Yukon River Expedition : Media Project Outline

Media Project
The Goal of the Yukon River Media Project is to create new channels of influence for the public, in the public interest: it will harness the collective will and effort of the people of Alaska as an engine of change for public benefit. We will use the films we distribute as a resource to secure real change by persuading / influencing the young people within the communities along the river, and we will influence/ raise awareness of the specific issues that the communities along the river face within the broader global community via the production and distribution of the Last Frontier Eco Yukon River Film / presentation of the Expedition.

Background: The Issue: the local food security (1. salmon fishery 2. wildlife; moose/caribou 3. shipping costs(fuel costs)) of communities along the Yukon River in Alaska and the Yukon is being jeopardized by climate change: this is a cultural issue and an energy/ sustainability issue; which of course is a:
jobs issue
a health issue
a clean water/ clean air issue
a species issue (clean up/ preserve environmental habitat)
a climate change issue
a foreign policy issue
a rural community development issue: every community -- no matter how 'underdeveloped' can begin to develop their own energy with the proper technology. This is very relevant in Alaska where our entire state -- not to mention many of our bush communities -- pay extensive shipping costs to get mainstream goods from the lower 48 or our major hubs of Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. Please review this article: (Alaska Salmon may bear scars of Global Warming : http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-ichfish15-2008jun15,0,1723649.story?page=1%29There are lots of great solutions to this: align everyones practices in the direction of sustainability, capitalize on the benefits of marketing Alaska as green/ sustainable, and capitalizing on our unlimited renewable energy resources; develop rural alternative energy projects hydro power/ wind power, big picture projects like Fire Island Wind Energy Project / Mount Spurr Geothermal Project (many of which are being worked on now: there is a lot of state money that has been delegated to this; REAP renewable energy of alaska project (http://www.alaskarenewableenergy.org/) is doing great work).

The Catalyst: J.T. Hessert canoes down the Yukon river (looking for the possibility of a record) in fall of september 2008, visits local communities and makes connections with key educators/ community leaders. He carries with him a few top documentaries (like 11th hour film: www.treemedia.com) to share with the educator / leaders and their communities. After the trip with the help of a dedicated and generous team (to help us purchase DVD's or donate a copy (copies) of your organization's film: please email: jthessertracing@yahoo.com )he delivers into the hands of the educators and leaders a selection of powerful/ inspirational films that focus on leadership, youth empowerment, climate change, alternative energy, indigneous culture. The idea is for the key educators / community leaders to incorporate the films into their classroom curriculum, encourage the young people within their community to have an opportunity to be positively influenced by being exposed to these films. This will hopefully work to allow the inspiration and power of the documentaries to be available for future generations, and would allow our friends within these Yukon River Communities to become part of developing an active and empowered alliance of Alaskan leaders who are connected with the global community through the network they establish on the internet, and the Last Frontier Eco film/ visionary Last Frontier Eco Alliance work... all of which will contribute to building a foundation for a transformation of Alaskan culture in the direction of sustainability.

Prospective Sponsors / Contributors have a tremendous opportunity to have positive impact on Alaska and the Yukon as a product of becoming involved with our Yukon River Project: each individual/ organization's investment will provide an invaluable service by lighting the minds of rural alaskan youth on fire with the knowledge of the issues that are at the heart of our current global crisis... while providing the community leaders and educators the tools and platform to organize into a vibrant alliance which supports an exciting and unique project that makes available some of the most brilliant and inspirational social and environmental justice documentaries and films that have ever been made... to the rural communities whose lifestyle is profoundly impacted by these issues: these rural arctic communities serve as a figurative 'bio-indicator' in our global ecosystem for the effects of climate change and all the issues which interrelate to it.

The hope is to expand the horizon of opportunity for young people in Alaska, provide them with pathways to positions of influence so that they will have the motivation and power to develop into strong leaders who will help Alaska/ Yukon culture evolve in the direction of sustainability, while honoring our beautiful landscape's history and its ties with sustainable-modeled subsistence indigneous culture.

Catalyst part 2 :Additional: JT will take great notes over his trip (evolve into a book), put together a slideshow presentation for production post-trip, and attempt to produce an amatuer documentary film/ and / or library of interviews. Thus this project will spark systematic change: agitate change on both the local and global level: we will use the films as a resource to persuade / and empower the communities along the river with the selection of films we secure with the crucial knowledge/ interest of climate change, alternative energy, the importance of traditional native culture within the global setting... and the broader global community will have an opportunity to become aware of Alaskan issues and how they interrelate to global issues as a product of the Last Frontier Eco Alliance book/ slideshow/ film work that is produced from the trip. The hope is to use this as a springboard for other endeavors/ projects

The Goal: to enable the communities along the river to learn, organize and take initiative to ACT on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, sustainable future. (note that their is no model that is more sustainable than the traditional bush lifestyle model of subsistence living)

The Event: JT will canoe down the river, make the contacts with the key educators/ community leaders, share select films and arrange for the post-expedition delivery of more films into their trusted and capable hands along with

The Final Event: post trip and after the films have made their rounds (next spring / early summer), and JT has developed his film/ slideshow... he will collaborate with established local partners in Anchorage/ Juneau and Fairbanks to organize three Yukon River Last Frontier Eco Alliance mini film festivals where some of the films are shown over a two evening period in combination with the Last Frontier Eco Alliance film/ slideshow presentation of the trip. The vision is to initiate a self sustaining annual Alaska Film Festival: 3 productive events in our three key Alaskan Cities. We may include Whitehorse as well, for a fourth city. These mini-film festival events will raise funds for future Last Frontier Eco Alliance projects (from the slideshow) and raise funds (from the films) to be donated to help with an annual choice sustainability project within the Yukon River Village network ... the network that is established as a product of this trip: the key educator/ community leader whose community develops / is working on the most innovative sustainability project ... will recieve a donation from the funds that are raised @ the film showings in juneau/ anchorage/ fairbanks. This will be next spring/ early summer... The hope is for the Last Frontier Eco Alliance to gather new films for the festival each year, distribute new media to the village communities, expand the Alliance to rural communites along other rivers/ the coast ... and to each year produce a new Last Frontier Eco Film.

All of this will work to engage public participation, heighten awareness on the local, state and international level of the issue of food-security, climate change, energy/ sustainability in Alaska... and how these issues interrelate to all the challenges we face as a global community entering a new millennium bursting with limitless potential.

Our current Whitehorse departure date will be September 11th 2008. We plan on having a much more comprehensive and proffesional website established within weeks after the expedition has concluded. Thanks for your patience!

This is the list of villages/ towns on the river:
21 in total

Whitehorse
Dawson
Eagle city
Circle
Fort Yukon
Beaver
Stevens Village
Rampart
Tanana
Ruby
Galena
Koyukuk
Nulato
Kaltag
Grayling
Anvik
Holy Cross
Russian Mission
Marshall
Pilot Station
St. Marys.