ATTENTION: The decision today to okay the leasing of land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil extraction is much worse than you would think, particularly in its effect on the first nation tribe of the Gwich’in people.

Here is more information. 1/9

The Gwich’in people directly rely on the ANWR as their main hunting ground, which they have used for 1,000’s of years, long before Alaska was colonized. They hunt the Porcupine Caribou Herd (PCH) as their main form of sustenance. This is a screenshot from their website. 2/9

Link to learn more about their history and way of life: http://ourarcticrefuge.org/ 

You can sign a letter of support in the take action section to keep updated and follow them on twitter here: @OurArcticRefuge! 3/9

The PCH uses the ANWR as it’s calving grounds. Every year in June, the Caribou journey to to give birth to their calves in this pristine environment. Gwich’in people rely on this. Oil development will displace the herd and disrupt hunting. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/arctic/caribou.html 4/9

This will DIRECTLY effect the Gwich’in people’s main food source, threatening their very lives and spirituality. Additionally, the ANWR is home to millions of animals who migrate here and use this land for either giving birth or reproducing. Polar bears are at high risk. 5/9

Polar bears use this land to create snow dens for their young. These dens are undetectable by developers and will lead to the deaths of hundreds of polar bears already facing massive adversity. 6/9

In 2017, Trump admin slipped a provision into a tax bill allowing drilling in the ANWR. The Burea of Land Management released an Environmental Impact Statement about the damages of drilling in the ANWR. Here is the exec. director of the Gwich’in Steering Comittee’s response. 7/9

Here is a comment by Alaskan Senator Murkowski who has played a huge role in allowing this. I’m not telling you to publicly shame and attack her under this tweet, but I’m not telling you not to. 8/9 https://twitter.com/lisamurkowski/status/1295376842543767557

The ANWR was originally protected by Eisenhower in the 50’s. Fighting for this land has been a long battle of the parasitic and evil oil companies and ecofascist politicians. We cannot let them win. We must stand up and fight back against this. 9/9

Additionally, the thing that makes this so terrible is that there is no economic need for it. Oil prices are at an all time low. We don’t need this at all. Trump is doing it as a political play to show his unwavering support to oil and gas.