What We Do

Grandmothers Growing Goodness is an Inupiat group dedicated to elevating the understanding and protection of Inupiat culture and people in the face of rampant oil and gas development and climate change. Its core purpose is to help support equity for communities facing significant environmental justice threats and to strengthen equity for the Inupiat.

Our Mission

Grandmothers Growing Goodness is committed to intergenerational equity and is focused on empowering youth to become the next generation of leaders on Alaska’s North Slope.

The purpose of Grandmothers Growing Goodness is to

  1. Educate locals and non-locals about Arctic issues

  2. Mentor the next generation of North Slope leaders

  3. Influence local, state, and federal policy to protect the health, culture, and wellbeing of North Slope inhabitants.

Key Accomplishments:

  • Organized and led numerous workshops with local city and Tribal government representatives, youth, and members of the public to provide information about NPR-A decision-making processes and support engagement in those processes; 

  •  Led Inupiat visits with lawmakers and decision makers in Juneau and Washington, D.C.;

  • Advocated and engaged in decision-making processes related to the NPR-A regulations, seismic activities, and the North Slope Borough’s Hazard Mitigation Plan;

  • Taught a class and made an in-person presentation at Syracuse University about the impacts of oil and gas on the people and environment on the North Slope;

  •  Participated in a training for air quality in Alaska Native communities;

  • Participated in meetings of the EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. 

“Our concerns around these issues are about protecting our future generations and making sure that we’re able to continue to harvest in our lands and waters as our elders have done before us”

— Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, interview in the Anchorage Daily News

Dr. Ahtuangaruak was born in Fairbanks and moved to the North Slope in 1980. She now lives in Nuiqsut. She graduated from the University of Washington Medex Northwest Physician Assistant program in 1991 and was employed as a health aide in Nuiqsut for 14 years. In 2017, she received an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the Oberlin College and Conservatory. She was first elected to the Nuiqsut City Council in 1986 and served on the City Council and Native Village Tribal Council for many different terms throughout the years, most recently serving as City Mayor from November 2020 until October 2023. She is a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Act Advisory Committee.