Inuit and Global Climate Change Professor Ned Searles’s Focus the Nation Presentation January 31, 2008 Bucknell University

Who are the Canadian Inuit? Indigenous peoples of the far north, 46,000 living in four regions of Canada

Map of Canadian Arcic

“Inuit are the canary in the global coal mine” Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Inuit living in the Arctic are experiencing the direct effects of global warming Inuit and non-Inuit have been studying global climate change since the late 90s Most Inuit live on a diet rich in local (country) foods like caribou, seal and walrus. One recent study found that 7 in 10 Inuit adults harvested country food in 2000, and that for 38% of Inuit households, country food made up more than half of the meat and fish that was eaten (33% said country food made up about half of the meat and fish that was eaten). Inuit identity depends on their ability to hunt, “When we can no longer hunt on the sea ice and eat what we hunt, we will no longer exist as a people” Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

According to one report, “Inuit are experiencing some of the most rapid and severe climate change on earth”  Shoreline erosion causing a number of villages to have to relocate  Earlier breakup of ice and snow  Later freezing in the fall  Diminished quality of ice and snow (more dangerous for hunting and traveling)  Increasingly violent storms--making it more risky to hunt  Unusual shifts in the location of marine mammals  Decreased water quality List courtesy of Franklyn Griffiths, “Camels in the Arctic?”, The Walrus, December 2007

The spectrum of Inuit views on global climate change There have been no significant changes in weather patterns in the last several decades Climate change is cyclical; Inuit have experienced many warming and cooling trends over the past several millennia “Global warming” is another crisis narrative that is perpetrated by southerners (non-Inuit) to manipulate or coerce Inuit into accepting southern-based values and changes You reap what you sow...increasingly dangerous weather patterns are the result of not treating others and the environment with respect In 2005, a group of Canadian Inuit filed a petition with the Washington, DC-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. “The petition seeks relief from violations of the human rights of Inuit resulting from global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from the United States” (

What does the future hold for Inuit? It’s hard to forecast accurately; global warming is affecting the Arctic unevenly (the western Arctic is warming much faster than the eastern Arctic) Some coastal communities will have to be relocated Some hunting practices (e.g. hunting through the sea ice or at the floe edge) may cease altogether; other activities may increase (whale and polar bear hunting) Arctic ecosystems will change, creating favorable conditions for some new species (moose along the Labrador coast) but less favorable for others (ringed seal and caribou populations may decline) Aqqaluk Lynge, former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, states “All we are asking is that our neighbors in the south greatly reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. This does not need big sacrifices, but it will need some change in people’s lifestyles. Is that plane trip really necessary?” The Independent (London), May 30, 2007

Projected Environmental and Climatic Changes

Major Development Projects in the Circumpolar North

Projected changes in Arctic Climate 2090