Caribou Rising: Defending the Porcupine Herd, Gwich-'in Culture, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [Hardcover]

Rick Bass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004

The eloquent voice of Rick Bass has been raised often in celebration and defense of America’s wilderness and wildlife. In Caribou Rising, Bass journeys to one of the sole remaining landscapes on Earth where the wild is entirely untrammeled—Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where great caribou herds gather, calve, and migrate, and where the ancient bond between animals and human hunters still informs daily life.
As the Bush administration was pressuring Congress to open the Refuge to oil drilling, Bass traveled to Arctic Village to join the native Gwich-‘in in their annual caribou hunt. He wanted to witness and report on what we all stand to lose if that comes to pass.
Caribou Rising details Bass’s time hunting as well as talking with the Gwich-‘in and their leaders, and offers his reflections on the profound differences between that culture and our own, and on the ancient physical and spiritual connection between the Gwich-‘in and the caribou.
Those who read this extraordinary testament to the Refuge, the caribou, and the Gwich-‘in will come to appreciate the interconnectedness of all three, and cannot help but be inspired to make a stand in their defense.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this poetic cri de coeur, Bass (The Book of the Yaak) turns his focus to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He visited there to join the Gwich-'in tribe in its annual hunt for the life-sustaining caribou—as the Bush administration pressured Congress to open the herd's traditional calving grounds to oil drilling. This bittersweet account of his stay conveys a profound appreciation for the immense, unblemished majesty of one of the few almost untouched landscapes on Earth; an eye-opening understanding of the intimate spiritual and physical connection, stretching back as much as 10,000 years, between the scattered Gwich-'in tribes and the migrant caribou; and an unexpected respect for how tribal elders and a young generation of activists in Arctic Village (pop. 150) have developed a media-savvy offense against "predatory" Alaskan politicians desperate to drill for a few months' worth of petroleum. Bass is no starry-eyed optimist arguing abstractly for the environment; he concludes his emotional defense of the Gwich-'in uncertain that the preservation of a precious, ancient way of life is possible. But this eloquent narrative holds out hope.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where corporate and governmental interests want to drill for oil, is the homeland of the Gwich'in, "people of the caribou," a group that has lived on this harsh land and hunted its animals for 20,000 years, making the ongoing debate over the preservation of the refuge as much a human rights issue as an environmental concern. Bass, a well-known, profoundly expressive writer, traveled to Arctic Village to get a sense of what's at stake. He couldn't be a better emissary. Not only is Bass a hunter and a lover of pristine terrains, he has also worked as an oil and gas geologist. In his knowledgeable, impassioned, and involving inquiry, he describes the stark beauty of the tundra (home to numerous animal species), profiles savvy and resilient individuals determined to protect the Gwich'in way of life, and explains the damage done by oil-drilling operations. Ultimately, Bass asks, which is worth more to humankind, an insignificant amount of oil (more could be conserved with improved fuel economy standards) or an ancient culture and a glorious ecosystem? Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books; 1 edition (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578051142
• ISBN-13: 978-1578051144
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Animal Rights

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars love and courage in Arctic Alaska, December 30, 2004

By 

Mark S. Caponigro (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Caribou Rising: Defending the Porcupine Herd, Gwich-'in Culture, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Hardcover)

The fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has weighed heavy with me for some time now. One of my first reactions to the disaster of November 2 was to buy and read Subhankar Banerjee's "Seasons of Life and Land," a true masterpiece, including not only his own magnificent photographs of ANWR, but also helpful and fascinating commentaries by a number of environmentalists and scientists and other thoughtful visitors to the region. Rick Bass's "Caribou Rising" is a perfect companion to Banerjee's book. At base it is a travel memoir, in which Bass shares the experience of his visit to the Gwich'in community of Arctic Village, his impressions of the residents, and especially his joining some Gwich'in hunters on an expedition in search of their sacred, life-sustaining caribou. "Nature writing" in general is not a genre that impresses me much; but Bass's account of this up-river journey in a questionable boat with his finely drawn hosts is truly fascinating. (Bass is frankly a hunter and a carnivore. Those are issues that tend to divide environmentalists. Hopefully we may look beyond them for now to the very important values that we share.) Interwoven in this memoir are two major strands. First is that of the folly of the Bush/Cheney project to drill for oil in the coastal area of ANWR, the breeding ground of the Porcupine caribou herd, and the ignorance, arrogance and selfishness of that project's supporters. Bass, writing before October 2, argues eloquently that whatever this project might gain for us is despicably little, while what it will destroy is inestimably great. Even more important, though, is his other great theme, the integrity and well-being of the Gwich'in people, and the preservation of their culture. Since the Pleistocene they have been the people of the caribou. So dependent are they on the hunt of the caribou for everything important in their lives, that it seems true to agree that they and the caribou are one. Already as a result of global warming, the caribou population is under great stress. The intrusion of Dick Cheney's friends into the breeding ground in ANWR seems likely to make the caribou's persistence in this region highly doubtful. And if the caribou disappear, so does the ancient love and life of the Gwich'in. It is terrificly inspiring to read Bass's words on all the Gwich'in are doing to defend themselves, the caribou and the land, at home in Alaska, in Washington, and around the world. This story is not over; and it touches every one of us.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, June 26, 2010

By 

Dr Dave - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caribou Rising: Defending the Porcupine Herd, Gwich-'in Culture, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Hardcover)

A glimpse of the Gwich'in lifestyle and how big oil could jeopardize their well-being. Well-written, great read.