Fairbanks, AK Justice40rward Community Tour

The Justice40rward toxic tour presented by WE ACT, ACAT, and Native Movement showcased toxic sites in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. However, issues of environmental justice and health impact Indigenous communities throughout the state. Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) has mapped more than 2,000 toxic waste sites throughout the state caused by the military and extractive industries. These sites threaten and cause harm to the health and well-being of Indigenous communities. Through a mix of visuals, data-driven maps, and narratives, we aim to raise awareness and inspire action toward a just transition and an equitable, healthy, and safe future for all Alaskans. Click on each site for the full description to join us as we uncover the interconnectedness of these challenges, find solutions, and advocate for environmental, energy, and climate justice, and a just transition.

On August 15th, WE ACT, ACAT, and Native Movement hosted a traditional welcome accompanied by drumming, dancing, and a land acknowledgement. The next day, staff led Federal, State, and Local officials through a tour of toxic locations within Fairbanks that highlighted both the environmental and economic concerns of local residents and their efforts to uplift their communities.

Following the tour, Indigenous leaders presented on proposed extractive industrial extractive industrial projects and contaminated sites throughout the state of Alaska that impact environmental justice, health, and wildlife.

The next day, staff members led forums and an elder circle for federal officials to listen and learn from Tribal and community leaders, followed by remarks from representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, and the University of Washington's Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center.

Then, all participants engaged in discussions and community solutions with a focus on issues of mining, oil and gas, formerly used defense sites, and broadband access, identifying opportunities for prevention and accountability to protect environmental health and well-being and culture.

Alaska Community Action on Toxics is an environmental justice and health research, organizing, and advocacy organization. Driven by a core belief in environmental justice, ACAT empowers communities to eliminate exposure to harmful chemicals through collaborative research, shared science, education, organizing, and advocacy. Science and the precautionary principle guide our work. We work to build leadership and collective power toward achieving protective policies at the local to international levels. We work to hold industrial and military polluters accountable and to prevent harm from existing and proposed extractive mining and oil and gas operations.

Some examples of ACAT work for justice, health, and community solutions:

• Educational programs that inform and engage people such as the Alaska Collaborative on Health and Environment (CHE-AK) webinars, trainings, briefings for policymakers, workshops, and presentations.
• Organized affected community members, Indigenous leaders, and firefighters to successfully advocate for state policy that bans PFAS in firefighting foam.
• Won precedent-setting lawsuit under the Clean Water Act to compel EPA to issue final regulations in May 2023 to prevent harm associated with toxic dispersant chemicals used on oil spills.
• Led three major research trips for community-based research in the Arctic in collaboration with Yupik tribes to investigate effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on the health of children and adults. Published three new papers in 2023 in high-impact scientific journals about the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in Arctic Indigenous communities.
• Train gardeners, build and maintain neighborhood and community gardens through highly successful Yarducopia organic gardening program.

ACAT leads community-based research with the Indigenous Yupik people of Sivuqaq in Alaska's Bering Sea. The investigation focuses on legacy military contaminants and emerging chemicals like POPs, flame-retardants, and PFAS, studying their impact on endocrine systems and childhood development. The project aims to empower Sivuqaq communities with data, enabling health interventions, improving Arctic children's wellbeing, and minimizing toxic exposure for future generations.

The Field Sampling Institute (FI) brings together Tribal leaders, youth, and communities throughout the Norton Sound region for a week-long intensive stream ecology training program. In this accredited course, participants work with world renowned scientists and environmental health experts to explore topics including water quality testing, fish sampling, sediment coring, GIS computer mapping, and monitoring stream health.

Rooted in environmental justice and Indigenous ecological knowledge, the Institute equips participants with the tools they need to understand water toxicity and advocate for environmental and health protections.

The world is at a tipping point. Maintaining the status quo of extracting more natural resources than the Earth can produce is not only unsustainable but also devastating to our continued existence. The only remedy is ushering in a Just Transition. A Just Transition is a fair and equitable shift to an Indigenized Regenerative Economy -- an economy that is in alignment with what the earth can regenerate and that ensures equity, dignity, and justice for all.

The Alaska Just Transition Collective was founded to bring together diverse regional organizations and unit their work under a shared vision - manifesting this equitable economic transition and ensuring that it is led by Indigenous communities and people of color. As a part of its core membership, ACAT and Native Movement serve the mission of the Alaska Just Transition Collective in amplifying Indigenous wisdom, creating balanced, thriving communities, and supporting collaborative spaces where everyone has the room to dream of something better.

Building and expanding a broad and diverse northern justice movement rooted in an Indigenized worldview.

One of our longest standing baskets of work is our commitment to movement building via the support of emerging and long standing grassroots-led groups and organizations. We provide administrative and fiscal support for Indigenous and grassroots-led projects that align with our vision of building healthy, sustainable, & self-determined communities for all.

Native Movement is building greater grassroots organizing capacity by providing needed organizational development, administrative support, and fiscal management for groups so they can stay focused on doing great work. Formerly called “fiscal sponsorship”, we act as both an administrative hub for groups and a collective home with many forms of support. Learn more about our community affiliate partners  here .

Creating lasting change by addressing root causes and dismantling oppressive systemic power structures.

Native Movement believes that in order to make meaningful and lasting change it is critical to address root-causes and dismantle oppressive systemic power structures. Grassroots leadership rooted in responsibility to community and utilizing strategies grounded in an Indigenized worldview and decolonizing frameworks is a powerful path forward.

We believe in building equitable and respectful community organizing practices, getting to the root of the matter, uplifting intersectionality, and furthering a healing path. Understanding the impacts of the power and privilege structures of colonialism, racism, patriarchy, and capitalism is essential. Additionally, committing to healing practices both in our work and our lives is essential to the longevity and joy of the work before us.

Our trainings, workshops, and camps are not exclusive to Indigenous peoples; rather our leadership model is shaped from an Indigenous worldview, which emphasizes deep acknowledgment of place-based knowledge and the joy and responsibility of building community. Learn more about our community education work  here .

Protecting vital Alaskan lands, waters, and life in areas that are threatened by extractive industries.

Environmental Justice means protecting Indigenous ways of life, supporting food sovereignty, and supporting all communities’ right to healthy water, lands, air, and future generations. Our Environmental Justice program supports local community power for the long-term protection and healing of communities. We center the rights of Indigenous peoples and the rights of Mother Earth. Learn more about our work to stop the Willow oil drilling project, protect the Kuskokwim River and communities from the Donlin gold mine, prevent the Ambler mining road, support land back for the Nenana Tribe, defend Yakutat from logging, and more  here .

Building Gender Justice awareness and advocacy campaigns throughout the state and throughout our other work areas of work.

There is a direct correlation between violence against the earth & violence against women. The health of our people is directly tied to the health of our land & waters. Our survival and well-being depend on how BOTH are cared for and protected.

We demand justice for the thousands of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls. We stand up for LGBTQ2 rights. We fight for police accountability and community safety. The violence inflicted upon our communities stems from the roots of a history of colonialism. On our journey toward healing we demand justice. Learn more about our gender justice and healing work  here .

Elevating climate justice voices from Alaska to build aggressive climate action for Alaska and tribes.

Alaska is experiencing the devastating effects of climate change at a faster rate than the rest of the world. Alaska Native people are watching their communities fall into the ocean, their food spoils as permafrost freezers melt, their hunters face greater and greater risks to obtain traditional foods. At the same time, Alaska Native communities have the solutions to the climate crisis we are facing. We support the communities leading the way to bring us back into balance with Mother Earth.

 Threats to Drinking Water and Public Health in Alaska – The Scope of the PFAS Problem, Consequences of Regulatory Inaction, and Recommendations 

 Alaska Community Water Quality Report: PFAS Contamination of Municipality of Anchorage and Fairbanks North Star Borough Waters 

 Full List of ACAT Publications