Two and a half times bigger than Texas, Alaska is home to only 600,000 people but more than 1 million caribou. It’s also at the center of one the biggest environmental debate of the 21st century.

Oil companies in Prudhoe Bay are fighting for rights to drill parts of the 19.6 million-acre Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Debbie Miller of the Alaska Wilderness League wants to prevent that. Miller spoke and showed photos at University Hall on Thursday to spread her enviromentalist message.

Miller and her husband began their long journey towards environmental activism as teachers in California. In the summer of 1975, they decided to quit their jobs and head all the way to Alaska to settle in ANWR. People said they were crazy, Miller said.

“We wanted to leave the freeways behind,” Miller said. They planned on only staying a year, but after finding stable work, they decided to settle in Alaska for good. Thirty-five years later, Miller and her husband are still there.

The couple became acquainted with Alaska’s beauty early on. They would go on long hikes, sometimes lasting two months, and never run into another human being or sign of human habitation.

“It was a very different kind of wilderness,” Miller said.

Alaska’s land is filled with breath-taking vistas and uncorrupted wildlife, Miller said. Along with being home to millions of caribou, ANWR is also one of the largest nesting grounds in the world for migratory birds. Sparrows from the midwest, swans from Chesapeake Bay and birds from as far away as Hawaii, Patagonia, Africa and even Borneo in Indonesia live in ANWR for several months each year.

Most of the land is protected under the Wilderness Act, but not all of it. Part of the Coastal Plain of ANWR, called the North Slope or area 1002, isn’t completely secure from industrial development. Since 1980, Congress has been battling over oil drilling in Alaska. This is precisely what Miller is crusading against.

Miller has been fighting for many years to get the North Slope declared “wilderness” under the Wilderness Act. Its fate was nearly sealed in 1989 when a bill in favor of drilling traveled quickly through Congress. At the time, Miller was writing a book to raise awareness about the North Slope in an effort to prevent the bill from passing. However, at the same time, the Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling millions of gallons of oil along Alaska coastlines and ending the drive for drilling rights.

Miller on the oil spill:

The issue soon resurfaced. Oil companies announced intentions to add the North Slope to already extensive drilling nearby in Prudhoe Bay, which some call the largest industrial complex in the world.

In another twist, it could be global warming which saves the North Slope. Polar bears, which normally live only on ice, are coming inland to den and give birth in greater numbers every year, due to the shrinkage of arctic ice. In addition, their declining numbers have the bears up for threatened species consideration by the Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne. If the bears make it on the list, the North Slope will likely close to drilling forever because breeding grounds of threatened animals are automatically protected, Miller said.

Miller on global warming:

This year, things are looking up for Miller and the North Slope. Bill H.R. 39, currently in Congress, aims to add area 1002 to the Wilderness Act. As of now, 74 congressmen are on board, but Miller is campaigning for more. She is on tour in an attempt to persuade as many people as possible to write Kempthorne and their congressmen about supporting the polar bears and Bill H.R. 39.

Miller on change in Congress: