Grassroots versus Goliath

• Main Author: Dunaway, Finis
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Carolina Press 2021
• Subjects: Arctic; Gwich’in; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469661100.003.0014

This chapter traces how Lenny Kohm, Glendon Brunk, and the Sonoma Coalition for the Arctic Refuge gradually overcame skepticism to gain support from national and regional environmental groups, especially the Alaska Coalition, the Sierra Club, and the Northern Alaska Environmental Center. It explains how the slide show became a crucial part of the Arctic Refuge campaign—a grassroots effort to defeat the political Goliath comprised of the oil industry, the state of Alaska, and powerful politicians. It compares The Last Great Wilderness with previous examples of environmental slide shows, including Last Stand for the Tongass National Forest , produced by the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. The chapter includes stories of how grassroots audiences responded to early tours and the impact of Gwich’in involvement in the presentations. It also explains what led Lenny Kohm to move to the area around Boone, North Carolina, where he resided for the last twenty-five years of his life.