HARDtalk On the Road: Alaska (Part 2) HARDtalk


HARDtalk On the Road: Alaska (Part 2)

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John Kerry. The last talks were back in September 2010. Now it is time

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for HARDtalk. HARDtalk is on the road in the far west of Alaska,

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America's frontier state. The fishing community here, big business

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and the US federal government, all of them are locked in a bitter

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argument over environmental sustainability and resource

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exploitation. It is the corner of our planet that is suffering the

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most dramatic effects of climate change. The climate economy that

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made Alaska reach, now threatens it delicate ecosystem. It presents

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America with a challenge. Is it ready to get serious about climate

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change. A tiny Inuit settlement in the far north-west of Alaska. Is

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clinging to a narrow spit of sand on the edge of the Bering Sea. This

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community is home to 400 indigenous people whose lives depend on hunting

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and fishing. These waters have sustained them for generations.

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Now, the dramatic one of the retreat of the sea ice has left them with --

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cruelly exposed. Thick sea ice used to protect them from the worst

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effects of coastal erosion but not any more. In recent years, the

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village has faced the threat of being washed away which is why the

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US Army Corps of engineers have built this defensive wall of rocks

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to keep the sea at bay. But it is only a temporary solution. The

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engineers themselves believe that the town could be uninhabitable --

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an inhabitable -- uninhabitable within a decade. Coastal erosion

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have left a handful of Inuit settlements facing imminent

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destruction and dozens more at serious risk. These villages are

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desperate -- destined to be America's first climate change

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refugees. Relocating them to higher ground would cost several hundred

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million dollars. Community leaders in the village responded to their

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plight by suing a host of big oil companies. They claim that they

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conspired to downplay the link between climate change and carbon

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emissions. The case was rejected. When you heard that the US Supreme

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Court was not prepared to hear your case, how did you feel?

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surprised. We failed in court but I think we have gotten, hopefully, the

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attention of a lot of people who need to be paying attention.

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Everyone is impacted. It is not just us, it is everyone. Do you feel that

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your voices are heard in Washington? That the US government now see is

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what you are going through as something they have to care about?

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They listen to what you have to say... But they never take any real

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action. They will put a Band-Aid on the situation, that is what all

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disaster responses are, Band-Aids. For now, it is a community in limbo.

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Clinging to tradition but with little to offer the next generation.

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Unemployment and alcoholism and other social problems are rife.

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Young people have little choice but to leave. Beyond the sound, there

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are no roads, just a vast expanse of Alaska is Arctic tundra. At the most

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northerly tip of the state, the town of Barrow. Much closer to the North

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Pole than Washington, DC. This is America is very own climate change

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front line. This year, the sea ice has been so thin and unstable that

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the whale hunters could not cross it to get to open water. The hunting

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season was ruined. For the first time in decades, not a single whale

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was caught from Barrow. The whaling captain has been left hunting for

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seal just offshore. Compare now to when you were a young boy, in terms

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of the way the ice works and what you see, comparing it to 40 years

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about eight, ten feet deep -- ten feet thick. Today, when it starts

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freezing it is only about one foot. It is more dangerous for the younger

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generation who do not know the ice yet. They are trying to learn.

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is the impact on you and your family, your community? As a people

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we have always depended on the whale for meat and the skin on the blog.

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It feeds us for the whole year round. No whale means a tough year?

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It will be a very cold winter. scientists say that this is going to

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get worse. That the ice is going to melt on a much larger scale, that is

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going to become more mobile and there is going to be less of it.

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What do you think the prospects are of your prospects and your life in

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the future? We will have to change a hunting tactics, we will have to be

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more careful when we are out on the ice in the springtime. It is going

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to be very hard to come from the ice in the future? Yes. Yes very.It is

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known as the Arctic 's science city, a base for researchers

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studying the effects of climate change. Out on the tundra, the thick

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layer of permafrost is boring -- flooring --... Is releasing a thick

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layer of methane. The layer of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

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could double increasing the warming trend. Out at sea, the Arctic ice is

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retreating at a dramatic pace. As less of the sun 's energy is

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reflected, more is absorbed in the water. In and around the town the

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warming trend is driving rapid change. As DCIS melts, it becomes

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harder for the polar bears to hunt offshore. Hungry bears now stuck on

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land scavenge for food ever closer to humans. It is dangerous for both

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men and there. Visitors venturing out of town are now required to

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travel with an arm to bear died. I had eased out of Barrow on and all

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the rain vehicle. -- armed bear guard. It is my last chance to drive

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across the sea ice without falling through. Scientists are constantly

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-- constantly monitoring the thickness of the Arctic ice cover.

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The results of the work showed that the ice is getting thinner and

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younger. Ice that last for more than three or four years is now a rarity.

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The total volume of ice has fallen by more than 50% in a generation.

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Some scientists now talk about the death spiral of the Arctic ice.

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Welcome to HARDtalk. Explain to me why it is such a big problem that

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the ice is disappearing. The polls cool the planet. As we lose the

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ice, the ability to cool the planet decreases. All the surface that we

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can see here is reflecting the sun back out, it is cooling the planet.

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You can think about a glass of water with ice cubes in it. That glass of

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water is going to stakeholder until all that ice is gone. The minute

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that ice is gone it can really start heating up. If you take that analogy

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to the whole planet, you have a planet with ice at the polls, we are

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heating up that planet at the ice is offering that heat. When the ice is

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gone, global warming is going to have a greater toll. Scientists

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claim that the ice in the Arctic, on the waters of the Arctic will be

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completely gone in summer I2030. anything I would say the models are

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very conservative. I am still in that 2030 came but if I saw it go

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sooner I would not be surprised. is the most visual indicator of the

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massive change that is coming to the Arctic but it is not all about the

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ice, is it? If you look inland there are very important changes to.

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active layer of the permafrost is getting larger, that exposes a whole

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set of other problems that we only just realising. Potentially, the

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release of this carbon dioxide, it is almost equivalent to the amount

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of carbon dioxide in fossil fuels. In terms of the climate impact,

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things could warm up almost twice as fast. You seem to be giving everyone

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watching us to have reasons to be alarmed. We can justify these

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numbers scientifically, we can be rejected -- objective when we tried

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to report it and yet they are scary numbers. Alaska 's role in the

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climate story is about cause as well as a fact. -- effect. As America

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warms it continues to be a vital source as a cut -- source of vital

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carbon fuels. Alaska's North Slope is a -- America is great as oil

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reserves. As the oil runs out, America is desperate to tap new

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sources of foreign oil. Offshore, the company Shell has begun

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exploratory drilling despite a chorus of protest from environmental

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groups. Those concerns grew louder when a rig ran aground off the

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Alaskan coast. Operations are currently suspended. The prize is

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too valuable to ignore, 13% of the world undiscovered oil and 30% of

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natural gas assets asked thought to lie with in the Arctic Circle. Look

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too HARDtalk. If you'll state of Alaska was a nation it would be one

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of the most oil dependent in economic terms in the whole of the

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world. Do you think that is sustainable? Americans consume 19

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barrels of oil per day. The forecast for that supply and demand is in the

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20 million barrels per day for the next 30 to 40 years. Where do you

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want that oil coming from? Do you want it coming from a state like

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Alaska where we take care of our environment, we comply with very

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stringent environmental standards... With respect, your

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industry does not have the greatest track record. Am thinking about what

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is happening right now. They have been a whole series of incidents

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occurring. A rig has run aground, the operation has been forced. The

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federal agencies say they are not fully prepared for the operations

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they have undertaken. The reality is there a 27 billion barrels of oil in

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the sea. And they should probably stay there. I disagree. We have

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safely drilled 30 wells in the Arctic. It can be done. I am

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confident it will be done. I am confident it will be done safely.

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Even the boss of another oil company in France has looked at the Arctic

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and said the risks are too big, a spill would do too much damage.

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Arctic is going to be developed. Who do we want in the lead? Do we want a

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country like Russia, who doesn't have the same type of environmental

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standards to be the first to develop Arctic oil? Body wanted to be the

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US? The indigenous peoples in Alaska are making a link between the

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production of fossil fuels in this state and the dramatic climate

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change that is affecting their entire way of life. CU in the oil

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and gas Association except that now, climate change is so serious

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that he will have the factory team to your strategic vision for the

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future? I think the oil and gas industry understands that we are in

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an ever-changing climate. We have to adapt. We are the leaders in

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technology to do just that. Do you accept that Alaska's climate is

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dangerously warming? I do not accept that. If you look at the data, it is

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not changing any different. Our temperature changes are not

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dramatically different than what they were. Look at the data from the

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past 25 years. Alaska is warming twice as fast as the average across

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the lower 48 states. I think if you look at longer term data, that is a

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short snapshot in time. Look at the trend, talk to scientists out there

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on the ice. They say it is likely that the Arctic will be ice free in

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the summer by 2030. What do those scientists say? Is it industry's

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fault really just a natural climate change? See you do not believe in

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man-made climate change? I believe it is a factor, but I do not believe

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it is the sole leading factor. think this idea of man-made climate

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change and its association with fossil fuels and the burning of

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carbon is a myth? I did not say that. If it is not a myth...What I

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did say was, as the climate changes, as it changes, we adapt to those

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changes. There are a few more potent symbols of dramatic climate change

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in Alaska than this glacier, far south of the Arctic Circle. This

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visitor 's centre was opened in 1986 as a viewing platform from which to

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see the glacier spilled into the lake. 37 years on, it is no longer

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visible. It has receded back around the corner, and continues to shrink.

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The dramatic retreat of this glacier has become a symbol of the speed and

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scale of Alaska's warming. For many years, it was something this

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state's politicians, and the nation, wanted to ignore. For now, that is

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not an option. In June, President Obama pledged significant action,

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not just words, to combat climate change. I refuse to condemn your

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generation and future generations to our planet beyond fixing. That is

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why today I am announcing a new national climate action plan. I am

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here to enlist your help in keeping the US a leader, a global leader, in

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the fight against climate change. A low carbon, clean energy economy can

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be an engine of growth for decades to come. I want America to build

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that engine, I want America to build that future. In Anchorage, the

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president's words were met with little more than a shrug. This city,

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this state, owes its existence to oil. Revenues from the industry make

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up more than 90% of the State budget. The oil riches mean the

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state does not impose any income tax. Every Alaskan gets an annual

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pay-out of around $1000. When it comes to balancing two conflicting

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pressures, a rapidly changing climate and the demands to expand

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the state's carbon fuelled economy on the other, their reasonable doubt

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what the prayer Richie is. Federal government knew that Alaska

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would have a hard time was it had a solid resource base to work. This

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man, from Alaska's Department of natural resources, says the state

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has no choice but to exploit the riches within. Welcome to HARDtalk.

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The reason an inevitable tension between the desire to exploit

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Alaska's immense natural resources and the desire to conserve this

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unique wilderness. You think the state of Alaska has got the balance

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right? The exploitation, we refer to it as resource development, is

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crucial to the economy. It is the only thing we have here. So when the

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oil industry says, we need the right to exploit the waters off the North

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Coast in a new offshore field, you have to say yes, do you? No. We only

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say yes if they can show they can do it in a responsible manner. The bar

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keeps getting higher. But the truth is, he do say yes? We do say yes.

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There has not been a project you have said no to. We have said no.

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Some areas are often limits. predominant mindset seems to be that

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it was the mantra of the Republican Party to drill. We need oil and gas

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exploration for the economy. We have enough resources to last for many

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generations to come. We have developed a permanent fund to

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capture some of that so that eventually it will help in the

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future. We are in the Department of natural resources. I am interested

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in the people of the top of this department like yourself are now

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seeing to yourselves, man-made climate change is a real issue and

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we have the factory team to the calculations we make -- we have two

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fact all it in. How would you propose that happens? People bring

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that up a lot, that when you are managing natural resources to

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provide for the people, how do you draw a line and say, we only want to

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develop this much oil, because we think that will contribute this much

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to climate change, and if we contribute any more, it will

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contribute more to climate change. That is an impossible determination

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to make. If I were sitting here with a group of indigenous peoples, where

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they see that their village, right on the water, is being eroded away

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because the sea ice is melting and the storms are much more ferocious,

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would you say to them, the fact that climate change is affecting you is

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not going to be factored into our determination to exploit our

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resources? You have got to ask them if they would rather ask shut down

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the pipeline and stop development. Will that help the situation? It

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will make the light off in their village. -- turn off. Within a

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generation, the Arctic Ocean may be ice free in the summer. This region

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is warming faster than any other on earth. That in turn they encourage

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more exploitation in Alaska, more carbon emissions, adding to the

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