ANWR Special Report. (Univ of Connecticut)

The question of whether to drill in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has spurred writers and others concerned about the refuge to speak out. Thanks to a lot of passion and the availability of new publishing technology, their voices will be heard. 

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A book, titled Arctic Refuge: A Circle of Testimony, will be presented to Congress at a press conference on Wednesday, March 28, 2001. The book includes testimonies from such respected thinkers as Jimmy Carter, Wendell Berry, Rick Bass, Scott Russell Sanders, Terry Tempest Williams, Bill McKibben and Barry Lopez, as well as members of the Gwich'in Nation. The Gwich'in, Native Americans whose lives are still dependent on the caribou, would be directly affected if drilling were to be allowed. 

The essays come from a diverse group including global leaders, Native Americans, biologists, writers who live in Alaska, and writers who may never even see the Refuge. They write about previous experiences with Big Oil in Alaska and the probable impact  drilling would have on the ecology of the region. Caribou raise their young on the Alaskan coast and polar bears spend half of every year hibernating in the region¹s dense snow pack. The essays speak to the major issues of global warming, the need for a sustainable energy policy, the lessons learned from indigenous cultures, and the need not to destroy one of the last great places‹and one of the most fragile on the planet‹for what would be at best a brief and temporary gain. 

For many of the contributors, the struggle to save the Arctic Refuge (often known by its initials ANWR or "an-war") has come to represent one of the most pressing and fundamental questions of our time‹when and how we will finally step forward and begin the essential move toward a sustainable energy policy. In answer Bill McKibben says, "I vote now and I vote for the caribou."

President Bush¹s recent decision to roll back regulation of carbon dioxide emissions raises the stakes and gives the dispute increased relevance with  each daily commute. 

"Using the latest technologies makes it possible for these thinkers to join  the debate rather than have their comments come well after the votes are  cast," said Emilie Buchwald, publisher of Milkweed Editions, an independent press based in Minneapolis that stepped in to coordinate production of the  book. Milkweed¹s nonfiction publishing program, called The World As Home, is dedicated to literature about the natural world. 

The book, a paperback produced using "print-on-demand" technology, moved  from concept to completion in two short months.  The book also will be posted for download on Milkweed's website dedicated to literature and activism (http://www.worldashome.org). Additional copies of the book will be available from Milkweed (1-800-520-6455). All proceeds go to further advocacy on behalf of the Arctic Refuge.