The AKPIRG Advocate, April 2024
AKPIRG in Juneau:
Just Transition Summit, Lobbying, AKPIRG Trivia
AKPIRG had quite a week in Juneau last month as staff participated in the Alaska Just Transition Summit, met with dozens of legislators at the Capitol, and hosted a trivia night to celebrate our 50th Anniversary!
The Just Transition Summit was a truly beautiful and soul-filling experience. Hundreds of advocates for a Just Transition gathered to learn from each other, heal together, and create a vision of how we can transform Alaska’s economy from extractive to regenerative. AKPIRG is a core partner of the Alaska Just Transition Collective, and many of our staff have spent months working with our partners to plan the Summit – this made the success of the Summit all the more sweet. We are so grateful for the JTC team, all of the partners who contributed to the Summit, and all who attended for creating such a beautiful and healing space!
At the same time, AKPIRG staff were buzzing around the Capitol advocating for renewable & affordable energy policies, payday lending reform, language access, digital equity, and more. After the AKPIRG Legislative Fly-In in February, it was great to be back in the Capitol deepening our relationships with legislators and moving the needle on these issues.
The highlight of the entire week in Juneau for us had to be our 50th Anniversary Trivia Night at the Imperial Bar. It was amazing to see so many friendly faces join us and celebrate AKPIRG’s legacy! Thank you all so much for celebrating with us, and keep your eyes peeled for more 50th Anniversary events happening in Anchorage and Fairbanks this year!
AKPIRG In the Media:
Indigenous Climate Language, Housing Reform
Language matters when it comes to climate change -- Indigenous languages hold invaluable cultural and scientific information about the changes we are seeing in Alaska's environment. Revitalizing Alaska Native languages is key to understanding and addressing global warming.
Check out the full article featuring the work of Rochelle Adams, AKPIRG Language Access Director, and Annauk Olin, AKPIRG Language Panelist:
“When you allow a bit more density, you can make it a little more viable to get housing built” - Graham Downey, AKPIRG Economic Justice Lead. If we want a vibrant and inclusive future for Anchorage we need to rethink our complex and exclusionary zoning code.
If you're an Anchorage neighbor interested in housing reform, consider joining the Anchorage Housing Club! The club is a group of individuals who care about making Anchorage a more vibrant place to live, with a focus on removing barriers to building housing and directing transportation investments towards more human-centric infrastructure.
Their newsletter, The Blueprint, covers all things housing and transportation in Anchorage, helping to make complicated issues like zoning more accessible for all the non-experts who want to help make a positive difference in their communities.
To get involved in the Anchorage Housing Club, reach out to graham@akpirg.org.
AKPIRG is a fiscal sponsor of the Anchorage Housing Club, an independent organization of engaged citizens. The Anchorage Housing Club does not represent AKPIRG's views.
AKPIRG On Air:
Brittany Woods-Orrison on What's Up Alaska
Rochelle Adams on Tongue Unbroken
Two AKPIRG staff have been the featured guests of some amazing Alaskan podcasts! Check out the episode of What’s Up Alaska featuring AKPIRG Broadband Specialist, Brittany Woods-Orrison, and the episode of Tongue Unbroken featuring AKPIRG Language Access Director Rochelle Adams (hosted by AKPIRG Language Panelist X’unei Lance Twitchell)!
"Brittany Woods-Orrison (she/her/that auntie) wears many hats: Vogue model, digital equity advocate, filmmaker and athlete. She is Koyukon Dené from Dleł Taneets, Alaska, a small village on the Yukon River. She’s also the Broadband Specialist for AKPIRG and Native Movement, which are both part of the Just Transition Collective. Outside of work Brittany likes to practice her culture through learning traditional skills, making regalia, tanning hides, harvesting and practicing Denakkanaaga."
"We are joined by Rochelle Adams, Language Access Director for the Alaska Public Interest Research Group and Gwichʼin language speaker, learner, and teacher, for a discussion on language journeys, making Indigenous voices count, and brilliant Indigenous futures. Indigenous languages connect with each other across vast time and space to make lasting impacts and connections, and part of our daily work involves making sure our voices are heard in public forms as language reclamation movements continue to gain momentum. Also, Indigenous voices are appearing more in media, and we can gain strength from the increased presence of those voices."
From the Archives:
"Bad Debts Party," April 1, 1977
ON THIS DAY IN AKPIRG HISTORY... we hosted a party to get us out of debt 🤣
To celebrate AKPIRG's 50th Anniversary, we are sharing fun finds from the AKPIRG archives throughout the year. On April 1, 1977, a very young AKPIRG hosted a "Bad Debts Party" to raise money to cover our own debt. This is no April Fools joke -- getting a statewide consumer advocacy organization started is an expensive endeavor, but there was a solid community of supporters ready to pitch in to keep AKPIRG alive (and have a little fun at the same time).
If you attended our Bad Debts Party in 1977, thank you for pitching in to save AKPIRG from financial ruin! We wouldn't be here 47 years later without you. We would love to hear from you, too -- reach out to us at info@akpirg.org.
While AKPIRG's financial situation is less dire than it was in 1977, we still depend on contributions from our community to continue this work. To make a donation to help keep us debt-free, visit akpirg.org/donate.
What do you think? Should AKPIRG start hosting fundraising parties like this again? 😎
Legislative Roundup:
Renewable Portfolio Standard Bills (HB 121/SB 101)
As Alaskan electric utilities grapple with how to address projected shortfalls of Cook Inlet natural gas, a bill before the legislature would require the Railbelt utilities to integrate more renewable power generation. This bill, HB 121 (and its Senate counterpart SB 101), would establish a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that would require Railbelt utilities to ensure that a minimum percentage of the power they sell comes from renewable sources of generation (such as wind, solar, or hydroelectric). The bill would require 25 percent renewable power by 2027, a figure that would climb to 80 percent by 2040. HB 121 was introduced in 2023; Governor Dunleavy introduced similar legislation in 2022.
Learn more about what an RPS would mean for Alaska, why these bills have stalled in committees, and what this means moving forward:
Pledge to vote in your Utility Board election! ⚡🗳
PSA: ballots for Matanuska and Homer Electric Board elections are OUT, and ballots for Chugach and Golden Valley Electric will be coming out soon.
You have the power as a member-owner of your utility company to demand investments in cheaper, cleaner energy for the long term. That power starts with your vote.
Utility Board Directors have a direct impact on Alaska’s energy, jobs, and economy. If you live from Homer to Fairbanks, and pay an electric bill, you are a member-owner in your electric utility cooperative and can vote for board members. Add your name to the growing list of Alaskans who support pro-renewable candidates devoted to helping our community thrive by keeping costs down over the long-term.
AETP will have complete electric cooperative election coverage in coming weeks, including candidate questionnaires and information on how and when to vote. Give them a follow to get these important updates!
