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 patterns easier for all. There are plans going in for a bridge to connect from the Wasilla area in the borough to the Knik inlet to ease the distance that those who live in some of the neighboring cities to Anchorage have to drive. Some of the roads here in Anchorage also build up traffic in residential areas. To ease some of this in one of the neighborhoods here there are plans going in of an underground road or tunnel to try and ease the flow of this traffic. Another problem for uniqueness to our roads here in Alaska is the amount of roads we have compared to land mass. You would think Alaska takes up 1/3 of the United States in land mass that we would have many roads, wrong there are one highway in and one highway out. Anywhere you go in Alaska there's only one road that leads there. The lack of roads here in Alaska does not pose a problem until there is an earthquake. In February of 2002 we had an earthquake that took out the road that runs from Fairbanks to Tok. Had there been more than one road that ran from those two places it would have never been a problem with earthquakes. This is not a common occurrence here but it is a possibility. We have another highway system that is unique to Alaska that is called the Alaska marine highway which is Alaska's water highway. Many of our supplies and people are brought in on this highway. Many industries and cruise companies use this form of transit to get to and from Alaska. Cruise companies use this highway so they can cruise through the Aleutian chain and back. Oil industries and manufacturing industries use this highway as ways to ship their goods to and from United States. These are just some of the uses of our unique transit to fit our unique and interesting lifestyles here in Alaska. Not to afford all these things you have to make money so let’s talk about some of the places and things you can do to earn money. Alaska has unique demands and offers different types of employment for her denizens to seek out and pursue. There are many jobs here for all different interests in mind. Many jobs that are here are government jobs. These jobs include military which is army, air force, navy, marines, air national guard, army national guard, coast guard and hosts to the Alaskan air command . Anchorage is a hub for all these branches but they're all spread out over this great big state. Some of the city's in Alaska that you'll find military bases are Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kotzebue, bethel, Juneau and islands in the Aleutian chain to name a few. Anchorage also houses its own Federal bureau of investigation detachment. Now for those of you who don't like government jobs don't despair you don't have to work one. Much of Alaska's jobs have to do with the oil industry. Alaska has what we know as the pipeline. Many of the jobs held here in Alaska deal with the pipeline or the oil industry in some way. We have rescue crews here who are assigned to working the pipeline and rotate in and out on monthly schedules. You could be a Seismographic analyst and work for the Alaska pipeline or even your everyday average person to get a job on the pipeline. Another of our big industries here in Alaska is the fishing industry. There are also many environmentalist agencies here for those who seek work in that area. If you are a pilot seeking work then Alaska is a good place for you. Many people use privately chartered planes as we discussed earlier to get to those hard to reach areas, flight seeing and to go hunt. Construction is also a big source of income for most of Alaska's residents. You work all summer but most have the winter off because they have learned enough money in the summer to support them throughout the winter. There are also your everyday typical jobs fast food restaurants, family restaurants, grocery store, child care, customer service, legal jobs, nursing and etc... Alaska also plays host to many tourists so there are many jobs to help support the tourism here in Anchorage. Finding work here and having it be work that you like are not hard to do. So what do you think of Alaska? I think Alaska is great. There are so many things to do here and so many ways to do them. The only thing you have to remember in the summer is to wear a watch otherwise you'll never know what time of the day it is. It is easy to get lost in the land here in Alaska spiritually and literally which makes it hard to leave behind. We discussed how the transit here in Alaska is unique and the roads here are lacking but we’re working on them. The jobs here just like you would find anywhere else there just happens to be more here in Anchorage. There is one other thing about money I forgot to mention which is that if you are a resident of Alaska and plan on staying here you can qualify for the permanent fund dividend every year along with every person in your household. This pays a lot of money to the Alaskan residents who care and enjoy spending time in the last frontier. Everything about Alaska is unique including all walks of life you meet while you're here.

References
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A Brief History of the Museum. (2001). Retrieved May 4, 2005, from http://www.anchoragemuseum.org/aboutUS.asp
Anchorage Fur Rendezvous. (2005). Retrieved May 4, 2005, from http://www.anchorage.net/745.cfm
Iditarod trail sled dog race. (2005). Retrieved May 4, 2005, from http://www.anchorage.net/747.cfm
The Aurora Collection. Retrieved May 4, 2005, from http://www.theAlaskaCollection.com/
Alaska Festivals & Events. Retrieved May 4, 2005, from http://www.Alaska.com/events/
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The Alaska Gold Rush. Retrieved May 4, 2005, from http://www.encourage.net/587.cfm