We will not be intimidated
By Emily Withnall - High Country News, Dec. 1st, 2024
Reprinted with permission from hcn.org
Note from Hal Shepherd: I recently came across the following High Country News editorial which eloquently describes the frustration many of us who care about Alaska face as we brace for another Trump administration. Regulatory role backs and attempts to remove protections of our public land and waters will give extraction interests whatever they want. Like HCN, Shepherd Alaska will continue to speak truth to combat Trump’s “assaults on the land, on public health, and on the most vulnerable in our communities.”
I’m looking at a photo of someone’s house going up in flames. It’s one of a number of iconic images taken during the Mountain Fire, which broke out in early November and swept through suburban neighborhoods in Ventura County, California. The image is horrific. And it is also metaphorical: As Greta Thunberg says about planet Earth, "Our house is on fire." This really should concern more people. Statistically speaking, we are all at risk. And yet our former president and now president-elect promised fossil fuel industry leaders nearly everything they wished for if they would help him get elected. It’s just one of many all-but-guaranteed assaults on the land, on public health and on the most vulnerable in our communities.
Meanwhile, I’ve been holed up in Joshua Tree, experiencing over and over how heartbreakingly beautiful the land is, how it gives and gives. I’ve been drinking it in, absorbing it into every cell in my body and trying hard not to think about where natural resource policy will be headed in the hands of the new administration. I’ve been off the internet, beyond the range of cell towers and Wi-Fi during this time of fear and conjecture over what’s coming.
A full moon illuminates the rock-studded desert. It’s a scene ruled by contrast, and I hold this image in my mind next to the image of the house on fire, like a battle between dark and light. While there is no doubt that the election results will change much, there is much that will remain unchanged about High Country News. We will remain committed to science, to justice for all people and beings. We will remain committed to the belief that public lands should be stewarded for future generations. We will remain committed to exposing and opposing corruption. We will remain committed to civility, dignity, equality and respect.
We will not let assaults on what we value deter us. We will not be intimidated by lies and obfuscation. It’s more important than ever for us to be truth-tellers — to be journalists. To make every story matter for our readers and the communities we serve.
There are still a lot of unknowns out there, but this is what I do know: HCN will continue defending land, water and wildlife. We will continue to underscore the existential threat of climate change. We will continue to support Indigenous sovereignty in all shapes and forms, and to work toward justice and equity for underserved and marginalized communities. We will continue to cover the changing culture of the West, and to confront elitism and extremism. And we will continue to tell the truth, over and over again, no matter what. Because that is our purpose. It’s what we do.
— Jennifer Sahn, editor-in-chief