A chat with mayor Natasha in Inuvik, about northwest culture, remote care and food security.

In the 1950's, the federal government in the Beaufort delta at east 3 (the third location on the eastern shore of the Mackenzie river.) Moved Iklavic, a mixed community of western Arctic and Dene people from a village site, that had flood potential every year. 1958 Inuvik was born with prominently indigenous and mixed population currently at 3300 but gets up to 5000 with transient workers. Even growing Muslim and Philippines populations. I learned about midnight sun and the sunrise festival around January 6, when the days start to get longers after the winter dark. We talk machine sports, cabins, ice road, boat acess and the pride felt in squirreling away 12 pounds of wild blueberry during their high season. From subsistence hunting of caribou, moose and beluga whale (for blubber called Muktuk) to cranberries and Acpics also know as cloudberries. About the big community greenhouse that was once a curling rink that had a clear roof replacement. Creating recreational gardening opportunities, a veggie box or weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) and even interest in hydroponic seacan growing. Also grocery stores, bag or box and setting up meetings to talk reusable packaging. with managers and youth. At the end of the dempster highway, its accessible during two seasons by road, yet given its a 16 hour drive people generally make only twice a year to to stock up. I learned about NTPC (Northwest territory power corporation) how energy is the biggest expense per household ( 600-700$ a month for power plus 900-1500 for gas not to mention internet and cable)and how the input is a limited supply of liquid natural gas and propane with diesel back ups. It's not on a big electricity grid but everything is produced right here and delivered via the Utildor, an award winning utility corridor. We shared stories about spoadic outages and setting up multiple backup systems. Funding partnerships have invested in batteries, panels for 35 households and 5 solar array on various businesses. There has even been some small scale economic development with the adoption of pellet boilers creating an opportunity for someone locally to get a grain truck to deliver pellets to peoples homes. After ten years of bureaucratic red tape they are able to get a wind project of a single turbine. We talked landfill scavenging, wildlife conflict, back hauling and even about my favorite divert cardboard pliot project to create eneegy from waste. I learned about ARI ( Aurora research institute) education projects, ground satellite stations, which recieve data from polar orbit. The industry lead advocacy to pursue the Mackenzie valley fibre line makes disseminating data downloaded from space able to easily be transfered to below the 60 parallel. Inuvik is a great example of place making, being plucky and perfectly situated on the planet for isolated immersion where we live, work, play and eat together.