Alaska

We have been enjoying watching episode after episode of Northern Exposure through Netflicks. Although we realize that most of it was filmed in Washington, the thought of those wide=open spaces, which you seem to have to reach only by plane, is intriguing (and daunting as well!) We watched Grizzly Man recently, too, so I guess that we've been enjoying Alaska vicariously through the media. I hope to get there some day!

But Alaska has so much that is "just" wide open spaces that I guess some Alaskans don't realize the treasure they have and that it must be preserved. We hear of the affects of global warming and other environmental disasters regularly: islands sinking into the sea, taking villages with them, or permafrost melting, so houses list and roads give way. There's always a new issue about the Artic National Wildlife Reservation, with its caribous and other wildlife threatened by oil production.
(Note This last link is a defense of oil production, just to get the other side of the story. I do not agree with its conclusions!)

And then there's this new "sport" of using airplanes to track down and kill beautiful wolves in Alaska. After you've watched the video below you might want to visit this site of the Defenders of Wildlife.