The Environment in Alaska

The Environment in Alaska

Tabitha K. Lunn

Wayland Baptist University

Abstract

Alaska used to be known as the last frontier but is now referred to as America's outdoor playground. There are many things you can do for activities here that show you why Alaska is called that. There are also unique forms of transit here in Alaska to meet many different needs and uses for them. The jobs that Alaska has to offer are not quite as unique as the rest of Alaska but they do offer that means to explore and enjoy what is considered to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.

The Environment in Alaska

Alaska can be considered to be Americans outdoor playground. No other state in the union offers the opportunities and challenges found in the last frontier. These challenges and opportunities are found in every aspect of life in Alaska. Many of the various activities are extremely challenging with plenty of opportunity to face these challenges. Many activities provide the opportunity to do things that one may be unable to do anywhere else in the country. Another aspect of life in the last frontier is that the public transit. Help with someone get from one place to another without a means of trouble? The final aspect to be explored is one of the most important; employment. Alaska is unique in its opportunities and challenges. Alaska is unique in its opportunities and challenges when it comes to finding a job. All of these topics will be explored in depth, and the early explained to offer new insights into the wonderful and that is called the last frontier.

Alaska is full of activities for adventurers of all shapes and sizes. We call Alaska America's outdoor playground for a reason because the great majority of the things to do here are outdoors. Our summers here offer constant the light and beautiful weather to go away. With this come family outings, barbecues, and combat fishing to all hours of the night. the summers here are great for fishing, camping, gold panning, cruising, hiking, mountain climbing, mountain biking, contacting, rafting, four wheeling, train rides, glacier viewing, and wildlife tours. There are also many national Parks here for all to enjoy. Their state fairs, many festivals year round, and museums. For those that love to shop there's the Saturday market, and many souvenir shops that sell authentic handmade Native American gifts. The Native American culture here is a big part of the festival's, museums and art that you will find here. In the winter we celebrate and participate in the Iditarod trail sled dog race, then begin here in Anchorage and take the racers on a 1049 mile journey to Nome, Alaska. Another event is the fur rendezvous which offers more than 120 activities unique to Alaska. There are also outdoor activities to do in the winter. Depending on what you like there is snowmobiling, for Wheeling, ice fishing, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, sledding, ice skating, ice climbing and you could visit the hot springs further north in the last frontier. There are also things that you can enjoy out of the frigid temperatures such as watching Anchorage's own hockey team the bases or visiting museums in downtown Anchorage. Our museums here cover a wide variety of the history of Alaska. We have museums here that show the history of the highway patrolman, the Native American culture, some of the history of world war two, and much to tell us how Alaska was known and how it came to be known as the last frontier. The winter's here are long, dark, cold and icy. For many people here the darkness and the cold bring about what scientists call the seasonal affective ness disorder or better known as sad, but the people here call it cabin fever. Most people avoid this by becoming active in the environment and things to do in the outdoors. Some may not like the darkness of the darkness in Alaska offers the best view of one the most beautiful phenomenon you could ever possibly see the Aurora Borealis, or also known as the Northern Lights. Alaska offers one of the best views to watch these beautiful lights dance across the dark lit sky. You'll be amazed as you watch differentiates of green, red, blue and purple dance in different shapes and hazes as they move across the sky. I have lived here for four years and am still in awe with the way these lights move and change on those dark cold winter nights. This brings us to our next object which is how in the world are you going to get out and have ways to get to see and do all these great things in the last frontier.

The last frontier requires numerous means of transit to explore every corner of this great state. The transit here is unique as well as the land and the culture. Many of the areas here do not have roads that lead to them. These areas house many Native American tribes and few others of our population. We call the area surrounding Anchorage and Fairbanks out and the boonies the bush. The different ways to get cities hard to reach areas are by plane, which in some cases would have to be a float plane; you can sled to some of these areas, take a train or even a boat. More often than not though to get to these hard to reach areas you have to go by plane. For those that like to hunt your main mode of transportation to get to those great to hunt spots will be by plane. In Anchorage however their cabs from many different companies and the people mover bus which is the city bus for all are patronage to use as public transportation. You can purchase a year pass for the people mover. This is a convenient way to travel on all our city roads and highways. All roads here in Alaska aren't in the greatest condition due to the drastic climate changes that we face here each winter. Every year the city and state spend billions of dollars on street and highway repairs that are completed just a summer ends and have to be done all over again the next year. The traffic here is also not the greatest we have so many people that live in the city the majority of the population to be exact lives in the city of Anchorage. With this comes the heavy traffic which makes life driving around Anchorage frustrating. The city and state are devising plans to make all are traffic flow