Episode 44: Water, Winter and Washington: Alaska's Fight for Survival and Sovereignty ft. Dr. Brian Heaslet

This week on Grifty, we are heading north… way north. where climate change, government chaos, and corporate greed have collided at once.

Alaska is in free fall. A typhoon has slammed the western coast, wiping out villages and food stores that took generations to build. The federal government is shut down, freezing aid and cutting off SNAP benefits for tens of thousands. While people are trying to keep their families fed, the Trump administration is approving new oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This is not about the weather. It is about what happens when a government built on extraction leaves its people to fend for themselves. It is about sovereignty, survival, and the politics of pretending the climate crisis is still up for debate.

We are joined by Dr. Brian Heaslet, a lifelong Alaskan who knows what it takes to keep food and supplies moving across the most isolated parts of the state. Also joining is our own Sierra Montoya, bringing her sharp Alaskan insight and humor to unpack what life in the Last Frontier really looks like when disaster meets politics.