A Serendipitous Bus Ride

The magic of serendipity: Today after the presentation at Sir Robert Borden High School we bravely declared our intentions of riding the public transit bus system back to the hostel. For those without any local know-how of the stops and route nuances this can be an intimidating (and in our case very wet) task. But in spite of the fact that we have a muse with a taste for slushy streets, she also has an admirable knack for putting us on the right bus! Coming back to the Mackenzie King bus hub while riding on route 97 we encountered Rosemarie Kuptana. Rosemarie, in great coincidence, is a former resident of Sachs Harbor where the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) with local groups have filmed a documentary recounting the changes within the Inuvialuit community. Sachs Harbor is a small village located in the high arctic (about 72 degrees North) directly north of Seattle. It's called Sila Alangotok which means "the weather has changed." The students from Mr. Johnson's instensive theme class "Circumpolar Studies" actually watched the full 45-minute video. This and a shorter 14-minute version is available on the IISD website at http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?pno=429 The focus on the culture reveals how the changing polar climates are affecting the community. For example, because the sea ice is melting sooner and its extent is farther from shore the hunters are having difficulty hunting seals. For a subsistence community losing a game source means a lack of food; Sachs Harbor is a village of 120 people it isn't like they have a supermarket on every street corner as in the United States. Another problem is the melting permafrost. While it is best known for building damage and effects on land, melting permafrost can also affect local bodies of water. One of the lakes near the village was actually drained into the ocean, taking all of the freshwater fish with it. Along with draining the lake, the beaches were changed from walkable stretches to impassable lengths of cliffs and mud. People from within the community have spoken in interviews about what effects they have seen within their lifetimes. And a lifetime is a very short time in terms of changing climate and geology.

What is particularly striking about this documentary and the current Global Warming 101 expedition is the similarities between their goal: bringing a face to the impact of climate change. This extends beyond the realms of science and politics. Climate change is an issue that faces us on many levels and cannot be solved through a single venue. A single law is not going to alter it. Neither is a single expedition. Or a single person. It is a collaboration of all efforts on all fronts that make a difference. Often times we don't consider the social and cultural implications in light of the political and economic ones. The Global Warming 101 expedition and the Sila Alangotok documentary help reveal and connect people with the cultural circumstances of climate change. Both groups have identified a few of the cultural impacts that are related to the changing environment of the polar regions. And even though they both occur in two different polar regions there are many similar effects on the native culture and ecology. In trying to address this issue, we need to consider every aspect.

By the way, this is a picture of our serendipitous friend, Rosemarie Kuptana: