Alaska
Alaska: A journey of environmental resilience with lessons for Israel
In August 2024, my wife, Adi, our two boys, Lavie, eight, and Eitam, five, and I embarked on a year-long emissary mission called Bedein – Agents of Hope, grounded in our commitment to environmental resilience and societal healing. This journey began in Alaska, a state known for its untamed beauty and vast wilderness.
Through our travels, we sought to explore not only the majestic landscapes but also models of resilience that could inspire change in Israel, where the scars of war deepen daily. The places we visited offered more than environmental lessons – they provided insights into how nature can serve as a powerful tool for healing communities affected by trauma.
The Jewish community in Anchorage and Palmer: Spiritual anchor
One of the most uplifting moments during our time in Alaska was spending our first Shabbat at the Chabad Jewish Center in Anchorage. This center, one of the last places on Earth to bring in Shabbat, provided a singular opportunity to connect with the local Jewish community and Jewish visitors from around the world.
Shabbat lunch brought together more than 60 guests, where Adi and I shared our personal and professional journeys. Adi spoke about the strength of love and altruism, drawing from the Holocaust to demonstrate how these values shape our understanding of humanity. I, in turn, shared my experiences as a war photographer in Sderot and environmental activist, discussing the urgent need for resilience in both nature and society.
Together, we emphasized the power of positivity and resilience in overcoming personal and collective struggles.
Mission of resilience and recovery
Our time in Alaska was centered on learning how conservation efforts can promote both environmental and societal resilience, offering us valuable lessons to bring back to Israel.
At the Alaska SeaLife Center, we witnessed the rehabilitation of marine life, experiencing the emotional release of two seal pups back into the wild – a profound moment that underscored the healing power of nature. At the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, the preservation of Ice Age species like the musk ox illustrated the importance of protecting ancient ecosystems and the interconnectedness of nature and community.
Our journey also led us to Elisheva Garvey, owner of the Lighthouse Resort in Homer, whose deep connection to Israel and passion for environmental healing stood out. Her research into the therapeutic power of nature aligns with our own mission to develop spaces of healing for those affected by trauma.
Finally, our visit to the Stewart Family Resort in Glacier View was the highlight of our trip. It was there, surrounded by Alaska’s majestic wilderness, that we began envisioning a collaboration to create a therapeutic retreat for Israeli veterans and victims of trauma – using nature as the foundation for recovery and resilience.
Alaska’s social landscape: Conservative stronghold with unique native story
Politically, Alaska leans conservative, with around 60% of its population voting Republican in recent elections. It was the last state to join the Union, along with Hawaii in 1959. Before its purchase by the United States in 1867, Alaska was part of Russia; but long before that, it was home to various indigenous peoples for thousands of years.
Beneath this political landscape lies a complex social fabric, especially in relation to its Native communities. Throughout our journey, we met many Alaskans who had married into Native families, reflecting a rare story of successful integration.
One of our hosts, a fisherman from the Aleutian Islands, embodied this blend of Native tradition and modern American life. He was a skilled fisherman and a country music performer in Alaska and Florida. His story surprised me, as Alaska is one of the few US states where the Native population has largely assimilated into society.
However, not all Native communities in Alaska share this success story. Sarah Stewart, our host at Glacier View, shared a much grimmer reality. She grew up among Alaska’s indigenous communities and spent nearly 30 years living with them. When I asked if she remained in touch with friends from the Native reserves, her answer was haunting: “No, none of them are alive. They all committed suicide over the years.”
This stark reality mirrors the larger statistics – suicide rates among Alaska Natives are 40% higher than the national average. The isolation, poverty, and substance abuse that plague many Native communities leave deep scars.
This conversation resonated deeply with us, as it paralleled the mental health crisis in Israel. Alaska’s Native communities and Israel’s war-affected populations may differ in their specifics, but both are in dire need of healing. Nature, with its capacity to inspire recovery, is a common thread we hope to explore further in developing therapeutic programs for Israel’s mentally injured – a growing community as the conflict continues.
The real Alaska: Self-sufficiency and rugged individualism
Alaska’s identity is shaped not just by its politics but also by a deep sense of self-reliance.
A true Alaskan is someone who always has moose or bear meat in his cooler. Hunting isn’t just a tradition – it’s a necessity.
Unlike industrialized hunting, Alaska’s practices are sustainable, regulated to ensure that hunting remains a personal, not commercial, endeavor. This approach to self-sufficiency is a model of environmental respect that could serve as an example for the modern world.
However, not all of our experiences were serene. On our first day in Palmer, we encountered hate graffiti reading “FREE PALESTINE” scrawled on a small pedestrian bridge. The shock was immediate. After 32 hours of travel, the echoes of the conflict we hoped to momentarily escape had followed us even to this remote corner of Alaska. It was a stark reminder that Israel’s struggles reverberate globally.
Oct. 7 brought another painful reminder when Christian pastors in Anchorage and Homer, proudly displaying Israeli flags, were met with gunfire and forced to take the flags down. While these incidents are isolated, they underscore the deep political tensions that can surface in even the most distant places.
Veterans, Israel, and deep respect for the military
Alaska has a profound respect for military veterans deeply woven into its culture. This respect goes beyond the standard priority boarding on flights, which is common across the US; here, veterans are honored with special discounts at attractions, including national parks and state fairs. This visible appreciation reflects Alaska’s commitment to recognizing and supporting its veterans meaningfully, underscoring the deep-rooted honor for those who have served.
During the state fair, witnessing the respect shown for the national anthem and prayers for missing American soldiers was truly moving. The heartfelt participation of Alaskans created a profound sense of solidarity, bringing to mind Israel’s soldiers who continue to stand on the front lines, as well as the hostages suffering in Gaza. Standing together in these moments, I felt a deep connection between our struggles and shared resilience.
Alaska’s Christian community, with over 40,000 members in Christians United for Israel (CUFI), offers steadfast support for Israel – a bond that transcends politics and geography, built on shared values and an enduring commitment to mutual solidarity.
Lessons for Israel: Nature as a healing tool
Our journey through Alaska was more than just an exploration of conservation; it was a discovery of how nature can serve as a platform for healing and resilience.
Alaska’s vast, untamed landscapes showed us the power of nature to restore both the environment and the human spirit. As we continue our travels through Canada and British Columbia, we carry with us the knowledge that these wild, remote places hold the potential to serve as sanctuaries for Israel’s mentally injured – those suffering from the ongoing war.
In Israel, nature could play a similar role. The Dead Sea Revival Project, which I’ve led for seven years, demonstrates how Israel’s own natural wonders, such as the Dead Sea, can become platforms for healing.
Just as Alaska’s wilderness offers hope, Israel’s landscapes – from the Dead Sea to its water sources – can inspire resilience and recovery in a nation that desperately needs it. ■
The writer is founder and director of the Dead Sea Revival Project, leading efforts for seven years to promote eco-tourism, MENA water diplomacy, and innovative methods of conservation through sustainable travel across the globe.
The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.
Up, up and away … that’s where most travel prices are going.
It’s true. Not only are our nation’s geopolitical thrusts in the Mideast affecting the cost of your fill-ups, every component of your trip from airfares to car rentals and hotel stays are subject to price hikes.
Imagine filling up a jetliner with jet fuel that’s doubled in price. It’s enough to melt your credit card, regardless of the number of points you get for every dollar spent!
Because the price of oil affects everything, higher prices are eating away at your travel budget in many ways.
Bag fees
There’s lots of press on this. All airlines are increasing their checked-bag fees because of the jump in fuel prices.
Back in 2009, Alaska Airlines instituted a $15 fee for the first checked bag and $25 for the second bag. At the time, there was no charge for the first bag and a second bag was $25.
Last week, Alaska Airlines, along with other major airlines, increased its fees to $45 for the first checked bag and $55 for the second bag. Delta Air Lines charges the same.
Even if the cost of oil comes down, I don’t expect bag fees will ever be reduced.
Travelers who live in Alaska are somewhat insulated from the new hikes because both Delta and Alaska Airlines offer two free checked bags, with conditions:
1. Alaska offers two free checked bags for travelers flying to or from Alaska who are enrolled in Club 49. This does not affect other flights on Alaska. Separately, ATMOS credit card holders can get a free checked bag. Also, elite members of the ATMOS scheme get one or two free checked bags systemwide.
2. Delta offers two free checked bags for travelers flying to or from Alaska who are SkyMiles members who live in Alaska. Again, this does not apply to other Delta flights. Separately, Delta American Express cardholders can get a free checked bag.
3. Elite-level travelers with the oneworld airline cartel, including Alaska Airlines, can get one or two checked bags on American, British Airways, Japan Airlines, Qantas or other oneworld carriers.
[Anchorage’s international airport rolls out self-driving wheelchairs]
Main Cabin vs. Basic Economy
The spread between the lowest available price, Basic Economy, and a more flexible ticket, Main Cabin, has increased. While the difference used to be $20-$30 each way when the Basic Economy scheme was introduced in 2018, the round-trip upcharge now can exceed $100.
For example, the lowest Basic fare to Portland is $337 round-trip on Alaska Airlines. The upcharge to Main Cabin, with full loyalty points, pre-assigned seats and more flexibility on changes and cancellations, is $447, a 33% upcharge.
This trend is not specifically attributable to the new Iran War. It’s just a cost that continues to rise.
New fees
I’m impressed at the creativity of airline people who dream up new fees. Here are some of my favorites from Alaska Airlines:
1. Phone reservations: $15
2. Partner award booking fee: $12.50
3. Pet travel fee: $100 in the cabin, $200 in the baggage compartment with a kennel
4. Left on board item return fee: $20
On Condor Airlines, operating the only nonstop service from Anchorage to Europe, travelers can choose from four different bundles in economy class. The least-expensive, Economy Zero, from $840 round-trip, features fees for travelers:
1. Carry-on bag fee, up to 8kg: $35; a small bag like a purse always is included for free
2. Checked bag: $75
3. Airport check-in: $30
All three of these fees are included in the next-highest fare bucket, Economy Classic, from $900 round-trip. It’s cheaper to buy the bundle than it is to buy the components a la carte. Seat assignments are additional, from $25 for economy.
Airfares on the rise
There are a few good deals available for travel to select West Coast/Intermountain destinations in May, including:
1. Anchorage-San Francisco on Alaska Airlines, from $307 round-trip. Fly May 15-28 only. Add $90 round-trip for Main cabin.
2. Anchorage-Los Angeles on Alaska Airlines, from $317 round-trip. May 15-25 only. Add $90 round-trip for Main.
3. Anchorage-Phoenix on United, Delta or Alaska, from $267-$287 round-trip. Fly May 8-June 9 only. Add $90-$100 for Main.
4. Anchorage-Denver $357 round-trip on Delta. Fly May 8-June 9 only. Add $90 round-trip for Main.
For travel to other destinations, or later in the summer, be prepared to pay more.
Flying to Hawaii? Alaska Air’s nonstop prices out at $706 round-trip between May 30 and June 6. Add $110 round-trip for Main.
Nonstop flights from Anchorage to Salt Lake City start at $669 round-trip with Delta on May 17. That’s $100 more than the cost for the same flights last month. Add $90 more for Main.
Hotel costs continue to rise, accompanied by pesky resort fees.
The Outrigger on the Beach in Waikiki is a very nice beachfront hotel. It’s not plush, or the nicest property. But it’s solid. The cost is $334 per night.
But there’s more: a $50 per night resort fee, plus a variety of taxes and charges, totaling $112.55 per night.
Down in Seattle, the Sound Hotel in the Belltown neighborhood is marketed by Hilton. The discounted rate for “Honors” members — it’s free to join — is $313.34 per night for a king room in late May. Taxes and fees add an extra $56.40 per night.
There’s no appreciable bump yet for hotel rates as a result of the oil price surge. Yet. But if these hotel rates seem high, they’re in line with hotel rates in Anchorage this summer. At the Sheraton in Anchorage in June, it’s $450 per night, plus $54 in taxes and fees, when booked at Expedia.
Car rentals are not cheap
My go-to site for car rentals is the Costco site, which compares major brands and automatically includes Costco discounts.
In Las Vegas, for a one-day rental in May, Budget charges $67 per day, which includes taxes and fees of $22.77. In Anchorage, the same kind of car, medium SUV, costs $92.97 with Alamo.
The biggest differences so far in car rental rates seems to be the bill you’ll pay when you fill up the tank before returning. There’s no appreciable jump in prices because of the new war.
When it comes to making travel arrangements for the spring and summer, it’s more risky making completely non-refundable arrangements.
I made the decision to purchase most of my summer travel plans in advance, but only after determining I would not need to change the dates. Particularly with airline tickets, it’s expensive to change your dates.
There’s lots of uncertainty regarding travel arrangements, particularly international travel. As fuel prices go up due to oil shortages, travel companies will look for ways to recoup the increased costs. In most cases, those higher costs will be borne by travelers.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz has led to a decrease in oil prices nationally, but Alaska’s senior senator said the state faces a different situation that could threaten rural communities.
“If you can’t produce power because you don’t have the diesel or you just can’t pay the prices, your little communities can collapse,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said at a Friday press conference at the Arctic Encounter Summit in Anchorage.
The price of oil has been a double-edged sword for Alaska. On one hand, the increased price of North Slope oil brings more revenue to the state, but consumer prices can also rise.
North Slope oil prices were $106.36 a barrel on Thursday.
“This is a very precarious time,” Murkowski said. “Our state has enjoyed a bounty because we have benefited from the higher prices of oil that goes into our treasury, but it’s the Alaskans in … the off-road communities that are threatened to be hit most hard.”
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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. government plans another oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — following two prior sales that saw no interest from major oil companies and amid ongoing litigation aimed at blocking drilling in a region seen as sacred by the indigenous Gwich’in.
The sale will be held June 5, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Friday. It would be the first in the region under a law passed by Congress last year calling for four lease sales in the refuge’s coastal plain over a 10-year period. But it would be the third in the refuge overall, following one held near the end of President Donald Trump’s first term that has been tangled in litigation and another in early 2025, shortly before then-President Joe Biden left office, that yielded no bids.
Drilling supporters, including Alaska political leaders, argued last year’s sale was too meager an offering to draw interest.
The upcoming sale also would be the third federal oil and gas lease sale this year alone in Alaska under an aggressive push by the Trump administration to expand development in the state. There were no bidders in a sale last month for the aging Cook Inlet basin, while a lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska — where the large Willow oil project is under development — drew hundreds of bids despite pending legal challenges to the sale.
Bill Groffy, the land management agency’s acting director, in a statement said the success of last month’s petroleum reserve sale signaled a “robust and continuing demand for Alaskan energy, underscoring the need for more opportunities like the Coastal Plain sale.”
Leaders from Gwich’in villages near the arctic refuge and conservation groups vowed to continue fighting efforts to open the refuge’s coastal plain to drilling. The Gwich’in consider the coastal plain sacred, as it provides calving grounds for a caribou herd they rely on. The plain, bordering the Beaufort Sea in northeast Alaska and featuring rolling hills and tundra, also provides habitat for wildlife including muskoxen and migratory birds.
“The Trump Administration’s relentless push to auction off this sacred land despite overwhelming public opposition and industry that has already signaled they are not interested makes clear that this administration values corporate interests over the rights and lives of Indigenous peoples,” Galen Gilbert, first chief of Arctic Village Council, said in a statement. “We will continue to fight with every tool available to protect the Coastal Plain for our children and all future generations.”
Debate over drilling in the region spans decades.
Leaders of Kaktovik, an Iñupiaq community within the refuge, consider responsible development key to their region’s economic well-being and have welcomed efforts by the Trump administration to open more lands for drilling.
The Bureau of Land Management has said the coastal plain could contain 4.25 billion to 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, but there is limited information about the amount and quality of oil. Meanwhile, conservation groups see the refuge as the crown jewel of the country’s refuge system and a place that should be off-limits to development. The refuge itself is the largest in the country, covering an area roughly the size of South Carolina.
Andy Moderow, senior director of policy at Alaska Wilderness League, said the planned sale “simply runs counter to common sense.”
“Any oil and gas company that is even thinking about buying these leases should know that, if they do, they will be sending a clear message to the American people that no place in Alaska is too sacred to drill in a quest for corporate profits,” he said in a statement urging companies to sit out the sale.
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