DNC Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis Holds First State Organizing Event of 2021 in Alaska
Thursday Night Event Part Of Council’s Effort To Build Strong Environmental Councils In All 50 States
Thursday night, the DNC Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis held its first state organizing meeting of 2021 in Alaska. The virtual event, which was attended by more than 100 people, is part of the Council’s campaign to build strong state-based environmental councils in all 50 states.
The event was co-hosted by the Council Chair Michelle Deatrick, and David Green, Council Vice Chair and Vice Chair of the Washington Democratic Party, and included local and state leaders:
Casey Steinau, Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party
Meda DeWitt, Alaska Native Healer and Public Speaker
Erin McKittrick, Director of Ground Truth Alaska and Author
Ceal Smith, Research and Policy Analyst, ALICE (Alaska Institute for Climate & Energy)
Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer, Sr. Project Manager, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
Kevin McGee, President, Anchorage NAACP
Beth Kerttula, former President of the Alaska Bar Association, former AK State House Rep, former Director of the National Ocean Council, EOP Pres. Obama
Anna Liljedahl, Environmental Scientist, Woodwell Climate Research Center
Guy Archibald, Environmental Scientist
Matthew Jackson, Climate Organizer, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
Barrett Ristroph, Ristroph Law, Planning and Research
Pamela Miller, Executive Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics
John Morton, Executive Director, ALICE (Alaska Institute for Climate & Energy)
Silas Tikaan Galbreath, Technical Assistance Specialist, Alaska
Alaska is often called Ground Zero for climate--and with reason. With 17% of the country's land mass, it is also on the climate frontlines, experiencing momentous levels of warming. Shorelines are eroding, permafrost is thawing and the harms to Indigenous and other communities are enormous. The implications for the rest of the country and world are both sobering and instructive.
The group discussed climate change and its impacts on Alaska, local environmental issues, and how state and national organizations can help support the Biden Administration’s bold climate agenda.
“The conversation with Alaska leaders was truly inspirational and incredibly productive,” said Michelle Deatrick, Chair of the DNC Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis. “We are thrilled to be working with this amazing group. The environmental and conservation movement in Alaska is legendary and we look forward to continuing to work with these leaders and other activists throughout the state to amplify the ideas they raised and to build a powerful and lasting climate council and movement.”
“Often forgotten, Alaska’s vast lands dwarf our nation’s three largest states, Texas, California and Montana,” said Ceal Smith, Research and Policy Analyst at the Alaska Institute for Climate & Energy (ALICE). “As the only Arctic state, we are also warming 2-3 times faster. Accelerating ecological change — loss of sea ice, permafrost thaw, glacial melt, coastal erosion, flooding, wildfires and more — has put hundreds of rural Alaska Native Village communities, our public health and urban infrastructure, at risk. The changes we are experiencing have big consequences for the rest of the nation. We’re grateful to the CECC for the opportunity to tell the outsized story of Alaska, and put forth our unique policy solutions from the frontlines of climate change.”