All,
The Alaska themed 7 day set continues. If you missed the first 3 pipes, you can find them here , here , and here
Alaska's history with the oil industry is one of great boom, great bust, and extreme dichotomy, and that has been reflected in my own life as well. Alaska is heavily dependent on the oil industry, so much so that oil tax revenues account for in the neighborhood of 90% of funding for our state government. The oil industry supports an incredible amount of jobs in the state, and even businesses that are not directly tied to oil, often depend on it's influence on the state economy. Simply put, when oil prices are high, Alaska booms. When they are low, we bust. This cycle has been ongoing for 50 years.
However, Alaskans also live here for a reason. For many, that reason is a deep love and appreciation for our natural world, the environment, and the outdoors. For many Alaskans such as myself, this often creates a deep internal conflict between income, employment, livelihood, and the impact such things may have on what we most love about living here, the purity, solace, and beauty of a rich and wild natural environment.
My own story follows suit, as I grew up in a family who's income rested almost entirely on oil. I began working in the oil fields on the Arctic Coast of Alaska at the age of 18 and did so until I was 26. The company I work for today provides services in support of the oil industry, and also in support of the environmental companies paid to keep tabs on them. Conversely, I share the deep concerns of many regarding the oil industries influence on our environment. Having witnessed massive oil spills in Alaska's oceans as a child, and worked first hand on several of them on land in Prudhoe Bay, as well as witnessing the shocking amount of emissions used to pull fossil fuels from the earth, and then burn them worldwide, naturally this creates an inner tension that can sometimes make someone feel torn apart.
I wanted to elicit this familiar dichotomy in a pipe, as it is something that almost every Alaskan can relate to in some form on some spectrum. The stummel of this pipe is a deep, black stained sandblast meant to evoke the look of raw crude oil. Crude oil when spilled, often has a hazy brown foamy swirl on top of it, represented here by the brown and black cumberland stem. The only thing separating raw crude from spilled oil on this pipe, as in real life, is the thin steel ring of a pipeline (steel alloy band). The pipe was made to be 6.8 inches long intentionally, to represent the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 1968. Similarly, the prince shape of the pipe is intentional, meant to commemorate the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill of 1989 that ravaged Prince William Sound and its various communities, sea life, and waterfowl. As with all pipes in the set, this one is also stamped with a 49 in addition to the maker's nomenclature, to mark it as part of this set. Like it or not, oil is a huge part of Alaska's history and likely future, and for those of us that live here, we are reminded of it on a daily basis, for good or ill.
SIDE NOTE: I realize many of the statements I made above may tempt some to engage in political discourse in this thread regarding fossil fuels, the environment, climate change, etc. The reason I have included them here is simply to explain my thoughts and personal opinions as part of my story with my home state, which were essential in the design of this pipe. If you could please resist any urge you may have to make political statements in this thread and get it shut down, I would appreciate it very much.
Ladies and Gents, the Oil Prince, by Ryan Alden:
The Alaska themed 7 day set continues. If you missed the first 3 pipes, you can find them here , here , and here
Alaska's history with the oil industry is one of great boom, great bust, and extreme dichotomy, and that has been reflected in my own life as well. Alaska is heavily dependent on the oil industry, so much so that oil tax revenues account for in the neighborhood of 90% of funding for our state government. The oil industry supports an incredible amount of jobs in the state, and even businesses that are not directly tied to oil, often depend on it's influence on the state economy. Simply put, when oil prices are high, Alaska booms. When they are low, we bust. This cycle has been ongoing for 50 years.
However, Alaskans also live here for a reason. For many, that reason is a deep love and appreciation for our natural world, the environment, and the outdoors. For many Alaskans such as myself, this often creates a deep internal conflict between income, employment, livelihood, and the impact such things may have on what we most love about living here, the purity, solace, and beauty of a rich and wild natural environment.
My own story follows suit, as I grew up in a family who's income rested almost entirely on oil. I began working in the oil fields on the Arctic Coast of Alaska at the age of 18 and did so until I was 26. The company I work for today provides services in support of the oil industry, and also in support of the environmental companies paid to keep tabs on them. Conversely, I share the deep concerns of many regarding the oil industries influence on our environment. Having witnessed massive oil spills in Alaska's oceans as a child, and worked first hand on several of them on land in Prudhoe Bay, as well as witnessing the shocking amount of emissions used to pull fossil fuels from the earth, and then burn them worldwide, naturally this creates an inner tension that can sometimes make someone feel torn apart.
I wanted to elicit this familiar dichotomy in a pipe, as it is something that almost every Alaskan can relate to in some form on some spectrum. The stummel of this pipe is a deep, black stained sandblast meant to evoke the look of raw crude oil. Crude oil when spilled, often has a hazy brown foamy swirl on top of it, represented here by the brown and black cumberland stem. The only thing separating raw crude from spilled oil on this pipe, as in real life, is the thin steel ring of a pipeline (steel alloy band). The pipe was made to be 6.8 inches long intentionally, to represent the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 1968. Similarly, the prince shape of the pipe is intentional, meant to commemorate the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill of 1989 that ravaged Prince William Sound and its various communities, sea life, and waterfowl. As with all pipes in the set, this one is also stamped with a 49 in addition to the maker's nomenclature, to mark it as part of this set. Like it or not, oil is a huge part of Alaska's history and likely future, and for those of us that live here, we are reminded of it on a daily basis, for good or ill.
SIDE NOTE: I realize many of the statements I made above may tempt some to engage in political discourse in this thread regarding fossil fuels, the environment, climate change, etc. The reason I have included them here is simply to explain my thoughts and personal opinions as part of my story with my home state, which were essential in the design of this pipe. If you could please resist any urge you may have to make political statements in this thread and get it shut down, I would appreciate it very much.
Ladies and Gents, the Oil Prince, by Ryan Alden:
