SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Isabelle Berrick and I'm the host of Working It. It's a new weekly podcast from the Financial Times about doing work differently. So that's things like unlimited vacation time, wild perks and the wellness craze. On Working It, we'll separate the good, the bad and the woo-woo. I'll be joined by fellow FT journalists who report on these stories every day and together we'll figure out what really works. So that's Working It from the Financial Times. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER_01: Today's eco-warrior committed her life to exploring and protecting Alaska's rugged wilderness. She helped double the size of the American National Park system in the process. Let's talk about Celia M. Hunter. Celia was born January 13, 1919 in Arlington, Washington. She grew up in a small logging community with modest Quaker values. But Celia craved adventure. She had a deep admiration for Amelia Earhart, who inspired her to become a pilot. An unconventional role for women at the time. She had her first flight lesson the week she turned 21. Her start to flying was a bit bumpy. She took off under another plane and nearly died. But Celia was determined. She continued to hone her flying skills and when World War II arrived, she joined the Women Air Force Service Pilots. Still, Celia's travels were limited. She flew newly constructed planes to shipping ports and training centers, but women were restricted from deliveries anywhere further north than Great Falls, Montana. Celia wanted to see the untouched Alaskan wilderness so many of her male colleagues spoke about. So she and her good friend, Ginny Wood, planned a trip of their own to Fairbanks, Alaska. They left from Seattle in a plane they called Lil Igloo due to its lack of heat. When they arrived in Fairbanks 27 days later, they were greeted by temperatures 50 degrees below zero. The freezing temperatures didn't scare Celia and Ginny off. They stayed in Alaska for the summer, working as flight attendants for the territory's first tourist trips to remote places like Kotzebue and Nome. After that, Celia and Ginny traveled the world. They spent a semester in Sweden, biked around Europe and hitchhiked across the Atlantic Ocean on a tanker. But beautiful Alaska kept calling them back. Inspired by the European hut system, which strikes a middle ground between camping and staying in a hotel, and their own work as flight attendants, Celia and Ginny decided to open a tourism business. Camp Denali opened in 1952, on the then-western border of Denali National Park. Essentially a homestead, the cabins didn't have electricity or running water, and they were only accessible by small plane or a single winding road. But the guests weren't there for luxury. They flocked to Camp Denali for its immersive atmosphere and stunning views. It became one of the United States' first ecotourism destinations. Celia soon met the naturalists, Olas and Mardi Muri, who we talked about earlier this week. Olas and Mardi had been traveling across the foothills of the Brooks Mountain Range in Alaska. Inspired by their trip, they wanted to officially protect the territory's expansive wilderness. So in 1956, Olas proposed the Arctic National Wildlife Range. Legislators and conservationists from across the United States were in favor of preserving the area. Alaska's own officials were not. So in 1960, just a year after Alaska officially gained statehood, Celia formed the Alaskan Conservation Society. She later said, Okay, if you don't want to listen to people from outside, you better listen to us. Celia's efforts paid off. That same year, in 1960, President Eisenhower created the wildlife range, and Celia was reborn as a fierce conservationist. Celia and the Alaskan Conservation Society, or ACS, fought against a number of invasive proposals. These included a plan to dam the Yukon River, which would have flooded native villages, and the use of a nuclear bomb to carve a harbor out of the Arctic coast. According to Celia, Alaska avoided what would have been a Chernobyl-level catastrophe. The ACS went on for 20 years, fighting more dams, removing bounties on wolves, and building walking trails and establishing open spaces across Alaska. In 1969, Celia was offered a position on the governing council of the Wilderness Society. She went on to serve as president and executive director, making her the first woman to head a national environmental organization. While at the Wilderness Society, Celia helped create the Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act. It created 10 new national parks and expanded three others. The national park system doubled in size. That same year, Celia helped start the Alaskan Conservation Foundation, which put funding and manpower behind local environmental efforts. By the late 1990s, they were raising about $4 million a year. Celia's commitment to conservation earned her multiple prestigious awards. In 1991, she received the Sierra Club's highest honor, the John Muir Award. In 1999, she received the Wilderness Society's highest honor, the Robert Marshall Award. And in 2001, the Alaska Conservation Foundation presented both Celia and Ginny with their first ever Lifetime Achievement Award. Celia fought to protect Alaska's landscape until the very end of her life. She passed away December 1st, 2001 at the age of 82. Just the night before, she was writing letters to legislators, urging them to vote against proposed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast. Real thanks to Jenny and Liz Kaplan for inviting me to guest host today's episode. As always, we're taking a break for the weekend. We'll be back on Monday with a new theme.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, Wamanica listeners. It's Grace Lynch, one of the writers and producers of Wamanica and host of another WMN Original show, As She Rises. All month long, we've been highlighting eco warriors, women who paved the way for today's environmental activists and change makers. To learn more about the contemporary women who benefited from these eco warriors, I highly encourage you to listen to As She Rises. Climate change often feels untouchable. Other times we're so close to it that it's exhausting. It begs the question, how can we understand the climate crisis when we're living through it? Enter season two of As She Rises, a podcast centering native voices and women of color that personalizes the elusive magnitude of climate change. As She Rises combines poetry and storytelling to offer an intimate look at the climate crisis. Each week, hear from poets and experts local to one place in the US and territories. From the coral reefs of American Samoa to the sacred land of the Pueblo nation, we learn how climate change is affecting hometowns and what communities are doing to address it. Listen and follow As She Rises wherever you get your podcasts.
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