Distance Activism And The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Julie M. Raymond-Yakoubian
Wed, 22 Apr 2026 18:02:00 PDT

The growing phenomenon of distance place attachment and distance activism can be seen in the extensive network of non-visitors involved in the protection of places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. This type of activism is not an anomaly, but rather an increasingly significant global phenomenon, which has gone largely unexamined by researchers of environmentalism, activism, wilderness, and place attachment. Distance activism encompasses the standard definition of activism, with the addition that distance activists must not have had physical contact with the natural environment for which they are being active. I argue that distance activists' actions and beliefs can be understood, in part, in terms of the conceptual frameworks of geopiety, topophilia, and place attachment. Furthermore, I argue that distance activism deserves a proper place in place attachment theorizing. Distance activism on behalf of the Arctic Refuge is examined as a case study of this important phenomenon.