I don’t know who needs to see this today, but I’ve put together a collection of caribou photographs—all of the Porcupine herd that migrates every year to the Arctic Refuge to have their young.
Let’s begin with this aerial view of the Niguanak River. Photo: Fran Mauer, 1986. (1) Mauer estimates that there were 60,000 (!) caribou below him when he took that picture.

Here’s another aerial view—this one taken by Subhankar Banerjee in 2002. It shows pregnant caribou crossing the frozen Coleen River, and it's one of my favorite photos of all time. (2)

I'm grateful to @brdemuth for suggesting that this thread on the Arctic Refuge might be useful in teaching. I thought I would add a few more sources in case you want to introduce students to this topic in #envhist and other courses.

https://twitter.com/brdemuth/status/1295766960467255297

The thread (currently pinned to my profile) includes many sources, most importantly a map produced by the Gwich'in Steering Committee (@OurArcticRefuge) as well as links to several videos and articles. But here are a few more I've used before in classes.

https://twitter.com/FinisDunaway/status/1295705849831227393

With yesterday’s announcement that the Trump administration plans to hold fossil fuel lease sales in the Arctic Refuge sometime this year, let’s consider what’s at stake in this fight.

A (long) THREAD—with a MAP as our guide. [1/n]

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1295366672287764483

At first glance, this might look like any other map—with a dotted line to mark the border between Canada and the U.S. Yet look closely at the two curvy lines, for they tell the map’s true story.

Map produced by the Gwich’in Steering Committee, @OurArcticRefuge. [2/n]

Climate Justice is Racial Justice: On Fossil Fuel Development and the Right to Breathe

In reading this story about Trump administration plans for expanded drilling in the NPR-A, I am reminded of Rosemary Ahtuangaruak's powerful speech at The Last Oil in 2018 @UNM (1/4)

https://twitter.com/shankman/status/1276606782853578754

Ahtuangaruak had previously worked as a health aide in the Iñupiat community of Nuiqsut, Alaska, and had seen an alarming spike in patients suffering from asthma and other respiratory illnesses caused by the toxic pollutants emitted from the nearby Alpine oil field. (2/4)

"IS HE PROTECTING YOU?"

Poster by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), 1962-1964, with photograph by Danny Lyon. In a terrific article about SNCC photography, Leigh Raiford (@professoroddjob) writes about this poster: "The text … raises the question of whether this trooper defends the viewer against racial violence or if he is in fact the first line of terror. (cont.)

I look forward to reading @billmckibben's Climate Crisis Newsletter every week, but I was particularly excited to see the one that arrived today. It features @bernademientief of the Gwich'in Steering Committee talking about the Arctic Refuge struggle. (1)

newyorker.com/news/annals-of… A couple highlights:

"Many people are not aware that this is not just about protecting our polar bears but this is about the indigenous voices being ignored, this is about a whole identity, about a people’s entire way of life being destroyed for profit." (2)

"What side of history do you want to be on?"

With the Trump administration claiming that they will hold lease sales for oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge this year, now seems like a good time to reup this piece from 2018. #ProtectTheArctic

truthout.org/articles/arcti… It is based largely on testimony from Gwich'in leaders like @bernademientief and Tonya Garnett, environmental activists like @LenaMDC and @noel_johnny, and many others who urgently want to protect the Arctic Refuge from fossil fuel development. @OurArcticRefuge @ACaribouPeople

THREAD: Happy #EarthDay ! Let’s look now at one key factor, besides Covid-19, that makes this year’s celebration different from many that have come before: the kids.
#envhist #envhum Of course, children and youth have long been involved in Earth Day events and other actions. Yet environmental leaders and the media have often presented them as emotional props, as symbols of innocence and vulnerability in need of adult protection.

As the 50th anniv. of #EarthDay approaches, let’s look now at an image you would NOT have seen on April 22, 1970: the recycling logo.

It’s a story of Escher and environmental hope, of celebrities and greenwashing, of industry manipulation and—spoiler alert--#plasticpollution. It all started soon after the first Earth Day when Gary Anderson, a student at @USC, learned that the Container Corporation of America had launched a contest to design a recycling symbol.

With the 50th anniversary of #EarthDay happening next week, let’s look back at one of the most popular environmental icons from 1970: the gas mask.

Here’s an AP photo of an Earth Day protester in NYC, trying to smell a flowering magnolia through his mask: Earlier that year, Life magazine did a feature article on the environment. The issue began with a photograph of a woman pushing a stroller. Both the woman and the toddler are wearing gas masks.

Interested in Film and the Environment? Check out the latest installment of @EnvHistJournal Film Forum. It features reviews by @SaraBPritchard (Anthropocene), @jetayloriii (Free Solo), and @robgioielli (Cooked). Links and brief quotes included below. #envhist #envhum @SaraBPritchard on Anthropocene: The Human Epoch: "Aesthetics are never neutral. Many of the filmmakers’ choices . . . reflect and reproduce problematic—even dangerous—ideas."

academic.oup.com/envhis/advance…

I'm teaching a new course this term on Film and Environmental History. This week we watched New Deal docs about the Dust Bowl and Mississippi River floods (The Plow and The River) and finished with the animated #GreenNewDeal film narrated by @AOC and posted on @theintercept Students were fascinated by the ND docs and also enjoyed @mollycrabapple's illustrations and AOC's focus on climate and justice. We discussed science, storytelling, and ecol. crisis--then and now--and contrasted the racial politics of the ND with the GND's more inclusive vision.