Warming Climate Disrupts Alaska Natives' Lives
Fri Apr 16,10:10 AM ET

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Anyone who doubts the gravity of global
warming should ask Alaska's Eskimo, Indian and Aleut elders about the
dramatic changes to their land and the animals on which they depend.



Native leaders say that salmon are increasingly susceptible to warm-water
parasites and suffer from lesions and strange behavior. Salmon and moose
meat have developed odd tastes and the marrow in moose bones is weirdly
runny, they say.


Arctic pack ice is disappearing, making food scarce for sea animals and
causing difficulties for the Natives who hunt them. It is feared that polar
bears, to name one species, may disappear from the Northern hemisphere by
mid-century.


As trees and bushes march north over what was once tundra, so do beavers,
and they are damming new rivers and lakes to the detriment of water quality
and possibly salmon eggs.


Still, to the frustration of Alaska Natives, many politicians in the lower
48 U.S. states deny that global warming is occurring or that a warmer
climate could cause problems.


"They obviously don't live in the Arctic," said Patricia Cochran, executive
director of the Alaska Native Science Commission. The Anchorage-based
commission, funded by the National Science Foundation (news - web sites),
has been gathering information for years on Alaska's thawing conditions.


The climate changes are disrupting traditional food gathering and cultures,
said Larry Merculieff, an Aleut leader from the Pribilof Islands in the
Bering Sea.


Indigenous residents of the far north are finding it increasingly difficult
to explain the natural world to younger generations. "As species go down,
the levels of connection between older and younger go down along with that,"
Merculieff said at a recent Anchorage conference.


SAFETY AFFECTED


Climate and weather changes even affect human safety, said Orville
Huntington, vice chairman of the Alaska Native Science Commission.


"It looks like winter out there, but if you've really been around a long
time like me, it's not winter," said Huntington, an Athabascan Indian from
the interior Alaska village of Huslia. "If you travel that ice, it's not the
ice that we traveled 40 years ago."


River ice, long used for travel in enterior Alaska, is thinner and less
dependable than it used to be.


Global warming (news - web sites) is believed to result from pollutants
emitted into the atmosphere, which trap the Earth's radiant heat and create
a greenhouse effect. The warming is more dramatic in polar latitudes because
cold air is dry, allowing greenhouse gases to trap more solar radiation.
Even a modest rise in temperature can thaw the glaciers and permafrost that
cover much of Alaska.


There is no question that global warming is having pronounced effects in
Alaska, said Gunter Weller, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks'
Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research.


Average temperatures in Alaska are up about 5 degrees Fahrenheit from three
decades ago, and about twice that during winter, said Weller, who also heads
the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research established by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the university.


That causes serious problems not only for rural Natives who live off the
land but for major industries and for public structures, he said.


Most of Alaska's highways run over permafrost that is now rapidly thawing,
meaning maintenance headaches for state officials. The thaw has already
caused increased maintenance costs for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, which
uses special vertical supports for suspension over the tundra.





If the plight of Alaska Natives does not get politicians' attention, then
the economic toll should, Weller said.

He cited the cost -- estimated at over $100 million -- of moving Shishmaref,
an Inupiat Eskimo village on Alaska's northwestern coastline, to more stable
ground. The village of 600 is on the verge of tumbling into the Bering Sea
because of severe erosion resulting from thawed permafrost and the absence
of sea ice to protect the coastline from high storm waves.

Along with Shishmaref, there are about 20 Alaska villages that are
candidates for relocation because of severe erosion, with similar costs,
Weller said.

Alaska's economy has already suffered from the permafrost thaw, said Robert
Corell, chairman of the international Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
committee.

The hard-frozen conditions needed to support ice roads around the North
Slope oil fields now exist for only about 100 days a year, he pointed out.
Thirty years ago, oil companies could use ice roads for about 200 days of
the year, he said.

Warming Climate Disrupts Alaska Natives' Lives
Fri Apr 16,10:10 AM ET

By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Anyone who doubts the gravity of global
warming should ask Alaska's Eskimo, Indian and Aleut elders about the
dramatic changes to their land and the animals on which they depend.
Native leaders say that salmon are increasingly susceptible to warm-water
parasites and suffer from lesions and strange behavior. Salmon and moose
meat have developed odd tastes and the marrow in moose bones is weirdly
runny, they say.
Arctic pack ice is disappearing, making food scarce for sea animals and
causing difficulties for the Natives who hunt them. It is feared that polar
bears, to name one species, may disappear from the Northern hemisphere by
mid-century.
As trees and bushes march north over what was once tundra, so do beavers,
and they are damming new rivers and lakes to the detriment of water quality
and possibly salmon eggs.
Still, to the frustration of Alaska Natives, many politicians in the lower
48 U.S. states deny that global warming is occurring or that a warmer
climate could cause problems.
"They obviously don't live in the Arctic," said Patricia Cochran, executive
director of the Alaska Native Science Commission. The Anchorage-based
commission, funded by the National Science Foundation (news - web sites),
has been gathering information for years on Alaska's thawing conditions.
The climate changes are disrupting traditional food gathering and cultures,
said Larry Merculieff, an Aleut leader from the Pribilof Islands in the
Bering Sea.
Indigenous residents of the far north are finding it increasingly difficult
to explain the natural world to younger generations. "As species go down,
the levels of connection between older and younger go down along with that,"
Merculieff said at a recent Anchorage conference.

SAFETY AFFECTED
Climate and weather changes even affect human safety, said Orville
Huntington, vice chairman of the Alaska Native Science Commission.
"It looks like winter out there, but if you've really been around a long
time like me, it's not winter," said Huntington, an Athabascan Indian from
the interior Alaska village of Huslia. "If you travel that ice, it's not the
ice that we traveled 40 years ago."
River ice, long used for travel in enterior Alaska, is thinner and less
dependable than it used to be.
Global warming (news - web sites) is believed to result from pollutants
emitted into the atmosphere, which trap the Earth's radiant heat and create
a greenhouse effect. The warming is more dramatic in polar latitudes because
cold air is dry, allowing greenhouse gases to trap more solar radiation.
Even a modest rise in temperature can thaw the glaciers and permafrost that
cover much of Alaska.
There is no question that global warming is having pronounced effects in
Alaska, said Gunter Weller, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks'
Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research.
Average temperatures in Alaska are up about 5 degrees Fahrenheit from three
decades ago, and about twice that during winter, said Weller, who also heads
the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research established by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the university.
That causes serious problems not only for rural Natives who live off the
land but for major industries and for public structures, he said.
Most of Alaska's highways run over permafrost that is now rapidly thawing,
meaning maintenance headaches for state officials. The thaw has already
caused increased maintenance costs for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, which
uses special vertical supports for suspension over the tundra.
If the plight of Alaska Natives does not get politicians' attention, then
the economic toll should, Weller said.
He cited the cost -- estimated at over $100 million -- of moving Shishmaref,
an Inupiat Eskimo village on Alaska's northwestern coastline, to more stable
ground. The village of 600 is on the verge of tumbling into the Bering Sea
because of severe erosion resulting from thawed permafrost and the absence
of sea ice to protect the coastline from high storm waves.
Along with Shishmaref, there are about 20 Alaska villages that are
candidates for relocation because of severe erosion, with similar costs,
Weller said.
Alaska's economy has already suffered from the permafrost thaw, said Robert
Corell, chairman of the international Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
committee.
The hard-frozen conditions needed to support ice roads around the North
Slope oil fields now exist for only about 100 days a year, he pointed out.
Thirty years ago, oil companies could use ice roads for about 200 days of
the year, he said.