Rep. Bryce Edgmon Keynote Speech at '24 Sustainability Summit
At the Summit, keynote speaker and House Speaker, Representative Bryce Edgmon, reflected on the overarching theme of sustainability, recognizing the importance of collective action in addressing challenges facing rural and Indigenous communities. Despite concurrent events like the rural energy conference in Fairbanks, ongoing devastation from Hurricane Feline, and other gatherings in Anchorage and Juneau, attendees gathered with a shared commitment to building a better future.
Rep. Edgmon spoke about the real work of leadership—“working with people and generating hope and then taking action”—and emphasized the privilege of visiting rural villages like Pedro Bay. He noted it was the first time in the state of Alaska that a school was transferred from a school district to the community as a community development center. The community aims to revitalize itself to reach the ten-student enrollment threshold required to reopen the school. It's encouraging to witness their ongoing progress and dedication to rebuilding.
Rep. Edgmon acknowledged the shifting times: youth are growing up with iPhones, fish are migrating north due to climate change, and many communities are burdened by high costs of living and drug abuse. Yet he reminded us that these are not the first challenges communities have faced. There is strength, he said, in local heroes and difference-makers.
He posed a thoughtful question about sustainability:
“What does sustainability really mean? It’s you being at this conference today, you are here, you are taking action, you’re caring, you’re looking into the future, you're looking for what may affect your community down the way.”
He ended by sharing the Bush Caucus motto:
“We may be small in numbers, but we got you surrounded”
This highlights the power of strategic unity and collaboration in state-level decision-making. Together, he said, there is potential “to do big things.