Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait
by Bathsheba Demuth
In what is easily the best book I’ve read this year; Demuth’s Floating Coast is a deep dive into the ways that differing economic and social systems have shaped the land in Beringia. And in Demuth’s telling, there is a stark divide between systems that view the land from far distant centers of power as a resource to be utilized and optimized versus locally based systems where the hunters are stakeholders in the land.
In the first category is Russia and the US. These are specifically, imperial Russia and communist collectivist USSR on one side of the Bering Sea and US-style capitalism on the other. Under these systems, the land and the creatures who dwell within it are seen as resources to be managed and turned into profit—whether for the collective or for financial shareholders. Either way, the name of the game is short-term optimization of the land—not long-term sustainability.
This is in direct contrast to the native communities, who have hunted the land for thousands of years and are stakeholders and stewards of the place. As is well-known, arctic peoples survive mainly on meat. You can’t grow vegetables in the far north and so the peoples there have developed a culture that revolves around hunting animals. This practice revolves around elaborate customs and beliefs that result in hunting that is sustainable and fair. That means, that people don’t take more than they can use (and they use the entire animal). Even now, on federally managed lands, native communities are permitted to hunt walruses. Hunting in Alaska is highly regulated, but as I was told by our guide (an Alaskan big game hunter himself) man remains the walruses’ main predator.
“The government can’t exactly dictate to the native people how and what they can eat when they’ve been hunting here for thousands of years. That would be colonialist.”
I was particularly interested in her focus on energy. As she puts it, “to be alive is to take a place in a chain of conversions.” For Beringians—the Chukchi, Iñupiat, and Yupik —creatures/minerals/ice the world were not transferable sources of profit-- but part of an interconnected world to which they were a part. To which they depended on for survival. Mutual inter-dependence and co-survival. I was really interested in the traditional myths she described in which humans become walruses or whale come forth to be killed when they felt the humans were worthy and deserving of their offering.
The writing is very beautiful. Nature listed it as one of their top science reads the year it came out and I think it has also won writing awards. It is an extraordinary book.
From the New York Times review: “To be alive means taking up our place in a chain of conversions,” Demuth reminds us. “In order to live, something, some being, is always dying.” After centuries of humans’ industrial energy consumption, what will be next to go? This summer, Alaska had its hottest days ever recorded. Seas are rising, habitats are disappearing, and extreme weather events are on the rise. As people act, the climate reacts. Only by understanding that link might we survive.
Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea and Human Life
by George Monbiot
In one of the more memorable moments in this book, Monbiot is living with the Turkana people in northern Kenya, Investigating assaults on them by governmental bodies, he befiends a young man and spends time with him off and on over the course of a few years. There is a moment where he feels envy for his friend, whose life is so interwoven with the people of his village and the surrounding environment. Monbiot says that if given the choice at birth to have been born into his life or the life of his nomadic friend, if the choice entailed flourishing in both lives, he would choose that of his friend. He says he is not alone and recounts stories of colonialists in America who were kidnapped in their youth by native peoples. Later ransomed, the men made every effort to return to the native tribes where life was fuller. For all our riches we don't seem happy, he makes the point.
"Rewilding or Conservation?
Rewilding is the restoration of significant areas of land (and sea) in which natural processes are left to shape ecosystems on their own, without human interference. The goal of rewilding is not to reach a predetermined endpoint or ideal ecosystem. George Monbiot contrasts this with the traditional conservation approach, which, according to him, simply keeps the land in a state of heavily managed degradation. He argues that this is partly because we have a false idea of what nature should look like, one that is based on a memory of what these habitats were like in our youth (‘shifting baseline syndrome')." From Mossy Earth
A similar debate went on about the restoration of Chartres. Do we arbitrarily pick a point in time and define that as "original, pristine" or do we let the building age and try to allow for those human and natural changes with a view of minimal interference. See my essay here
This is what is interesting about Monbiot. He is not calling for a return from an imagined time. He is not asking for people to be turned off land, if the land is healthy and productive. What he is calling for is a different relationship between people and the land. One that will be healthier for the people, who are, he says, ecologically bored: “As our lives have become tamer and more predictable, as the abundance and diversity of nature have declined, as our physical challenges have diminished to the point at which the greatest trial of strength and ingenuity we face is opening a badly designed packet of nuts, could these imaginary creatures have brought us something we miss?”
We are not going back to the Stone Age, but....
Is online shopping a repressed urge to forage? And what of our obsession with "clean" food and celebrity chefs?
I do think Monbiot is the most realist thinker we have talking about these issues because he speaks in terms of pushing back and moving targets, which is the way to make change on this scale happen. To push back industrialized farming and land-use in terms of designated areas which are decided by a rationalist approach. This will mean what we already understand needs to happen: no to monocrops in order to save soil health, no to industrialized animal industry but also a hard look at traditional forms, aka sheep. A local focus, a kind of terroir thinking, will necessarily view the land as part of an ecosystem, instead of as capital and that will enable the inter-relational aspects of ecosystems to be better understood since it will be a focus on a particular place. In another wonderful book I recently read by Winifred Bird about foraging and hand-crafted foods in Japan, she interviews an artisan who says, if we live and make use of the land we will be much more apt to protect it, since we personally depend on it. The issues are huge and so I appreciate Monbiot having a laser focus.
The Whale and the Cupcake: Stories of Subsistence, Longing, and Community in Alaska
by Julia O'Malley
"Alaska’s cuisine is one part wild, one part shelf stable, ever practical, seasonal, and inventive, marked by cultural contrast, with ingredients ranging from seaweed to sheet cake to pancit to Tang."
This is a very special book, which I purchased at the anchorage museum and that I will treasure forever. The writing is so lively and engaging and the book is so beautifully produced! It opens with a really evocative chapter on box cake mixes (!!) I bet you didn't see that come? Talking about how in Alaska people rely on cake mixes, O'Malley engagingly describes how people love to pimp up their cakes--like Betty Crocker cake mixes adorned with salmon berries and dolce de Leche. You can imagine how hard it must be to cook without all the ingredients were so used to in the lower 48 --and imagine midwinter in Alaska, especially outside of Anchorage! That was the first chapter and from there it goes on to fishing in the Kenai River-- the most democratic fishing spot in the US-- to spam musubi which I was so surprised to read about! I loved everything about this book--and will treasure this one forever!
The Salmon Way: An Alaska State of Mind
by Amy Gulick
This is pretty much the perfect book-- gorgeous photographs, a wonderful title and engaging writing, it is filled with fishing stories and the latest science on salmon.
Why is Alaska home to one of the last healthy salmon runs in the world? In times past North America, as well as a lot of Europe was home to abundant runs. What happened? How did Alaska do things right? Well a big part of the answer is that what the fish need to survive their habitat remains largely intact. This is the same for birds (see Scott Weidensaul's new book).... and probably for most creatures. It is not a one-to-one species to one habitat but rather a multitude of habitats that support the entire life cycle of the fish from marine to river to lakes... with water temperature being crucial (this is becoming the big issue).
The title of the book, the Salmon Way, hints at another crucial piece of the success of Alaskan salmon: the human element. In dozens of really engaging interviews and stories, Gulick paints a picture of a traditional native Alaskan way of respect.
She asks one native Alaskan, with such a plenitude resources in your homeland, it’s easy to see how your ancestors thrive... to which the lady responds, "Resources? "Mountain goat and trees are not resources. We have relationships with the goat and the trees."
This difference between a resource and a relationship is paramount. How can you relate to lumber of copper wires or fish sticks? Those are resources. Trees and goats--and salmon-- are beings to which we are living alongside in relationships based on respect. In Alaska, everything is hungry someone else says. Bears, fish, eagles... people share the salmon with all those creatures, as well as with each other.
And the pact is this: Because Alaskans live and depend on the land, people traditionally did not take more than they can use. And they use the entire animal. It is a system that is self-regulatory, since if the animals are over-hunted, then people will soon starve.
Quote:
For thousands of years, Alaska natives fished, hunted and gathered as a way of life. Today approximately 130,000 rural residents-- both natives and not natives-- still rely on fish and wildlife, harvesting 18,000 tons, or an average of close to 300 pounds per person a year. Fish account for 56% of this harvest. There is no other places in the United States wild and abundant enough that a significant number of people can still live this way. Most of us are thousands of years removed from the way of life are hunter gatherer ancestors so today’s concept of subsistence is often misunderstood. To those who don’t live this way of life, subsistence can imply a mirror existence living hand to mouth, data day, and whatever one can Scrounge from the land. This is the definition of poor and some societies. The most Alaska to live a subsistence way of life considers themselves the richest people in the world, and they fight hard to maintain the right to continue the customary in traditional ways."
I think this is such an important thing to consider. I also loved this quote:
In today’s world, many of us have lost our connection to the land. We forgot what it means to live among fantastic creatures, jaw-dropping beauty, and real danger. We have forgotten that a community extends beyond our relationships with other human beings. But the salmon people in Alaska have not forgotten. They know that they are part of the community of fish, rivers, oceans, forest, and tundra. They share the salmon with bears, Eagles, seals, Beluga whales and each other they show gratitude to this remarkable fish that they have seen them through times of plenty and times of scarcity.
The happiest day in recent years for me was buying a pair of xtratuf boots in Homer at the Salmon Sisters shop-- and just when I thought this book could not get any better, there is an interview with one of the sisters.... whose Salmon Sisters Cookbook and Whales and cupcakes is also highly recommended!
And speaking of jaw-dropping beauty: her photographs! I LOVED this book!
Rhythm of the Wild: A Life Inspired by Alaska's Denali National Park
by Kim Heacox
The road to Wonder Lake.... is the path toward the Good Life. I got a copy of this to prepare for an upcoming trip to Camp Denali, never expecting such fantastic writing! The lyrical and evocative writing was compared by reviewers to Barry Lopez or Aldo Leopold. I would add Terry Tempest Williams, for its totally soulful style.... but add in a strong dash of novelist Tom Robbins... because the book is incredibly humorous and playful. Musical. 1960s.... !!! It's like a time slip.... back to a time when people really questioned "the program"... How did he retain his youthful enchantment with the world, curiosity and refusal to "get with the program?" How did he do it? Well, I guess he moved to Alaska...
"Forget success. Be a healer, peacekeeper, storyteller. Eat homegrown carrots and potatoes. Sleep in a small cabin; let the mountains be your mansion."
“Any fool can destroy trees,” said John Muir, another hero. What’s hard is to stand before the truck, the tank, the big machine, whatever it might be, and say “no more.” You’ve had your run. This is where the folly ends. It’s time to dig deep, get creative, do something new. Ride a bicycle to Honduras; volunteer in an orphanage. Pick papayas. Eat mangos.”
One of my favorite translations projects was working for a philosopher at Hiroshima University translating his papers into English. He worked a lot on the concept of "play" and Heacox's words below really resonated:
"Perhaps the most difficult work before us is to work less, and play more. Creativity is the key. Stay young. Live simply, frugally. Turn work into play. Find what you’re passionate about and do it with great gratitude. The money will follow, maybe. Be a playful worker, a hardworking player, a musician, an artist, a writer, a teacher—the best teacher in town.”
More than anything this book is about resisting "endless growth" and models of productivity and consumption... to just stop. I was humbled by it, since I know how much I have failed to live up to my own life philosophies, forged in my youth...Looking forward to reading his book on Muir and his earlier memoir. And speaking of memoirs, I loved how he mixed the personal content and the story of his life, as filtered by his time in Denali, with long forays into music, books and science.
Saw him on Ken Burns' national parks documentary in Denali segment... soulful.
Also:
Fantastic article in Outdoors: Baked Alaska: Surviving Aniakchak National Monument
Interesting article in the New York Times about the indigenous-big game hunting connection in Canada & AIVIQ: Life with Walruses, photos by Paul Souders
Macaulay Library Walrus Recordings