Transcript

Episode 6: Life up North

Emily Charash (00:01) 
Hello and welcome to the final episode of my summer in Alaska. I'm Emily Charash. On this episode, I'm going to give you access into my International Relations of the North course. This course was so informative for me. I think living in Alaska for two months has shown me a lot about what life is like here and what matters when you're living up north. People talk a lot about climate change here and how that affects their everyday life. With more on climate change and other key concepts. This is the instructor for the course, Brandon Boyland. It was a beautiful day outside, so I decided to conduct the interview with my professor outside Museum of the North. 

Brandon Boylan (00:37) 
I am Brandon Boylan, and I'm an associate professor in the political science Department, and I also direct the Arctic and Northern Studies program at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. And this summer I am teaching International Relations of the north. We're a regional studies program, so we are a program focused on the Arctic and the Circumpolar North. And so if students are interested in that region of the world, which I think is a very exciting region because it's changing so quickly, we focus a lot on climate change and how climate change is affecting the Peoples of the north and the ecosystems complex systems in the north, there is a little bit of debate about what the Arctic is, but I think a very popular definition is the area above the Arctic Circle. If you go by that definition, you're really looking at in terms of the countries, you're looking at the United States by way of Alaska, Canada, Denmark by way of Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. But beyond the States, there are a variety of Indigenous Peoples that live in the high north. So at the Arctic Circle or above, there are, of course, the Arctic Ocean. And with climate change, you have these new sea routes opening up, so like the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route, and various people and companies or States are interested in using these routes for all sorts of different reasons. And the Circumpolar North has a slightly different definition. It just refers to the high north of the world. So not necessarily above the Arctic Circle, but I would consider us in Fairbanks a part of the Circumpolar North. Of course, like International Relations of the north is great for Alaskans and beyond because our world is changing, climate change is real, and we in Alaska, we are on the front lines of climate change. And where we see it, we see temperature influxes, we see permafrost melting, we see caribou Hurst taking different migratory paths. And of course, like this ideally helps you process what you're seeing in your own life. And while you're here, you learn about Russia, for example, and I know the military, but a host of other actors are interested in what Russia is doing in the high north, and a course like this would help you give you sort of theoretical tools and knowledge and concepts about how to interpret things that we're hearing in the news and witnesses in our own lives. So I do think that this is a course that's very much modern and on topic and important to process what's going on in the Arctic, even though I think Alaskans are more keenly interested in Arctic issues by virtue of the fact that we live here, the Arctic is slowly becoming more important to the rest of the United States because of all sorts of things, not to mention, again, like climate change and Russian activity in the Arctic. What we know is that climate change is happening much faster in the Arctic than the rest of the world. That is leading to all sorts of both challenges, but also opportunities. One challenge is how do people living in this region adapt to climate change, adapt to rising sea levels, adapt to permafrost melt? Permafrost is essentially frozen ground beneath the Earth's surface. And as long as it's stable, it's no problem. Like, remains frozen, it's no problem. But when it starts to thaw. Shishmaraf is a coastal community experiencing coastal erosion in permafrost tha. And it's a community in coastal Alaska that's literally like falling into the Arctic Ocean. You can look around here in Fairbanks, you can look at some houses that were built on permafrost, and that permafrost at thine, and you see these structures collapsing. Infrastructure is a really big problem all around Alaska. But in North Alaska, in particular, because of issues like permafrost, some of the climate challenges people face warming temperatures. There are a lot of our Alaskan communities that rely on subsistence hunting and fishing, and with changing temperatures and permafrost and different impacts to vegetation that's throwing off migratory patterns of animals and wildlife, like caribou, for example. So that's affecting subsistence hunting, because if people have to go further out to Hunt caribou because their migratory paths are different, then it's a real problem for them. It's a real problem for their food security. And again, I mentioned Shishmaref. I mean, it's like literally falling into the water because of coastal erosion as a result of climate change. There are also a lot of opportunities, like I've mentioned, if we could do it safely and politically stable, you've got sea routes opening up that can support transportation of goods, for example, Asia to Europe. If cargo ships and other sorts of vessels can navigate the Northern Sea route. 

Emily Charash (06:11) 
Where does Alaska situate within an international context? 

Brandon Boylan (06:16) 
It's an interesting perspective, I think, because the United States is an Arctic country by way of Alaska, but Alaska isn't connected to the contiguous United States. And so I think there are a lot of Americans that don't really know about Alaska and don't know about Alaska's geography in Alaska's politics. Dc is our capital, and it's a far ways away from the Arctic region. Right. Whereas if you look at a map, you'll see that Russia constitutes a large portion of the Arctic. And so the Arctic plays a stronger role in Russia's identity. And Russia draws a lot of its natural resources and supports its GDP from the Arctic region. And that's not really the case in America, although we're a huge power globally, we're not as a country interested in the Arctic as much as, say, Russia or Norway or some of the other Arctic States. Actually, the very first thing I would tell, like a prospective student who thought about coming to Alaska and perhaps studying at University of Alaska, Fairbanks is this is the land of opportunity because we have such a low population. Our students have so many, I would say, more opportunities to get involved in all sorts of things going on in Alaska, not to mention in Juneau or state capital. I'm in the political science Department as well as our ticket Northern Studies, and I've really never seen a motivated student who wanted to work in Alaskan politics and not be able to do so. Our students have gone on to be campaign managers for political figures, staffers for political figures. They've done internships in Juneau and not to mention being able to work at like, environmental NGOs and other kinds of organizations in the nonprofit sector. So that would be my first message is if you come here, you are going to have a lot of opportunities to be integrated into the culture and the politics here. No one does what we do here. Our campus focuses on Alaska and the Arctic, and you're not going to find, like I direct Arctic in Northern Studies at UAF. You won't find any other program like that in the country. We're it. You might have other universities teaching a course on climate change or maybe even the Arctic, but we have a whole bachelor's degree in this. We have a whole master's degree. And again, you can even do doctoral studies here. 

Emily Charash (09:04) 
Going back to climate change. What are some more of the challenges it that presents? How can you see it here? 

Brandon Boylan (09:09) 
There are a lot of people who have lived in Fairbanks and other places around Alaska who have endured much harsher winters earlier in their lives, for example. And so just anecdotally you hear a lot of people say the winters are becoming more mild here in Fairbanks. 

Emily Charash (09:29) 
What do you think the future of the Arctic is? What are some things that are going to change in the next? 

Brandon Boylan (09:34) 
There are a lot of people that follow the Arctic, and they have wildly different ideas about what the future is going to hold. I am very hopeful that the Arctic will develop in peaceful, cooperative ways, because what's fascinating about the Arctic is it's opened up as an independent region that began in a very cooperative spirit. So even though you have the US and Russia in conflict over Ukraine and other areas of the world, they actually cooperate pretty nicely in the Arctic. That's something to be said for do these bilateral relations, are they regionspecific? I think that's really fascinating. There's a culture of cooperation. There's a norm of cooperation. I will say, though, not to be naive or overly optimistic. What we need to do is treat climate change seriously. There's still an ongoing debate if it's even happening while it is happening, all of the scientific evidence shows it's happening. And although there are some people that think fate is sealed, I mean, I disagree with that. I think we need to act. I think rejoining the Paris agreement, for example, was a good move. I think we talk about mitigation and adaptation. So how can we mitigate the effects of climate change, but how can we also adapt to climate change? And I think both of those are part of the solution. We as a country in a whole world need to take climate change seriously and do what we can to slow it and to give us time to adapt to it. 

Emily Charash (11:25) 
Thanks to Professor Boylan, one of UAF's gems is the on campus Museum. The University of Alaska Museum of the North. Candidly, this is one of the most impressive, comprehensive collections of artifacts that really represent and tell a story of what it means to habitate in the north. I took my mom here. It just gives a good idea of what the history of this place and what it means to live here. Now, in the spirit of Northern studies, I welcome our next guest, the Museum director. 

Pat Druckenmiller (11:54) 
Hi. My name is Pat Druckenmiller, and I'm the director of the University of Alaska Museum. I'm a professor of geology in the Department of Geosciences here at University of Alaska Fairbanks, and I'm a vertebrate paleontologist, so I study dinosaurs and other cool critters from the Mesozoic era. 

Emily Charash (12:14) 
So what got you into paleontology? 

Pat Druckenmiller (12:17) 
Well, I guess the thing that attracted me to paleontology was a lifelong interest in both geology and biology. I could never decide which I liked more, and I found that I could combine the two by studying fossils because it really draws heavily on both disciplines. It's a great way to experience Alaska by doing field work. So we have to go drapes around the various wilds of the state looking for fossils, knowing what the rocks are like. And it's quite an adventure. 

Emily Charash (12:48) 
Can you tell me a bit about the Museum of the north? 

Pat Druckenmiller (12:50) 
So the University of Alaska Museum of the north, where I'll just call Museum of the north, is really one of the real gems, not just on the campus here at UAF, but in Alaska. Our Museum really has two major sides to it. There's what I call the upstairs and the downstairs. The upstairs consists of a variety of different exhibits and galleries that tell the story of Alaska's natural and cultural history. And there's a lot of really new, exciting things we've just recently put on display, probably the coolest thing is we just mounted a complete articulated bowhead whale skeleton, and we've now suspended that from the ceiling of our lobby. It's about a 45 foot long individual. It's an amazing exhibit. You can walk below it, on the side of it and above it, and it really tells a wonderful story of Alaska's natural history. But also the specimen was a result of a native harvest, so it's got huge cultural implications as well. So it's a great story. Now, the other side of our Museum is out of sight of most of the public, and it's the downstairs side. And it's really the beating heart of our Museum. 

Pat Druckenmiller (14:07) 
And that's our collections. Our Museum is home to the largest cultural and natural history collections in the state of Alaska, and we actually have two and a half million objects. And these are everything from art and artifacts, biological specimens and things. I like fossils that are housed in our collections. And these are really the basis for all of the kinds of research, exhibits and outreach that we do here at our Museum. And they're great resource, not just to researchers in this building, but across our entire campus. And, in fact, we are a major destination for anyone who wants to study all things Arctic from anywhere in the world. We have actually the largest collection, for example, of marine mammals anywhere in the world. We have the largest collection of Arctic dinosaurs anywhere in the world. And we have outstanding archaeological and cultural collections from across the state birds and bees and anything else you can think of that lives in the state. We also have collections. It's a really exciting place to work. We have a big team of curators and collection managers who help to take care of all these various objects. Yeah. They make their way ultimately upstairs in various forms through exhibits and outreach. 

Emily Charash (15:29) 
Can you profile, like, one specific either collection or exhibit or something that's exciting to you?

Pat Druckenmiller (15:38) 
Yeah. I think one of the really exciting things that's coming up that we're just now in the process of developing as a new exhibit on a really iconic object, and that is busy. This is the bus known as the into the Wild Bus. It's the bus that was the subject of a novel by John Krakauer and a movie by the same name. It's a bus that resided for many decades off into the Wilds, not too far north of Denali National Park. It has a long, interesting history, but the most famous part of the history involved a summer spent there by a young man named Christopher Mccannless, who unfortunately died in that bus that occurred in 1992. And then since then, the bus has been unfortunately, it's been really like a Mecca for many people, and a couple of people have unfortunately, perished trying to cross the Teklanika River to access the bus. Last summer, the bus was removed by the state of Alaska, and we became the new home for this object as the major state repository here in interior Alaska. Our plan is to develop this into a free outdoor exhibit. And actually it will be eventually located in the woods to the north of our Museum parking lot. 

Pat Druckenmiller (17:03) 
And the idea is to really tell the story. This one particular bus has so many stories to tell. It's not just about Chris Mccannless, but it has a lot to do with actually the mining history in Alaska has to do with a variety of different takes on Alaskan wilderness that people have from both across the globe and by local Alaskans. So love it or hate it, the bus is a subject of great interest, and we want to tell that story by providing a really broad view from multiple perspectives of what that bus is, what it means, and how it reflects life in Alaska. And I think it's going to ultimately be a huge draw to the campus to see this object just based on what we know of its significance internationally. We hold these collections in trust for researchers, for education, for outreach. It's part of the mission of the University to understand our state. And the Museum is just one of those different entities that does that. And our holdings kind of like a library. Our holdings of objects are the basis for many different research projects conducted by undergraduate, graduate students, as well as faculty across the entire University system. 

Pat Druckenmiller (18:39) 
So we're a real resource you can think of as kind of like a library, if you will, of data on the state's natural and cultural history. 

Emily Charash (18:47) 
Thanks to Pat. After finishing up with Pat, I decided to head back to my apartment and chill for the night. My friend's brother was in town, so I invited both of them over for dinner. For anyone that's coming to Fairbanks, this is seriously the most important thing you need to know. After 07:00, Walmart reduces the price of the rotisserie chicken to $1. So once a week you'll be catching me at 645, putting the chicken in my cart, walking around Walmart for 15 minutes, and then checking out at seven. So sometimes there's a line like, people get there early, get the chicken, because sometimes they run out before seven. So I would say get there at 645, put the chicken in your car, just wait till seven. So I made my friend and his brother rotisserie chicken is the point of the story. Here's Nate. Like me, Nate is just here taking classes for the summer. 

Nathan Candler (19:38) 
Hello, my name is Nathan Candler. I'm going into my fourth year, my home University of Cinnamon State University in California, and I studied electrical engineering there. I have a double minor in business administration in my medics, and right now I'm in Emily's room. I'm sitting in a chair. If you're looking from the door in the back left, it's a blue chair. 

Emily Charash (19:58) 
Who are we with right now? 

Nathan Candler (19:59) 
I also have my brother here. I've been very blessed that he was able to come up and visit me. So he's definitely sitting right there laughing at me right now. But, yeah, we're excited to be here.

Emily Charash (20:08) 
What are you interested in, and what do you do back in California? 

Nathan Candler (20:11) 
Something I picked up right before Ronald started was I really like bowling? I don't know bowling. It was, like, kind of big in my life when I was younger, and I kind of dropped it for a while. But then getting back in has been something I really appreciate, and it's really cool to just meet people. So that's like something I do think you left out. 

Emily Charash (20:25) 
You're very social. You are a very approachable person, and you make people feel very welcome. 

Nathan Candler  (20:30) 
That's such a nice compliment. I appreciate that. 

Emily Charash (20:32) 
What are some of the experiences you've had using that quality? Like here in Fairbanks? 

Nathan Candler (20:37) 
Yeah, I pulled up. I actually left school the day before I flew into Fairbanks. I was very tired, and just right off right when I got here, people were very welcoming to me. I don't know. Not to say I didn't anticipate that, but I had no idea what I was kind of getting myself into coming to Alaska. I just kind of came to cold. It was crazy. And so I showed up, and I had immediately met people. I was just like, hey, what's the best way to meet people? I figured just walking around and going into the social spaces in the hall that I live in, and I actually met two dudes right off in the first day, and it was really cool. I'm not a huge video game player, but that's what they were doing. And I felt like just putting myself in a situation to talk. I don't know. I was just over there, and I was just trying to be entertaining and trying to be cool and trying to get what they were talking about. I don't know. I don't really know video games at all. But I was talking with them. We were laughing. 

Nathan Candler (21:18) 
It was really cool. 

Emily Charash (21:19) 
How did we meet? How do we know each other? 

Nathan Candler (21:21) 
I actually introduced myself to somebody else. Julia. She's great. Her and her friend were in a lounge. So I just knocked on the door, and they motioned me in, and I was like, hey, what's going on? Introduce myself. I think I gave them my number, or they gave me their number, whatever. We were texting a little bit. And then later that evening, Julie, I was like, hey, Nate, you want to pull up? We're hanging out. Some of our friends are over at the suite. And I was like, yeah, that would be great. I'm just trying to meet people. So then I was like, yeah, give me, like, ten minutes. And I'll pull up. And so I went over to the location, and there were some people gathered here, and I was like, oh, this is great. Tons of new people, like, tons of new experiences to have. I met Emily at the party. It was really cool. We were cutting it up at that time, and we kind of just went from there and both doing active things. And so we've been hitting a couple of runs in the campus. Has some nice staircases that be killing me sometimes, but it's been entertaining. 

Nathan Candler (22:05) 
It's been really cool. 

Emily Charash (22:06) 
What are some positive experiences you've had here so far, either in Fairbanks or at UAF? 

Nathan Candler (22:13) 
I was able to rent a car, so I was able to go around and try stuff. And it's like very touristy here, but it feels like the locals also do the touristy stuff as well. I went over to the visitor center because I'm just looking for anybody's insight. I'm like, hey, what can you do for fun? What can I do here? As I was talking with the lady that was helping me, I was like, oh, that's very touristy, right? And she's like, yeah, but the locals do it too. And I found that really cool, that even though I'm in the city and I'm trying to do all these Jersey things, it's not like I am only with people that are not from here. 

Emily Charash (22:41) 
Like some takeaways from here or things that you've learned that you're like, oh, that's kind of cool. And I'll bring that back. 

Nathan Candler (22:48) 
Like a takeaway from my time at UAF. And I realized just being here because I've realized how many people are more talking, if you're willing to just make the first move, has been really cool. A lot of these people, they weren't talking in the halls, but as soon as they see me now, it's like, hey, mate, what's going on? And those are just people that I've introduced myself to. And just to take away is like, yeah, I definitely should be doing that at my home University. I should be doing that in all aspects of my life, which has been really cool for like, the Fairbanks aspect, right? I've been really blessed. Like, my two friends over here, Emily and Julie, is really cool. They invite me to do random stuff, and I'm just going to say yes to it because I want to get the story right. And so they took me out to this hilltop, mountain top, whatever the name was. Like this little concert that was just going on like a pop up concert. And it was really cool. What I realized and like a takeaway from Alaska, is that people are so much more accepting. 

Nathan Candler (23:28) 
It feels like I had no idea who I was walking into and where I was going, but people are chilling me being there. That's so cool because so many times in San Francisco, you have to justify why you're doing something. 

Emily Charash (23:39) 
Like, why are you something I'll definitely remember thanks to Nate for his personal thoughts. And now, as this is the final episode for this series I'm going to share some of my reflections from this summer. This past summer has been transformative, to say the least. I feel very lucky to have been a part of this community for two months and lucky to see and experience things I would have never been able to. I learned how to fly fish. I attended a concert on top of a mountain. I met people from all across America learning about how they think and live. I ate the best Thai food I've ever had. I dug up items buried over 100 years ago. I sat under a bright sun at 11:00 at night. I traveled to a native community and talked about life with their chief. I saw a Moose twice by my dad and I ate ice from a glacier. However, the friendships I've made and the people I've met in Fairbanks have been the most special part of my experience. My first week here, I was walking through the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center and I took a picture of a plaque with a quote on it. 

Emily Charash (24:42) 
I took this picture to see if I believed it to be true at the end of my time here in Fairbanks. I'd like to read it now because I couldn't agree more with it. The quote reads, Communities of Fairbanks, the people I've met here are some of the friendliest I've ever known. There's a sense of shared struggle unlike any place I've been. The diverse communities within Fairbanks blend together to give our town a warm, lively character, full of community spirit. Each group of people is strengthened by others and contributes to the rich cultural tapestry of Fairbanks. Together we are complete together, we are Fairbanks. And I think this sums up exactly how I felt this summer. My first couple of days here, I got the sense that I was in a true community and to my delight, I was welcomed. Living here makes you part of a special kind of club where everyone is welcome if you're listening to this podcast and maybe you are like me, sitting in your New York apartment, curious about the world, wanting to learn and meet new people, take my word to take the jump. Everyone deserves an experience like the one I had here. 

Emily Charash (25:50) 
Follow your curiosity and do something interesting next semester. Come to Fairbanks and see for yourself. I really want to thank the Fairbanks community for giving me a life changing summer and for UAF for teaching me a world of new things. I'd also like to heavily thank UAF's own the brilliant Marmian Grimes for making this podcast come to life and for guiding me through everything this summer. I'll certainly be back soon. Fairbanks thanks for listening to this episode of my summer in Alaska. This podcast is presented by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. A special thanks to producer Marmian Grimes and Samara Taber. Thank you to everyone at UAF for more information on the classroom that I took? You can check out uaf.edu.