The stop at the fish hatchery in Juneau (see post #10 from Ben) was part of a bus tour around Juneau that most of us did. This bus tour also included an hour or so at the excellent Juneau Museum, which included exhibits about the evolution of the land — ice ages and all that — and some wonderful child-friendly interactive activities.
One take-away I had from the discussion of ice ages was the recognition that climate change is not a new phenomenon. Only a few hundred years ago, the Tlingit were forced to retreat to the south from their lands because of oncoming glaciers, and then were able to return gradually as the glaciers retreated. Although we heard extensively about the current retreat of the glaciers, and know that human development is largely responsible, the Museum exhibit reinforced my sense that nature has often done her own thing, independent of what we humans do or don’t do.
Fendels in Alaska 