EZFlap wrote:Sincere questions for those of you who have lived and flown and worked around those remote villages
Well, the answer to that would cover A LOT of ground.
I have lived and worked in several villages in the Norton Sound region for several years now, and all i can tell you is that it is still very much a culture in transition. Think about this; there are elders in these villages that have gone from living in a sod hut with an out house with little contact with the outside world to cell phones and internet in their lifetime. Most people living in the villages have no idea where they fit. True, kids pick up the technology, but they don't really understand how going to work everyday looks because there are not many jobs in the village to go to. Some subsistance still occures, but now it happens with snowmachines and motorized boats instead of dog slead and man powered boats for the same reasons that people in the lower 48 drive a car instead of riding a horse. 100% subsistance is a lot of work and depends on there being suffencient game, berrys, greens, fish ect. Oddly enough, people like to eat regularly once they get used to it. After all how many quick trips to the store do many people make because they can? Would they/could they go back to living 100% subsistance, perhaps. The re-learning curb would be steep. But just think, would anyone want to go back to outhouses? try that out in -40 weather
YES! It is after all, home.Do they really still want to live that far away from essential services and infrastructure, now that they have seen the glorious benefit of Wal Mart or Costco or Dr. Pepper?
For the sake of brevity (and my poor typing skills) i won't attempt to cover the socio-economic implications of moving all these "villagers" someplace else.
So, in the end is it all worth it? As i said before, it is making life possible out here. Can it be sustained? hard to say. Our elected ones throw money at lots of silly things, doubt this is the worst of it
Chris
