The Arctic Refuge in a Broader Frame

• Main Author: Dunaway, Finis
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Carolina Press 2021
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change; Gwich’in
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469661100.003.0013

This chapter explains how the Last Great Wilderness slide show transcends the narrow vision of the wilderness ideal to place the Arctic Refuge in a broader frame. The show reimagines the meanings of conservation by connecting wilderness preservation to climate change, Gwich’in culture, and fossil fuel dependency. Not every refuge advocate, though, agreed with this approach. Indeed, Edgar Wayburn of the Sierra Club critiqued the show for veering too far from conventional wilderness motifs and giving too much attention to Indigenous rights and US energy policy. The chapter considers how the Last Great Wilderness show fashions an alternative vision of environmentalism: one that combines wilderness preservation with social justice, that merges human rights with the more-than-human world, and that sees the Arctic Refuge as a portal to broader questions of sustainability and survival.