What 6 degrees of warming means for a community built on ice
#Alaska is warming far faster than most of the world. For #Indigenous people on the front lines, adaptation can be surprisingly simple.
by Joseph Lee
Jul 3, 2024,
“As temperatures continue to rise, Alaska Natives are turning to intergenerational knowledge and community observations to build a wealth of data that they hope will urge non-Indigenous decision-makers to listen to what they have to say.
“In #Unalaska, the largest city in the Aleutian Chain, the #Qawalangin Tribe is gathering community feedback on #ClimateCrisis and what the people are experiencing. The tribe will then use these observations to help develop its climate #resilience plans, which include culture camps with traditional dances and classes on kayak making, traditional food nights, and water quality testing programs.
“Vera Metcalf is the executive director of the Eskimo Walrus Commission, which represents 19 coastal communities. Metcalf says that Indigenous walrus hunters have adapted to climate change by participating in research projects led by agencies like the US Fish and Wildlife Service. 'In the past, we were largely ignored in research occurring in our homeland and waters,' she said. 'When you combine the two ways of thinking, it really becomes a rich resource of information.'
“Roberta Tuurraq Glenn-Borade, #Iñupiaq from Utqiaġvik, is the project coordinator and community liaison at the Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub, where she works with observers from four communities in the Alaskan Arctic.
“Community observers share details like air temperature, wind speed, ice conditions, and animal observations, sometimes sending in photos of animals being harvested. Glenn-Borade and her team then take this data and share it with agencies like the US National Weather Service [#NWS], which releases forecasts for the region. Glenn-Borade says that, historically, these forecasts prioritized larger ships offshore rather than #IndigenousPeople living on the coast and hopes that using local observations will lead to better forecasts for Indigenous communities. 'That kind of foresight of what the conditions will be can really make a difference between life or death,' she said.
“Glenn-Borade also says this kind of #LocalObservation provides invaluable historical context about how the coast and the ice have changed over the years, what is within normal ranges, and what is unexpected.
“‘That’s what Indigenous knowledge is,' she said. 'It is constant tracking and understanding and monitoring what’s going on and being prepared to respond on the fly.'“
Read more:
https://www.vox.com/climate/358597/climate-extreme-heat-alaska-indigenous-solutions
#IndigenousSolutions #ClimateCrisis #ExtremeHeat #CitizenScientist
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