Day 4

Today, I tried walrus, moose, and a fish called Hooligan (also named Eulachon/Oolichan/Ooligan/Candlefish). I would love to overstate my love for exotic foods, but I think as far as Alaskan exoticism I'll be sticking salmon and sushi for a little bit (Japan and Alaska actually have longstanding tensions on a lot of their shared fisheries in the Pacific). As far as taste buds go, the walrus tasted like a fishy mammal, the moose tasted like beef that was too meaty, and the Hooligan didn't really taste like a fish. I sampled the walrus at my workplace from a colleague, and the latter two at a barbecue. The first two did not come as much of a surprise, but the Hooligan looked exactly like Maid/Made/Maed (the Bahrani name I know from my grandmother for a yummy fish we have in Bahrain). It's basically a really thin fish, with scales that come off very easily, and a very, very thin bones. Maid/Made/Maed is delicious, but it's not quite as cool as the candlefish as far as fish coolness goes. Candlefish is so high on oil content that native Alaskans would freeze the fish and use it as a candle. All three of the walrus, moose, and candlefish were served to me by people who hunted the respective three animals themselves. You are allowed to eat what you hunt, but not sell it, so most people share whatever they catch with colleagues and friends.

At the Institute of the North, we have been working on creating a pan-Arctic energy network. Currently, we are getting ready to take off for Kotzebue (a town two hours away by plane), to participate in the Emerging Leader Dialogue, which will focus on "Livable Communities and Human Conditions" to discuss the quality of living, and how to affect a status quo in terms of shaping institutions, systems, and processes. To be honest, I am the most interested in discussing methods of tangible change, especially in issues that feel like they are too big for a few people to make a change. There has to be non-idealistic way to create a generation that actually works towards environmental constructive development. A way that makes sure that people who only contribute emotionally are aware that "constructive development" takes quite a bit more than that. I am also interested in learning a systematic way of categorizing (environment and resource-related status quo) issues into a pile of "things worth fighting for and working on right now" and "things I believe in", because I would not want to deceive myself into thinking I have the full ability to fight for everything I believe in.

Through discussions with Chris at work and a visit to the Anchorage Museum, I soaked up a lot about the environmental history of Alaska. It is so fascinating, and I am sure that it is told on many places on the web a million times better than I can explain it, but I am convinced that I could be in no better place to learn how to manage energy and resources of a common land that belongs to a people. In a nutshell, Alaska's natives were gradually replaced by an expanding community of colonizers, which created actual corporations out of Alaskan common property. The native Alaskans were accustomed to a relationship of commons when it came to their earth and land and food. It was very moving to read their history, as they were ostracized from living on a land that seemed abundant, to a land that is owned by different corporations- which don't even employ a good amount of them.

It's always easy to sympathize with the underdog, so putting colonizer/native relationships aside, what struck me the most about the native Alaskans was their intellectual climate.The relationship of the natives to the land was one of subsistence. Subsistence is the action of maintaining your existence/activities/life at a minimum level. In my Green Engineering and Sustainable Design class, this was a principle of Green Engineering dubbed "Need Not Excess". Most of us would just think of this as "take what you need from the world". But, this is not "take what you need from the world" at all, this is "take only what you need from the world and leave whatever you don't need untouched". I truly think that when it comes to engineering parts and systems, this is so important for system viability. I also think it's vital when it comes to peace of mind and grounded-ness.