News
Dec 14, 2011
Oil drilling and the Inupiat people of Point Hope - in pictures
Royal Dutch Shell has been granted preliminary permits to drill off Alaska’s Arctic coast in 2012. The decision could pave the way for the drilling of huge reserves, but plans have been put on hold by legal challenges from the tribal government of Point Hope and a group of 12 environmental organisations. The fear of an oil spill has split the community, which must decide between economic benefits and protecting the marine environment on which it has depended for thousands of years
Photograph: Will Rose and Kajsa Sjšlander/70° North
People of Point Hope dressed in traditional parkas by the Qajamaqtuuk feasting ground. In 1976 the city of Point Hope had to be relocated several kilometres inland because of climate impacts. As the sea ice retreats further from land, heavier storms and land erosion has become a serious problem for villages along Alaska’s arctic coast. ‘In the last decades we lost 200 yards of land to the sea,’ says Steve Oomittuk
See the other 23 photos at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/dec/14/oil-drilling-inupiat-arctic-in-pictures#/?picture=382921476&index=21