Arctic refuge presentations set

Advertiser Staff

Photographer Subhankar Banerjee and Inupiat Eskimo guide Robert Thompson will present a slide show and discussion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a series of sessions Feb. 25 to March 4 around the state, part of a 20-state tour.

"Saving the Hulahula Arctic Birthlands" depicts Banerjee's two-year, 4,000-mile journey with Thompson through the refuge and will review the impacts of global climate change and oil drilling on the region. Banerjee and Thompson will be joined by Inupiat social worker Jane Thompson and Sandra Newman, a member of Canada's Gwitchin First Nation.

Sessions are 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Hawai'i State Capitol; 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Kahilu Theatre in Waimea on the Big Island; 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. March 1 at the Komohana Agricultural Complex in Hilo; 7 to 9 p.m. March 2 at the Kaua'i Community College performing arts center in Puhi; and 7 to 9 p.m. March 4 at the Kaunoa Senior Center in Spreckelsville on Maui.

Sponsors include the Lannan Foundation, 'Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi, Aloha 'Aina Education Center, the Conservation Council for Hawai'i, Environment Hawai'i, Gwitchin First Nation (Canada), the Hawai'i Audubon Society, the Hawai'i-La'ieikawai Association, the Hawaiian Botanical Society, KAHEA: The Hawaiian Environmental Alliance, the Kilauea Point Natural History Association, Life of the Land, Rep. Hermina Morita and the Sierra Club.