Inuits Transformed by
Global Warming
December 05, 2005 — By Phil Couvrette, Associated Press
MONTREAL — While Canada's isolated
northern aboriginals are not sitting at the same table as the 180
nations attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference, they have a
front-row seat to the chilling effects of global warming.
From eroding shorelines, to thinning ice and loss of hunting and polar
bears, Canadian Inuits of the Arctic north have seen rising temperatures
transforming their lives.
"Environmental changes of all kinds are coming at a rate and to an
extent that may exceed the threshold of Arctic peoples capacity to
respond," states a report released Friday on the sidelines of the
conference that is reviewing and expanding on the Kyoto Protocol, which
places greenhouse gas emissions caps on industrialized nations.
The report is a result of workshops held across Canada's northern
communities between 2002 and 2005 and documents the changes seen in the
Arctic through the eyes of Canada's 45,000 Inuits, the natives who are
called Eskimos in neighboring Alaska.
Inuit leaders point to the increased frequency of freezing rain,
thinning ice and freakish weather patterns forcing centuries of habits
to rapidly change.
Natives who have grown up in vast expanses are today finding themselves
stranded, their regular paths hindered by melting snow and ice, blocking
their hunting routes for the seals and polar bears that provide them
food and warmth.
With warmer temperatures, some bacteria, plants and animals could
disappear. Polar bears and other animals that depend on sea ice to breed
and forage are at risk, scientists say, and some species could face
extinction in a few decades.
Inuit leader Jose Kusugak said his community is bearing the brunt of
pollution by others. The United States contributes about one-fourth of
the greenhouse gases that scientists believe are exacerbating global
warming and Canada is also a top polluter.
"It is changing our way of life in every sense of the word," Kusugak
told The Associated Press in an interview. He said the risk of skin
cancer had also increased in a community used to spending much of its
time outdoors.
"People are not used to sunscreen but they need to wear it today,
everybody is getting burned," Kusugak said. "When I was a kid, we liked
to stay outside all day and only went in to sleep. It was part of our
life -- and now it is changing."
The shrinking access to food means Inuit are relying more on expensive,
store-bought foods, which is damaging diets and their overall health.
Kusugak said he brought along hunters, trappers and Inuit elders to the
conference to reassure them that people from the south were not
indifferent to their plight.
"It was important to show there are a lot of people in the world who
care," he said.
Source: Associated Press
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