[Timetrvlr]

The Right to Be Cold:

The Global Significance of Arctic Climate Change

“In the past two decades, Inuit across the Arctic have reported profound changes to their environment and their wildlife. Melting sea ice, rapidly eroding coastlines, dangerously unpredictable weather patterns and changes to wildlife are all bringing great challenges to the Inuit hunting culture.” Sheila Watt-Cloutier




Watt-Cloutier is a self-described “Inuk woman”, an Inuit living in the Canadian Arctic. She is also a noted environmentalist having won over a dozen international awards for her work. She doesn’t use words like global warming; she speaks of climate change and how it affects her life. She does it for her grandson.

She doesn’t talk about numbers, she talks of hunters, and “They’re the ones who know this land, this Arctic They know this place is like an early warning system for the rest of the world. The hunter is the sentinel. He’s on the snow and the ice and witnesses the changes first. We know a little about sustainability up here in the North. If you protect the Arctic, you save the planet”

Others speak of the numbers. Climate change in the Arctic is three times more rapid than it is in the rest of the world. Temperatures in the Arctic are increasing twice as fast as anywhere else. Watt-Cloutier puts a human face on climate change. Her message is clear: the top of the world is in meltdown, and the runoff will damage every one else.

[mollyL]

We all know that climate change is a reality, and the Canadian Arctic isn't the only place to see it. Winter seems a thing of the past where I grew up in the San Fernando Valley of California. Last February we went to LA for a baptism and temperatures hovered in the high 60s and low 70s. When I was growing up there we had what we called winter; you needed to put on a coat or sweater, the cold winds blew, and rain fell. Now, shorts abound, zories flap; isn't anybody noticing? There has to be another Cali native who thinks something is askew.

[EviesEarth]

I am from Cali. Yes, I do remember the colder winters. Right now we live in the high desert in Cali. We used to get so much more snow than we do now. About 16 years ago we had snow quite a bit. Now it is significantly less.

[Timetrvlr]

Originally Posted by mollyL

We all know that climate change is a reality, and the Canadian Arctic isn't the only place to see it. Winter seems a thing of the past where I grew up in the San Fernando Valley of California. Last February we went to LA for a baptism and temperatures hovered in the high 60s and low 70s. When I was growing up there we had what we called winter; you needed to put on a coat or sweater, the cold winds blew, and rain fell. Now, shorts abound, zories flap; isn't anybody noticing? There has to be another Cali native who thinks something is askew.

My wife is a native Californian, she grew up in Redondo Beach near Los Angeles. She can recall breaking ice on the chicken's water in the backyard. It even snowed once! That was back in the forties.

There is a really good climate change article in the current issue of National Geographic. It's about the drying of the west. Some of it is due to a natural cycle of drought and wet but much of it is due to global climate change.

[Roguegal]

I hope everybody can swim. Because it won't be too much longer before that ice melts and will be living in a Waterworld. Or should I say more of a Waterworld than we already do.Hmmmm, and they make a movie called Waterworld? :-) I wonder what caused it in the movie? :-)

[Timetrvlr]

This seems like an opportune time to ask you about your water supply. Where does your municipal water come from? I know California is one of the western states living with long term drought. Do you have any water restrictions yet?

I know one of the other posters here is from Phoenix. They get their water from a series of reservoir dams on the Salt River, and those reservoirs are rapidly dropping. I think they will be in trouble in a couple of years.

I've read that the costs of desalinization is dropping rapidly so that might be an answer?

[Roguegal]

Here in Phoenix we had been in a 10-year drought until this year. With all the rain we've gotten we are slowly catching up. But during the summertime we do have water restrictions. At least until we're out of the drought.

[tater03]

I will have to read the article in the National Geographic. I know I don't live in California but live in the Northeast right in what they call the snowbelt. I can see how the weather here has changed over the years. Our winters are not as bad as they used to be and the summers have been quite a bit dryer.

[mollyL]

Speaking of drought, I'm wondering if Georgia is getting any more rain? That was incredibly frightening last year looking at those dry reservoirs. Don't really trust the "news" organizations; have we a Georgian to ask?