Rarely, we have the remote chance of seeing the Northern Lights if there is a geomagnetic storm when there are no clouds and we are in a part of the state that is free of light pollution, whereas in Alaska, you can stand in a gravel driveway north of Fairbanks at 3 in the morning and take in the dazzling performance of undulating emerald and amethyst ribbons overhead, as if you were just going outside to listen to the crickets. This might seem to be the beginning and end of any relationship between these two distant places, and the distance is notable. Physical or social distance enables outsiders to reconcile the outsourcing of any of our problems. That’s true when talking about the trash that had been taken “away” from suburbs to Hartford for incineration and now “away” somewhere, anywhere else. It’s true when looking at what has allowed for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to be opened for resource extraction. If you regard a place as a wasteland and its people as worthless, entire worlds of possible exploitation open up before you.
