by mid-summer 2007 according to the Chamber of Commerce. I haven’t heard this year’s figures and don’t know how they gather the data. By October 2007 it was evident the trend for losing middle class students in the high school was continuing, lessening the diversity needed in a thriving school community the size of Bethel. People had used all their savings or retirement (if any) to deal with the increased living expenses, combining families by moving in with relatives, or shutting all rooms except the one next to the oil stove (Thank goodness for Toyo stoves. Heating my small house/room is only 150 gallons a year).

Some members of the Legislature had proposed back then to offer a portion of our state’s surplus royalities back to the folks needing to cover the costs of that oil at retail. That was scuttled in favor of Sen Lyman’s proposal to fund landlords and homeowners to weatherize their buildings. There aren’t enough certified weatherization inspectors; limited refunds for weatherization won’t be released without a before and after inspection. The refunds won’t cover those who weatherized the year before (2007). [ http://aprn.org/2008/10/14/state-energy-rebate-program-undergoes-change/] The scheme is for refunds, requiring up front money for making renovations, after up front money is used for the inspections, if there were inspectors….

Gov. Palin says she gave everyone, man, woman, and infant, $1200 to cover this year’s energy needs. A lot of us could only use the money to leave home.

[The “energy rebate” and the permanent fund dividend (PFD) is enough to go from Bethel to Anchorage, but not enough to live on. If anyone knows of paid temping jobs, or permanent ones, please let me know. No CDL or clinical but I can type and read, ‘rite, ‘rithmetic  ;o) ]

“Saying goodbye, thank you”, http://deltadiscovery.com/letters/letters.html
“Leaving Bethel with legacy of helping”, http://thetundradrums.com/section/letters

I have worked for many years with the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta on issues of health, environment, heritage and cultural resources, elders, science teachers, and information technology.

Unfortunately, I must now say goodbye and thank you as I must relocate away from Bethel. This won’t stop my support of grassroots science, elder participation, and thoughtful solutions from the communities of the Delta. Relocation won’t end my friendships, won’t end my learning, and won’t end my substantiated belief in the abilities of people out here to contribute to world knowledge and culture. (It has been a struggle to convince some organizations, governments, and institutions of such value, as many of you know, whether the issue was Village erosion or elder rights or cleaning up dumps or environmental health or protection of natural resources or emergency preparedness.)

I have seen many of my neighbor kids grow into productive adults. Thank you for what you have taught me. I have worked with incredible scientists and thinkers, though many won’t have formal training beyond high school. I have also learned from those who put in immense effort and sacrifice in formal settings so that we may benefit from their pastoral or technical caring. By their works I have known them.

While I am moving to a new home, I am still supporting rural Alaska and Alaska Natives through the website https://ykalaska.wordpress.com Virtual reality isn’t quite the same as “real reality” but please help me stay in touch through the website.

All through my life I have tried to live by the basic tradition of science and education–

Just as people must share seal meat and oil to maintain physical and social well-being, so, too, must they share knowledge–so that their minds will not rot.

I hope I have lived up to this while in Bethel.
M Pamela Bumsted, Grassroots Science
Bethel, AK

————

• Home heating assistance program opened today with big budget bump Wed, October 1, 2008
• Anchorage homeless numbers rising Wed, October 1, 2008
• Bush costs prompt exodus to cities Task force urged to stem migration By JULIA O’MALLEY and KYLE HOPKINS Daily News reporters Published: September 29th, 2008 11:32 PM

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Site Search Tags: Tundra+Drums, Delta+Discovery, migration, energy, erosion, Sarah Palin, demography, environmental+change, economy, rural+development

Most popular in 2007, 2008 YKWP (boring post)

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

[This is a housekeeping entry.]

I suspect many readers visit for specific posts and others are using feed readers for posts and comments. While the blog format is very flexible for information and discussion it’s technical restrictions are a little challenging for me to keep folks up to date on revisions and to highlight other posts of possible interest.

Index or Contents posts like this one [such as the alphabetical listing or the reverse chronological listing] will be cross-indexed on the Table of Contents page. Because it is a regular post, feed readers will be notified.

“Popular posts” is one such tool provided by WordPress.com. I doubt that it is very accurate for actual readers but the relative rankings provide an alternative way to find items of interest. I wish there was a way to get the full set of data they collect, especially for the referrers (see http://cerebraloddjobs.edublogs.org/2006/09/30/referrers-in-edublogs/), to see what it is that people are looking for. This would help to revise information or add new information [so would reader comments and queries]. Unfortunately,WP.com don’t have a consistent way to present this data to blog administrators (asking for daily referrers gives a very different set of information than getting the weekly or yearly referrers. Same data but the presentation to the human at this end is patchy.) Notice how the titles are truncated, for example.

The ranking for 2007 is given first and then for 2008 (up to July 12)

[N.B. thimk] How effective will Alaska windfall rebates be?

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

[thimk, nota bene: my 2 cent opinion]

Senate Bill 289 would allow middle-income Alaskans to get grants and loans to make their homes more energy efficient. The bill is sponsored by Senator Lyman Hoffman of Bethel.

This will certainly be of help to many homeowners and to landlords such as Sen. Hoffman. I’m not so sure it can be effective in existing rental housing if landlords aren’t interested in upgrading. Bethel has no minimum standards for housing safety, even though it collects taxes on rentals. Thus, even “new” housing -may never become more economic for tenants [moldy or lacks insulation or is packed with electrical heating tape because the rehabbed ASHA (Alaska State Housing Authority) buildings don’t have reality-based pipe systems (this is a cold region, folks, without standards for the flush-haul system of water delivery and sewage pick-up)]

True Voices left an interesting comment at an APRN.org story on the Alaska senate bill to give rebates to make middle-income homes “greener”.

I hope that this bill will also help in moving up or move away from the ever eroding river banks… very old wiring, old paper style plywoods, all windows cracked & drafty, etc. And can’t QUALIFY to fix or get a livable dwelling, still trying to be independent.

The comment is a succinct summary of what many face. If communities must be moved, the entire community is best moved together (the Davis Inlet to Natuashish incremental move had problems, especially for the older people, Remaining Innu of Davis Inlet feeling Abandoned). But TrueV points out what many individuals also face– imminent house collapse. The “home equity mortgage” bad loans do not work in many parts of the rural areas (housing may be expensive but it isn’t worth much as collateral). Older people in rural and frontier areas frequently don’t have excess/any retirement income. As in Bethel, there may not be any elder housing for 100s of miles (not even for assisted living or nursing homes). Weatherization and rehab funding often works best for situations outside of rural and remote places, with greater population density and civic resources.

The regulations written for emergency housing and relocation at the federal level (e.g., assistance from USDA Rural Development or Natural Resources Conservation Service) haven’t yet been translated into terms that allow rural areas to receive funding. For example, Homeland Security and Army Corps money might be applied if a highway collapse cuts off a town from its grocery stores. But we haven’t yet pointed out how collapsed stairways or river channel siltation also does the same thing, to the same proportion of people, even though the groceries are hunted. Electrical systems are critical homeland infrastructure– whether on a household or a city basis; the relative impact is the same. The applied funding and expertise isn’t. The long-term costs of not attending to adequate housing are so much more than the short-term expenses.

Thus, house by house a community melts into the river and initiates a constant family by family move into ever more crowded homes, ready themselves to collapse.

It may “take a village” to raise a child– a future citizen to assume statewide, national, and global responsibilities. But we don’t have genuine communities when older people must leave home or be trapped in substandard conditions.

How ever did the simple realization that a stitch in time saves nine become the regulatory: don’t call us if it’s less than a 500 million dollar or 500 thousand population crisis?

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Site Search Tags: USACE, Army+Corps, energy, weatherization, elderly, relocation, erosion, FEMA, HUD, opinion, APRN.org, emergency, USDA, NRCS, legislation, aging+in+place, climate+change, Davis+Inlet, Innu, Canada, Natuashish, note+bene

Arctic ice pack difficult to “heal” massive Beaufort fractures

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

click to enlarge

I mentioned this in a comment at Where is… Bethel ice pack but the images are important. One of the significant aspects to this on-going event is that it indicates the lengthy homeostatic process– that is, adjustments by the physical environment to environmental change are not immediate. The lack of a land-fast sea ice will have consequences for the cultural and biological systems. Last year the city of Barrow had large-scale erosion and storm damage.

Eventually a new homeostasis will be reached but it may be difficult for the day to day living. I think this image of a relatively small phenomenon helps to comprehend the enormity of the environmental systemic change we are undergoing. [Let’s hope. Governing bodies, one of our collective means of adapting to change, haven’t responded in the previous decade(s)]

If anyone can express this better than I can (or interpret the images better) please do. Does anyone know if the energy involved in the ice pack has been compared to the energy involved in hurricane Katrina?

In December 2007, a massive fracture of the Beaufort Ice pack was observed west of Banks island. The image above clearly shows this fracture.

This is the daily image of the ice fractures (from NOAA via Environment Canada)

Read the story here

• http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/01/15/science-beaufort-ice.html

David Barber, a climate scientist with the University of Manitoba, said the central ice pack normally moves away from the coast during the winter as coastal ice expands and pushes it into the sea. But usually when this occurs, there is enough old ice in the central ice pack to resist the coastal ice.

That’s not the case this year, said Barber, who noted coastal ice pushed by high pressure systems has sent the central ice pack deep into the Beaufort Sea and towards Siberia, creating a massive fissure.

Related posts
Animated Arctic ice retreat for 2007: watch the melt rushing by
Where is Bethel… 2040
Where is… breakup freezeup

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Site Search Tags: ice+pack, Arctic, Barrow, Beaufort+Sea, Katrina, NOAA, Environment+Canada, CBC, satellite, Prudhoe, Mackenzie, Melt+Rush, polar, sea+ice, climate+change

Briefs 5 (biocultural factors, flu science, soap)

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

//engtech at Internet Duct Tape has a variety of useful tools for productive research, one of which is to automatically bundle together stuff he has noted elsewhere for a weekly post at his blog. I haven’t quite mastered this yet in a way most useful to you the readers. These “Briefs” are one way to note items I think are of interest but to which I can’t add anything new or useful enough for a separate post.

A new technique is to make use of my del.icio.us account regularly to add newsclips specifically for this web log. Check the new sidebar entry (or for Microsoft Internet Explorer users, check somewhere near the bottom) called FYI brief newsclips of relevance which presents the last 5 or so found items. Clicking the title or a specific item will take you to the entry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seeing like an Inuit family: The relationship between house form and culture in northern Canada
Peter C. Dawson (pages 113-135)

Abstract:
In his classic essay Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo, Marcel Mauss argued that a strong relationship exists between the spatial organisation of traditional Inuit house forms and the social morphology of the families they shelter. These observations anticipate later works in anthropology that examine how cultural processes are reflected in, and sustained by, the built environment. Such ideas are important when considering the effects of post-war housing programs on Inuit families in the Canadian Arctic. During the 1960s, attempts were made to restructure the routines of Inuit families through Euro-Canadian architecture and home economics classes. Recent ethnographic observations of Inuit households in operation, however, reveal that many continue to use their houses in traditional ways. By doing so, Inuit families are attempting to adapt to dwellings designed around another culture’s concept of homemaking and family life. Mauss’s ideas are therefore a poignant reminder of the need to take cultural factors into account when developing aboriginal housing policy.

• http://www.fss.ulaval.ca/etudes%2Dinuit%2Dstudies/v30(2)Dawson.html

Scientists discover new key to flu transmission
06 Jan 2008 18:00:16 GMT Source: Reuters
By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Flu viruses must be able to pick a very specific type of lock before entering human respiratory cells, U.S. researchers said on Sunday, offering a new understanding of how flu viruses work…. Shape difference may explain why humans can get bird flu from a bird and not pass it along easily to other humans, he said.

So far, the bird flu virus has found a way to bind only to the cone-shaped structures in human upper airways. The virus has already killed 216 people and infected 348 people in 14 countries, according to the World Health Organization.

But the study found that the most infectious human flu viruses bind with the umbrella-shaped receptors in the upper respiratory tract. […]

• http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03267645.htm

EID Journal Home > Volume 14, Number 1–January 2008 Avian Influenza Virus (H5N1) Replication in Feathers of Domestic Waterfowl
Yu Yamamoto, Comments to Author Kikuyasu Nakamura, Masatoshi Okamatsu, Manabu Yamada, and Masaji Mase

Abstract
We examined feathers of domestic ducks and geese inoculated with 2 different avian influenza virus (H5N1) genotypes. Together with virus isolation from the skin, the detection of viral antigens and ultrastructural observation of the virions in the feather epidermis raise the possibility of feathers as sources of infection.

• http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/1/149.htm

Global Patterns in Seasonal Activity of Influenza A/H3N2, A/H1N1, and B from 1997 to 2005: Viral Coexistence and Latitudinal Gradients Brian S. Finkelman, Cécile Viboud, Katia Koelle, Matthew J. Ferrari, Nita Bharti, Bryan T. Grenfell

Abstract
Despite a mass of research on the epidemiology of seasonal influenza, overall patterns of infection have not been fully described on broad geographic scales and for specific types and subtypes of the influenza virus. Here we provide a descriptive analysis of laboratory-confirmed influenza surveillance data by type and subtype (A/H3N2, A/H1N1, and B) for 19 temperate countries in the Northern and Southern hemispheres from 1997 to 2005, compiled from a public database maintained by WHO (FluNet). Key findings include patterns of large scale co-occurrence of influenza type A and B, interhemispheric synchrony for subtype A/H3N2, and latitudinal gradients in epidemic timing for type A. These findings highlight the need for more countries to conduct year-round viral surveillance and report reliable incidence data at the type and subtype level, especially in the Tropics.

• http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0001296

Can We Turn Garbage Into Energy? The pros and cons of plasma incineration. By Brendan I. Koerner Updated Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008

• http://www.slate.com/id/2181083/fr/rss/

This is a really good questions and answer–
Should We Throw Hazardous Waste Into Volcanoes? An answer to the Explainer’s 2007 Question of the Year. By Daniel Engber Posted Friday, Jan. 4, 2008

• http://www.slate.com/id/2181280/fr/rss/

Last year’s leftover question was good, too Can soap get dirty, or is it self-cleaning because it’s soap? Bar soap is good, even if Local health agencies and inspectors are sometimes more wary of [public] bar soap. They either ban it outright or suggest that the bar be placed on a draining rack to dry out between washings. (The gooey bars are more likely to harbor germs.) And they have a link to a new resource for handwashing, Hand Hygiene Resource Center of the Saint Raphael Healthcare System, in New Haven, Connecticut

• Revised Fire Hazard Rulings
  http://www.handhygiene.org/Fire_Hazard_Issues.asp

Plastic bags are killing us By Katharine Mieszkowski

The most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth, the lowly plastic bag is an environmental scourge like none other, sapping the life out of our oceans and thwarting our attempts to recycle it…. Dr. Richard Bailey, executive director of the institute, is most concerned about the bags that get waterlogged and sink to the bottom. “We have a lot of animals that live on the bottom: shrimp, shellfish, sponges,” he says. “It’s like you’re eating at your dinner table and somebody comes along and throws a plastic tarp over your dinner table and you.”

… The plastic bag is an icon of convenience culture, by some estimates the single most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth, numbering in the trillions. They’re made from petroleum or natural gas with all the attendant environmental impacts of harvesting fossil fuels. One recent study found that the inks and colorants used on some bags contain lead, a toxin. Every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags after they’ve been used to transport a prescription home from the drugstore or a quart of milk from the grocery store. It’s equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil. […]

• http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/?acquire

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Site Search Tags: cultural+factors, anthropology, Inuit, housing, relocation, erosion, archaeology, aboriginal, virus, garbage, solid+waste, waste+to+energy, recycle, soap, handwashing, hands, Slate.com, HazMat, hand+rub, hand+gel, Purell, hygiene, newsclips, del.icio.us/hlthenvt, Salon.com, trash

Blog Action Day, even in small things considered

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

Blog Action Day is October 15, 2007 for the environment.

• http://blog.blogactionday.org/

One of my clan forebears watched spiders thoughtfully. If E-mail the Governor doesn’t work to initiate action on erosion, preparedness, biocultural science, maybe a network will.

This little spider made a home in the spruce which has been sitting on the porch all summer. The spruce is about 5 years in the pot, maybe 10 – 15 years old. Yes, that’s late first snow out the window.

repairing the subsistence trap

This tree is “bonsaied” and during the season of not summer, must be watered daily at the sink. Yesterday the spider attached a corner outside the tree. I scooped her up and placed her back in the tree, where she quickly restored the setting. The tree comes from the mountains. These are imported annually by Dave Trantham for the elders and for later transplantation around Bethel.

There are lots of different kinds and colors of spiders, mostly small, on the tundra. The neighbor kids are afraid but I remind them spiders kill mosquitoes and should be spared. Mushrooms are another fascinating and varied tiny resident of the tundra.

The only other place with so many tiny spiders was El Llaño / Española / Okay-Oweenge Pueblo, just under the nightlight in my bathroom. The spiders were white, about the size of a small pinhead and smaller. Their catch was even smaller flying things.

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Site Search Tags: spider, spruce, tundra, Bethel, Alaska, Pueblo, children, Blog+Action+Day