ALASKA


counted 60 bears. Now I think we’re hovering around 40 or 50.” I’ve only half-asked my question as to what might be causing this decline when his answer lands on the deck like a hammer: “Climate change.” Bruce doesn’t seem particularly scientific


in his approach, but his kind of experience must surely count for something. Having spent two decades observing Kaktovik’s sea ice, he’s certain that increased winds, warmer temperatures and thinner ice are making things harder for the bears. And in that light, he says, sinking the whale carcasses seems like an especially unnecessary move.


The edge of America A 35-minute flight west, Prudhoe Bay is the source of much of the North Slope’s traffic, as well as its wealth. It’s been that way since the late 1960s, but if Kaktovik ain’t pretty, then Prudhoe — North America’s largest oil field — is a carbuncle in the permafrost. Sometimes polar bears wander nearby, and I can think of few images more jarring than a modern symbol of nature’s fragility coming face to face with this vast gouge of unclean industry, the bears’ white fur metaphorically and perhaps even literally spattered with corporations’ black oil. Our plane touches down briefly in


Prudhoe Bay, where it’s another another


25-minute flight north west to Utqiagvik. Known as Barrow from 1901 until 2016, it’s the northernmost city on the mainland of the Americas, making it a tourist attraction in its own right, although the majority of its 4,500 residents (around 60% of whom are Native Alaskan) are involved either directly or indirectly with the oil industry. I take a walk around town in the Arctic


gloaming, willing the sky clear for a chance later to see the aurora borealis. Until then, a low, frigid sun hangs impotently above the horizon, providing enough light to make a pilgrimage to the coast, close to the confluence of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Standing next to a set of whale jawbones, planted in the black sand to make a macabre gate, the air feels insidiously cold. Ahead, the water is remarkably calm, appearing heavy like double cream as it slides off into an infinite mist. I listen intently, trying to catch the report of one of those ancient bowheads, but the only thing I can really hear is my own teeth chattering, so I retreat to the warmth of the Latitude 71 BnB, where generous owners Myron and Susan McCumber revive me with a mug of hot chocolate. The following morning, I head to the


excellent Iñupiat Heritage Center, a cultural museum and learning hub festooned with native artifacts and lore. In here, close to the


I can think of few images more jarring than a modern symbol of nature’s fragility coming face-to-face with this vast gouge of unclean industry, the bears’ white fur metaphorically and perhaps even literally spattered with corporations’ black oil


ABOVE: Polar bear walking past a pile of bowhead whale bones from the local hunt in Kaktovik


November 2021 99


IMAGE: GETTY


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