From Tom Campion speaks at AWL Voice of the Wild 2018 · · keepalaskawild
“Thank Maria and keep pressure on all of our electives and elect people want to protect the heritage of the public lands like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”
On , Thomas Campion, Co-Founder & Chairman at ZUMIEZ INC, spoke about public lands during Tom Campion speaks at AWL Voice of the Wild 2018 on keepalaskawild.
Tom Campion, co-founder and chairman of Zumiez and a board member of the Alaska Wilderness League, spoke at the AWL Voice of the Wild event in 2018 about his advocacy for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He described the reliance of Indigenous communities on caribou hunting for food security and criticized proposals to allow oil drilling in the region. Campion said that "the majority of their food security in the protein comes from hunting caribou" and that "we're going to change us so we can export some well - we're trying to Saudi Arabia right you know, there this week it's insane." Campion noted that former President Jimmy Carter was a founding board member of the league and that former President Barack Obama "was a champion of protecting this place and couldn't get it done with our Congress." He called for continued pressure on elected officials and support for legal and activist efforts, stating that "the fight kind of just beginning and it's for all of us." Campion also referenced a couple who wrote to President Richard Nixon in 1969 about the refuge, saying "over all these years is why you win."