Simon Qamaniq wearing traditional Inuit clothing. Simon is an Inuit hunter, expert dog musher and a member of the globalwarming101 Baffin Island Expedition.
Courtesy of the Will Steger Foundation
Inuit Culture in a Warming Arctic
Global warming is changing our planet in many ways. The place that is changing the most right now is the Arctic. The native people, called Inuit, see how the place that they live is changing. Their ways of life are adapted to the Arctic’s cold climate. So global warming is making it difficult for Inuit to continue some traditions.
Not long ago, many Inuit from Canada got together to share what climate change means to them. They told about how the environment had changed and how people were coping with these changes.
Here are a few of the things that Inuit people shared:
“We need to be more careful when pursuing animals because of thinner ice and changing ice conditions.”
“The water from some rivers and ponds smells and tastes bad, particularly when it does not rain for quite some time. We do not want to drink this water.”
“Caribou are a lot skinnier…and the caribou don’t look as healthy as they used to.”
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