Author: Bert Gildart, Special to The Christian Science Monitor

ARCTIC VILLAGE, ALASKA – In this tiny Alaskan town of 120, north of Anchorage and the Arctic Circle, beyond the imaginary line where summer days and winter nights become endless, Sarah James, a Gwich'in Indian leader, is rolling in cash – $130,000 to be exact, a 2001 grant from the Ford Motor Co.

It is, at first glance, an unlikely pairing: Ford products devour oil and gas; the Gwich'in (pronounced guh-WHICH-in) depend on caribou for everything from their meals to the gloves that keep their hands warm.

Sarah James leads Alaska’s ‘Caribou People’ in defense of their way of life »»