A concrete foundation is all that remains of Shaktoolik’s old school, abandoned after the village moved to a new site about 70 years ago.

Photo by Aaron Cooke

In Alan Weisman’s book, “The World Without Us,” the author ponders “a world from which we all suddenly vanished. Tomorrow.”

The great Anaktuvuk River tundra fire of 2007.

Photo by Michelle Mack.

Four summers ago, Syndonia Bret-Harte stood outside at Toolik Lake,
watching a wall of smoke creep toward the research station on Alaska’s
North Slope. Soon after, smoke oozed over the cluster of buildings.

“It was a dense, choking fog,” Bret-Harte said.