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This is what's at risk from climate change in Alaska
The Arctic is warming faster than any place on earth. For Indigenous2 communities in Alaska, that means adapting to the changing climate, or moving elsewhere.
"Alaska Native communities and our people are on the front lines of climate change," says Jackie Qatali?a Schaeffer, who co-authored a recent federal report on Arctic warming. Schaeffer, an Inupiaq from the coastal3 community of Kotzebue, has seen her home change drastically over the decades.
"I grew up on a rocky beach where all our subsistence activities took place," she says. Over time, the beach began to erode4, a seawall was built, but that hasn't insulated her community from flooding as the climate warms.
"The Arctic itself, you have to consider it the cooling system for the planet," Schaeffer says.
A cooling system indeed. A strong Arctic high pressure system is sweeping5 across much of the United States this week, and bringing with it bitter cold. More broadly, snow and ice in the Arctic reflect the Sun's heat and help control the temperature of the entire globe. But climate change is causing that snow and ice to disappear.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric6 Administration director Rick Spinrad recently warned that what's happening in the Arctic now – the dramatic warming – could forecast what's to come for the rest of the globe. Once consistently frigid7 and frozen, over the decades the Arctic has become wetter and stormier – and threatened the health and livelihoods8 of Native communities.
In September 2022, typhoon Merbok revealed "the inextricable linkage9 of environmental change and impacts on human safety, food security, and health," according to the report from NOAA. "The storm – fueled by unusually warm water in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean – flooded several Bering Sea communities; damaged or destroyed homes, hunting camps, boats, and other subsistence infrastructure10."
It was the strongest storm to hit Alaska in decades.
With the loss of sea ice, coastal communities have been inundated11 with flooding. Many of these communities are remote and "logistically removed from the road system," Schaeffer says, accessible only by boat or plane.
Thawing12 ice, more severe storms, and wildfires are already risking public health, food and water security and even spirituality and cultural traditions tied to the land.
Schaeffer, who serves as director of climate initiatives for the Alaska Native Tribal13 Health Consortium, collaborated14 with dozens of others in a study of environmental change in the Arctic.
"Arctic Indigenous Peoples interact intimately with their environments," their report states. "For example, the distribution, quality, thickness, and timing15 of ice on the ocean, lakes, and rivers drive nearly every aspect of life on Arctic coasts, from boating to whaling and seal hunting to the safety of fishing and foraging16."
Relocation is an option, Schaeffer says, but it's not so easily accomplished17.
"It's not like we have the privilege of migrating away from danger anymore, because of land designation and landownership. Working with federal partners is important because 65% of Alaska is federal land," she adds. "And so we have to look at it now through a different lens."
In many Indigenous communities, anywhere from 60 to 80% of households depend on wildlife for food. "And so when climate changes that land base, now those things are compromised," Schaeffer says.
But Schaeffer is hopeful. She sees solutions in aligning18 Indigenous and scientific knowledge.
"Indigenous people have this symbiotic19 dance with nature," Schaeffer says. "We are constantly in nature. Every season...there's some type of traditional activity that's attached to seasonal20 change."
Earlier this month, three Tribal communities in Alaska and Washington that have been severely21 impacted by climate change received $75 million from the Biden administration to help relocate to higher ground.
Schaeffer says finding solutions requires a shift in how we look at and interact with the planet. It is a lesson that can be learned from Indigenous people who have survived, and continue to survive, amid ever-accumulating crises.
Preserving coastal communities requires some engineering, whether constructing seawallsor safeguarding land from further erosion. But in some cases, mitigation measures are not enough, and relocation to higher ground is necessary to evade22 the rising seas.
"We try to remind our communities that just a few centuries ago we were all migratory," Schaeffer says.
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| n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书 | |
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indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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coastal
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| adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的 | |
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erode
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| v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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atmospheric
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| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
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frigid
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| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
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livelihoods
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| 生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 ) | |
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linkage
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| n.连接；环节 | |
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infrastructure
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| n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施 | |
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inundated
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| v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付 | |
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thawing
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| n.熔化，融化v.（气候）解冻( thaw的现在分词 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化 | |
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tribal
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| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
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collaborated
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| 合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国 | |
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timing
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| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
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foraging
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| v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西） | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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aligning
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| n. (直线)对准 动词align的现在分词形式 | |
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symbiotic
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| adj.共栖的，共生的 | |
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seasonal
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| adj.季节的，季节性的 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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