Arctic transformation

I think the oil boom in Wainwright Alaska will definitely make converts out of the Inupiat Eskimos who live there. They subsist largely off the bounty of the ocean. In one generation, a population of fish-eaters will become sugar-and-burger-eaters. Their health will deteriorate and they’ll lose their teeth. They have co-existed with the ice and tundra for thousands of years .. providing them with a precarious but steady supply of salmon, caribou and wild berries. Drilling operations will drive fish farther out to sea and excavating operations will plough-up the tundra driving caribou elsewhere and burying whatever edible plants and berries exist. The tundra never comes back. Shell Oil Co. hosted a kick-off event serving hamburgers and beans and boasting economic progress. Next they’ll be building roads, hotels, strip malls, bars, brothels and Burger Kings. I think the flood of strangers will turn out to be more toxic than the release of hydrocarbons.