Families Choose Between Heat and Food

[DarkPrincess]

(CNN) -- Thousands of villagers in rural Alaska are struggling to survive, forced to choose between keeping their families warm and keeping their stomachs full, residents say.
Villagers in Emmonak, Alaska, must travel to the store and to hunt using a snowmobile now that the river has frozen over.




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Harvested nuts and berries, small game animals, and dried fish, are the only things keeping some from starving.
To get to the nearest store, Ann Strongheart and her husband, who live in Nunam Iqua, Alaska, take an hour-and-15-minute snowmobile ride to Emmonak, Alaska. Their town does not have a store of its own.
Normally, they would each ride a snowmobile, in case one broke down. But now, they can't afford to waste the fuel, so they just take one and hope for the best.
At the store, the Stronghearts buy groceries and supplies for the family for the week, which cost more than $400. They buy only as much as their snowmobile can carry.
In many stores, two pounds of cheese costs between $15 and $18, milk costs $10 a gallon, a five-pound bag of apples costs $15, and a dozen eggs costs $22 -- more than double the price in the area just two years ago. Watch one resident tearfully describe the challenge for his family »
Many area residents don't even bother with fruits and vegetables which can be damaged by freezing on the trip home.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/05/rur...ges/index.html

[Nell]

In many stores, two pounds of cheese costs between $15 and $18, milk costs $10 a gallon, a five-pound bag of apples costs $15, and a dozen eggs costs $22 -- more than double the price in the area just two years ago.

WTF? That is horrible. i understand why the prices may be higher than normal places but this is so outrageous. I feel bad for these people.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Move?

We went to Chili's while in Fairbanks. A burger was $4-$5 MORE there. Groceries sucked. Gas was at least $1 more. Almost everything was unreal. And that's the "big city" up there. The remote areas would even be worse.

Many prices in the "lower 48" have gone way up. We just get sticker shock at their prices because they look absurd. Yes, their prices have gone up a higher percentage because everything there goes up and it just snowballs.

We are taking cost-cutting measures where we can, just like they are. Ours just don't look as drastic, yet.

[Lizard]

We are taking cost-cutting measures where we can, just like they are. Ours just don't look as drastic, yet.

Thanks for sending that chill up my spine. I've read a lot of societal deterioration/end-of-the-world sci fi and am starting to have moments in which I feel like I'm living it. Are there more cars that have been in accidents and not repaired, or am I just now noticing the many that are out there? I know that once upon a time a particular type of seminar offered by a renowned expert in our area would've been a must-attend for most of my office's staff, but we're practically down to drawing straws (saving them for later as a snack, of course).

Creepy. I need swivel to come tell us what's going to happen next.

[DarkPrincess]

Move?

I would imagine it's one of those "we can't afford to stay and we can't afford to move" situations.