- “When a
lone wolf howls it sounds distinctively alone. When a pack howls,
the sounds harmonize and mix until the voices of a few blend into
the chorus of a multitude. A call answered and passed on. A call to
gather.”
–
Lentfer & Servid in
Arctic Refuge: A Circle
of Testimony
That the call
will be answered is the hope of the new book, Arctic
Refuge: A Circle of Testimony, distributed in March to
President Bush and members of Congress. Co-editors Hank Lentfer and
Carolyn Servid had an unusual deadline: The Bush administration had
declared its intent to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. So the pair masterminded a breakneck, two-month
publishing effort. With 31 brief essays from writers and
scientists, poets and park rangers, Arctic Refuge is a forum for
arguments against drilling in ANWR; it brings the northernmost tip
of our country down to eye level, and gives an emotional
underpinning to thinning sea ice and caribou calving areas. It
offers a chance for those who cannot make the long trek north, to
get lost in the tundra, to lock eyes with a wolf, and to feel how
it is to live with the Porcupine caribou herd as a member of the
Gwich’in people. Arctic Refuge is a sequel to
Testimony, a 1996 anthology of pro-Utah
wilderness writings (HCN, 11/13/95). Copies are available in
bookstores, or can be ordered online at www.worldashome.org or by
phone at 800/520-6455. Proceeds will go to the Alaska Wilderness
League.
Arctic Refuge: A Circle of
Testimony, compiled by Hank Lentfer and Carolyn Servid.
Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis, Minn., 2001. Paperback: $15. 114
pages.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Arctic Refuge.
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