Seven years ago, Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition was founded by a group of local community members who wanted to build a visionary and bold people-powered movement to demand much needed climate justice in the Interior, while healing the root causes of climate change: colonization and resource extraction. It is no coincidence that the launch of the first Alaskan climate coalition coincided with the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) where world leaders were tasked to create a pathway to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Before our coalition existed we gathered to stand in solidarity with local community leaders from across the globe, in particular founding FCAC member Princess Johnson, ensuring these global spaces would begin the end of fossil fuels.
Each year, as the annual COP is held, we are reminded of all the work local community leaders across the world have done, which parallels the most egregious failures of the global leaders at the annual COP gatherings. The promises of the Paris Agreements continue to be obstructed by fossil fuel and false solution corporations who celebrate their technological ‘solutions’ such as carbon capture technology, while the deep need for an equitable phase out of fossil fuels and Indignenous Rights are continuously sidelined.
“This year at COP27, we witnessed the Paris Agreement shamefully become a crime against humanity and Mother Earth. With big polluters and rich governments like the U.S and E.U failing to take responsibility to actually reduce emissions at source, they also have yet to provide direct funding to Indigenous Peoples and local communities of the Global South impacted by loss and damage from the escalating and compounding effects of climate change.” said Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network.
Seven years later, local action has brought us into alignment on real solutions led by FCAC and partner groups across the state. However, just a few weeks ago this work was thwarted by ideological politics, creating a parallel between local and global obstruction. On the brink of significant local climate policy, we’ve seen our local leaders do their best to interrupt our urgent actions. For nearly four years, members of FCAC and the community at large have effectively organized to develop a solutions based Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) for the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Despite the level of broad public engagement and popularity of the plan, fringe members of the assembly who are publicly opposed to climate action have taken control of the Climate Action Committee, abruptly dismissing all 6 of the highly qualified Climate Action Committee members and replacing them with a group of people who have an unclear level of commitment to seeing the plan through.
In alignment with our framework of Just Transition we are both working to stop the bad and building the new as we navigate the new realities of this critical local effort. Whether it's a worldwide agreement, or a local action plan, we cannot let our leaders continue to halt crucial plans. We must continue our efforts, as every organizing seed we plant towards action this winter will bloom into action in the spring. Speaking up to demand a vigorous Climate Action and Adaptation Plan for our community is our work because Fairbanks will not accept this failure of leadership and severe lack of vision.
Sign the petition for the Climate Action Plan’s adoption.
Share it with everyone you know. Make sure your friends and family are aware how much these local leaders have failed to protect us from climate destruction.
As the call to end fossil fuel extraction started many years ago, it too continues.
Our local elected leaders are not the only ones lacking vision as we continue to face the worsening impacts of the climate catastrophe. The Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority (AIDEA) and the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) are two public corporations owned by the State of Alaska that have a huge impact on how we move towards a Just Transition. These entities ignore public input, scientific data, and real world events while pushing their own false solutions such as liquified natural gas pipelines, a way to lock Alaska into continued fossil fuel extraction for decades to come.
Alaskans from all different sectors and communities have unveiled the schemes and mismanagement happening inside AIDEA and we are seeing this outdated institution meet its community organizing match.
AIDEA will have their last public board meeting of the year on December 7th starting at 12:30 pm. Alaskans will have the ability to publicly comment on any ongoing or proposed AIDEA projects such as the Ambler Road, West-Su Access Road and Arctic Refuge Leases or comment on any concerns with AIDEA as an quasi-governmental institution. For more information on AIDEA and how to public comment please email or visit badaidea.org
Meanwhile, the state continues to prop up the fossil fuel economy in Alaska through the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) which is focusing on funding and development of permanent infrastructure, the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline. AGDC has received over $480 million in state funding on unfulfilled projects while aiming to garner and spend millions more on old fixes to new problems. Like most state run institutions it is the responsibility of groups like FCAC to ensure public involvement in these impactful decisions as engaging in deep democracy is not a pillar of our state run institutions. If you want to help push back against another false solution you can email AGDC’s President Frank Richards at to let him know what you think of the project and lack of public process.
For more information on the project and how to make a public comment you can view our LNG Proposed Pipeline Info Sheet or our Facts at a Glance Sheet. To get involved with local action on LNG, email and