Gotta love the cab drivers in Barrow!

Each Nuiqsut resident ate an estimated 750 pounds of subsistence gathered meat and fish last year....triple the national average. They say the high fat, high calorie animal protein diet is essential to survival in harsh Arctic environment. After going to the only grocery store in town last night, I realize why they are not eating many salads. $6 for a head of lettuce and $4 per apple!
With global warming (and I finally do believe in this after talking with the cab drivers here...who are probably the most intelligent cab drivers I have ever encountered), the whole Northern Slope lifestyle is at risk. Experts say that polar bears face extinction by the end of this century. Experts also say that the northern fur seals are getting thinner, walrus are not as fat either, and seal hunters have to travel further out to sea to find ice where they can hunt. My cab driver this morning (who I referred to above as "expert") was telling me how this whole North Slope is so different than it used to be. He explained how his son would rather watch MTV than learn to quarter a caribou carcass or skin a natchiq (asking him if I could come over and watch MTV's Inferno with his son seemed inappropriate, but I obviously wanted to). Anyway, I think we all need to jump on board with this prevention of global warming. It is not often that you can find a culture of people so untainted by the over consumption and wastefulness seen everywhere I have ever lived. It would be absolutely devastating to ruin that for them.
On a different note, I need to get some sleep as Will pointed out. This 24 hour sunshine is exhausting, but also really fun. I went walking the last night becuse I couldn't sleep and, by the time I came home, it was 2 am.