The Arctic is melting.
Temperature averages for December (2010) in Iqaluit have soared above previous records to date for warmth.
While on the surface, this isolated warm patch could be explained as a simple freak of nature, the bigger picture reveals a consistent trend in Arctic warming.
For example, in a 2008 report, researchers concluded that, “Autumn temperatures in the Arctic are at record levels, the Arctic Ocean is getting warmer and less salty as sea ice melts and reindeer herds appear to be declining.” In 2010, the same group of scientists concluded that a return to previous Arctic conditions was unlikely. [You can read the 2008 and 2010 reports here.]
Climate change in the circumpolar region has had and will continue to have devastating effects on the Indigenous peoples who consider the region to be their homeland. These people include the Inuit, the Saami, the Komi, the Yakut, the Nenets, the Samoyed, the Altaic, the Buryat, etc …. who live in the North.
Pitting countries and corporations against Indigenous peoples: the former are viewing the warming Arctic as a political advantage — from the viewpoint of outsider, colonial cultures such as Canada, America, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Russia — who seek to claim newly accessible territory at the expense of an Indigenous way of life/land (these terms cannot be separated).
Arctic Indigenous peoples are trying to protect their traditional way of life/land from colonizers who seek to take advantage of new opportunities to exploit the land for oil, mineral, and forestry resources which displaces the Indigenous people and their reindeer herds. Our reindeer are our natural resources.
From the article: Arctic politics are getting warmer: a new scramble for territory? (2010) “A by-product of the speculation over climate change has been the suggestion that global warming will enable greater access to the Arctic’s considerable resources. This could trigger a new scramble for territory, similar to that of the nineteenth century’s scramble for Africa. The Arctic used to be of interest mainly to science. Now increasingly it is a matter of political, economic and legal interest.”
Historically, we have seen a colonization of the Arctic with
1:The opening up on the Arctic as a passage way for trade and travel (NorthWestern-Passage)
2: Control of the Arctic and its sea routes and air space during both World Wars and the Cold War.
Now we see the colonization and attempt to own the Arctic as countries claim sovereignty over land and sea areas for their own power, for the extraction of minerals and oil and other resources.
Northern countries are taking advantage of climate change — including Canada and Russia, but also America — so it is no surprise they do not wish to curtail its negative effects.
It is often said that Indigenous peoples act as the global “canary in the coalmine” for impending climate disaster and the destruction of the Arctic is no exception.
As surely as First Nations groups are educating and fighting to protect Turtle Island, so to are Arctic peoples. I am waiting to see the effects and supposed protecting Indigenous people in Canada will receive under the newly signed UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and how this document can be used to protect Canadian ‘owned’ Arctic space.
“Indigenous peoples have lived within this region [the Arctic] for thousands of years [and the bones of their ancestors are buried there – as with my people]. As can be expected with such a harsh environment, they tended to live a quiet, fairly nomadic, isolated, independent-minded subsistence existence. They had minimal contact with the outside world. The neighbouring countries gradually expanded northwards.”
“The Russians, for example, reached Siberia in the sixteenth century. They now control the largest single amount of Arctic territory (ahead of Canada). They were particularly interested in the fur of the local animals. The Russians were rarely welcomed by the Indigenous peoples. The British had similar problems with subduing Indigenous peoples in Northern Canada…There was no consultation with the Indigenous peoples.”
Speaking of education and resistance from my people, the Saami, you can watch these videos of Saami and other Arctic Peoples (Circumpolar) describing how climate change is affecting their traditional/Indigenous way of life (affects of reindeer herding and the unstable winters). “We live for our reindeer. If the reindeer go, we will go to.”
–Saami Youth on Climate Change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APISU8FaB7Q
–Search for oil threatens Arctic way of life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WePYnuxaWX4&feature=related
–Indigenous way of life under threat in Russia’s arctic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRJCwtVsEh0
–Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrNHN02kXPU&feature=related
**
Below is a video about the Saami people with lots of great shots of reindeer (and find out where the Santa Claus story comes from).
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
