Defending the Arctic Refuge
"What kind of life are we really living if everything is for sale and nothing is sacred? My people's culture and those elders, they're not for sale. My culture is not for sale. If somebody else wants to put a price tag on it, that's their misgiving, and it's their inability to see what true value is. Because I think this is much more than just five percent of the coast. This is one hundred percent of my people."
-Dana Tizya-Tramm
Chief of Old Crow, Yukon Territories, Canada
Please visit the Gwich'in Steering Committee's page to learn more about the Arctic Refuge.
“There is no satisfactory substitute for the cultural, spiritual, and nutritional value that the Porcupine Caribou Herd delivers to the Gwich’in People.”
Bernadette Dimientieff
Our media has been used by organizations such as the Gwich’in Steering Committee, Alaska Wilderness League, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Bernie Sanders, and the Northern Alaska Environmental Center to advocate for the protection of the Arctic Refuge.
Footage we produced traveled across the country in an exhibit with the Wilderness Society, encouraging public engagement: https://www.wilderness.org/. It is also featured in a living map of the Refuge currently being developed by Defenders of Wildlife.
Our 22-minute film, “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins,” has screened at over 50 film festivals worldwide and received multiple awards, including Best Short Documentary, Best Conservation Film, and Best Cinematography. An edit we created for the Sierra Club and Gwich’in Steering Committee has garnered over half a million views online.