Bibliography

“Alaska Indigenous People See Culture Slipping Away as Sea Ice Vanishes.” Google, Google, www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/19/alaska-sea-ice-vanishing-climate-change-indigenous-people.

“Arctic Ice Melt Is Changing Ocean Currents – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.” NASA, NASA, 7 Feb. 2020, climate.nasa.gov/news/2950/arctic-ice-melt-is-changing-ocean-currents/.

“Climate Change Evidence: How Do We Know?” NASA, NASA, 30 Dec. 2019, climate.nasa.gov/evidence/.

Burek, K.A., F.M.D. Gulland, and T.M. O’Hara. 2008. Effects of climate change on Arctic marine mammal health. Ecological Applications 18(2):S126–S134.

Ford, James D, and Tristan Pearce. “What We Know, Do Not Know, and Need to Know about Climate Change Vulnerability in the Western Canadian Arctic: a Systematic Literature Review.” Environmental Research Letters 5, no. 1 (2010): 014008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/5/1/014008.

Koenig, Ravenna, and Elizabeth Harball. “Climate Change Slows Oil Company Plan To Drill In The Arctic.” NPR, NPR, 21 Nov. 2018, www.npr.org/2018/11/21/669373081/climate-change-slows-oil-company-plan-to-drill-in-the-arctic.

Richard Hodson. "Climate Change." Nature 550, no. 7675 (2017): S53.

Warren, Matthew. "Thousands of Scientists Back Kids' Climate Strike." Nature 567, no. 7748 (2019): 291-92.

Woodward, Aylin. “Greta Thunberg Turns 17 Today. Here's How She Started a Global Climate Movement in Just 18 Months.” Business Insider. Business Insider, January 3, 2020. https://www.businessinsider.com/greta-thunberg-bio-climate-change-activist-2019-9.

The Stakeholders

           The Arctic climate change impacts a very large amount of people around the world from the native people who reside within the arctic circle to people in countries thousands of miles away. The environmental issue of climate change in the Arctic Circle has a place in politics as there is social awareness being spread. The stakeholders that are going to be covered are oil companies within the Arctic, Arctic Native people, government/politics of surrounding countries, and potentially impacted world citizens. 

            The oil companies that work within the Arctic Circle are stakeholders because they impact climate change in aspects and are also negatively impacted by climate change. The oil companies that function in the Arctic Circle are usually drilling for petroleum under the ice covered waters. There are oil companies from different nations that try to drill resources for citizens around the world. These oil companies are negatively impacted by climate change as it complicates their drilling process causing them more funds. The ice melting in the Arctic does allow for oil drillers to have access to new areas to search for resources. According to Reuters, Alaska Revenue Commissioner Sheldon Fisher told state lawmakers, "We actually do better when the winter is colder. The equipment operates better and they're able to accomplish more with colder weather." (Koenig, Ravenna, and Elizabeth Harball. “Climate change slows oil company plan to drill in the arctic 2018) 

            The Arctic Circle citizens (native people who live within arctic circle) are one of the main  stakeholders in this issue of climate change within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic Natives are affected negatively as it impacts almost every aspect of their culture and daily lives. The rise in warmer temperatures around the Arctic causes the native people to struggle to provide food through hunting or fishing. The native people rely on the great outdoors for majority of their resources and climate change has made it very difficult for them to prepare seasonally. “For people who live in the Arctic, there is no debate over whether their environment is changing,” he said. “We are seeing a destabilization of the environment in the Arctic. The ice is melting earlier and earlier and coming back later and later in the year. For people here that means a clear impact upon food security and their way of life.” (“Alaska indigenous people see culture slipping away as sea ice vanishes 2020) 

            The government and political systems of nations surrounding or near the Arctic Circle are stakeholders due to the impact on their environment. The climate change from warmer temperatures taking place in the in Arctic is and will continue to cause human populations to relocate. Relocating can be an issue for those who face flooding or water levels rising in their areas. The government is responsible for creating policies to protect the people as well as the environment we inhabit. In the most recent years as a society we have began to recognize the terrible impacts of pollution on the environment and politicians have aided in climate change issues. The role of the government in this issue is to positively identify how climate change can be addressed with implementation of laws to slow down ice cap melt. The populations in nearby regions directly impact the climate change but also populations around the entire world contribute to ice melting in the Arctic. 

            The world population of humans are stakeholders because the severeness of climate change impacts and what could potentially happen in future generations. The Arctic ice melt can negatively impact millions of people across different nations through relocations, flooding, water level change, and changing ocean currents. "If the Beaufort Gyre were to release the excess fresh water into the Atlantic Ocean, it could potentially slow down its circulation. And that would have hemisphere-wide implications for the climate, especially in Western Europe," said Tom Armitage, lead author of the study and polar scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. As world citizens we should care about our world as well as the environment for ourselves and future generations by preserving nature for as long as possible. (Arctic Ice Melt is changing ocean currents NASA 2020).

What are scholars saying?

(Woodward, 2020).

The picture above is from an inspiring Business Insider article from January 3rd, 2020 about climate change activist Greta Thunberg; her impact on the climate strikes from school and how she has inspired the mobilization of young people around the globe to strike for their right to a clean world. Link to article: https://www.businessinsider.com/greta-thunberg-bio-climate-change-activist-2019-9

Scholars weighing in: 

The Facts - Arctic Region and Climate Change: Abbi Stepp 

In this journal titled, “What we know, do not know, and need to know about climate change vulnerability in the western Canadian Arctic:

a systematic literature review” by James D Ford and Tristan Pearce we review the scientific publications of literature to, “identify and characterize the nature of climate change vulnerability in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the western Canadian Arctic and identify gaps in understanding,” (Ford, Pearce, 2010). To further summate the article from its full length I have included only the most pertinent information presented by the authors here. In the introduction we learn that, “Canada’s Arctic is at the forefront of our changing climate… temperature increases in excess of 2^◦C documented in some regions over the last 50 years.” (Ford, Pearce, 2010). It is then explained that this rise in temperature has direct implications on the tribes of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, or ISR for short. They mostly reside in small remote settlements in the Northwest Territories, their livelihoods dependent on the harvesting of fish and wildlife. This set up means that they have been exceptionally affected by climate change. It is then said that the Inuit organizations have been expressing their concern about the rapid change in climate to their local communities and governments. Our authors then take us into the main issue at hand - what do we do now? “To initiate adaptation actions, decision makers need to know the nature of vulnerability in terms of who and what are vulnerable, to what stresses, and in what way, and also what is the capacity of human systems to adapt to changing conditions.” (Ford, Pearce, 2010). This journal exposed a pattern: most research conducted in the ISR has been purely for documentation of data on climate change and has yielded no changed in human conduct to aid the indigenous people of the arctic. They are especially vulnerable to climate change, although the adaptive capacity to life once climate change has mutated the land being high, the changing landscape poses a threat to the culture. They are reliant on the seal, the wale, caribou, and musk-ox for food, clothing, and their culture. Once the region is irreparably changed because of climate change, the animals scare, the culture of these peoples can almost certainly be expected to be different in some ways. The authors touch on their adaptability being so high because of their ability to store foods and manage traditions, “when hunting areas are not accessible, altered timing, mode and methods of subsistence activities, the establishment of community evacuation and preparedness plans in case of extreme events, the development of new ice-based transportation routes to avoid dangerous areas, the strengthening of municipal infrastructure to cope with altered climatic extremes, the development of youth–elder mentoring programs to transmit traditional knowledge on environmental risks, and increasing use of community freezers to store and make accessible traditional foods.” (Ford, Pearce, 2010). The way I understand it is: the people of the ISR would survive, yes, but at the cost of a drastic and irreversible change to their home. 

Link to article: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/5/1/014008/meta

Politics & Laws: Jake Vaught 

In the article titled, “Climate Change” by Nature Outlook magazine, written by Richard Hodson, the laws and politics surrounding climate change issue is talked about. With the numerous countries governments, officials, companies and industries deeply involved in the issue of climate change it is extremely difficult to create a system of change that is satisfactory to each individual member of these various organizations. However, just at the very beginning of the article states, “The scientific community is united in the view, informed by a body of evidence amassed over more than 50 years, that climate change caused by human activity poses a considerable threat to life on Earth.” (Hodson, 2017). One of the political motions towards creating a systemic change in the world was the Paris Climate agreement that, in 2015, 194 countries signed. This is a good feat and tells us that international politicians are also now in agreement with scientists that climate change is a real threat to the world and that there must be action against it. In this article the detrimental effects of climate change are discussed – ocean acidification from rising carbon dioxide emissions – this is known, yet the effect that it will have on marine life is as of yet, unknown. (Hodson, 2017). The debate of what to do about climate change is ongoing and has many, many moving parts. As stated in the article, “Most agree that it is necessary to capture carbon emissions at the source — power plants, for example — but plans to suck carbon dioxide directly from the air attract less support. What happens to the captured carbon is also contentious: some researchers would like to put it to use, whereas others prioritize its long-term storage.” (Hodson, 2017). Frustration has come from the lack of action and the speed at which this issue is being treated. As of now, no real laws have been passed to limit the amount of carbon dioxide in the world, but public support is still congregating. 

Link to article: https://www-nature-com.ezproxy.uky.edu/articles/550S53a

The Movement for Change: Remington Vaccaro

With the massive increase in society and political officials support of climate change laws being implemented the question is continually being asked; why is nothing happening? What are we doing to combat this issue? Why have no laws or action been taken? Citizens around the globe have increasingly become unable to rest on this issue and have begun a movement to draw awareness and create change in the government. For the article titled, “Thousands of scientists

back kids’ climate strike: Researchers the world over sign statements supporting school walkout” by Matthew Warren outlines the drastic social movement that has swept the United States and many other nations around the world. The youth of the world banded together on March 15^th, 2019 to stage mass walk outs of school in strike to, “demand that adults do more to combat climate change.” (Warren, 2019). Around the globe schoolchildren walked out of school, it is stated within the article that this occurred in 2000 cities in more than 120 countries. Their anger and action were met with both praise and disapproval by the older generations. Some politicians objected to this idea. However, as is the main purpose of this article, thousands of scientists worldwide have shown their support in the movement. (Warren, 2019). There are two quotes within this article that I found to be amazingly inspiring and informative. One is from the Ummi Hoque, an 18 year old student from London, who herself joined a strike that was estimated to be 20,000 people. She says she hopes that the strikes will dispel stereotypes that young people are lazy, and encourage governments to make climate change — which will have its worst effects on future generations — their top priority. (Warren, 2019).  Another that follows Ummi’s story is from Gail Whiteman, a social scientist at Lancaster University, UK, who says, “The idea of a climate strike is innovative. It’s provocative, and I think it’s the right form of non-violent civil disobedience.” (Warren, 2019). The majority of the protesters who attended these strikes around the globe say that they were inspired to fight for their future by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, pictured at the beginning of this post. Social change for the good is something that has been happening for years and it now seems that it is the youth of the world’s turn to make their difference for the betterment of the world. 

Link to article: https://www-nature-com.ezproxy.uky.edu/articles/d41586-019-00861-z

The Burning Dilemma in the Arctic

As long as humanity has known, the Arctic has stayed the same as a beautiful frozen landscape. Unfortunately, the iconic tundras and glaciers that we identify the Arctic with are melting away, changing the world as we know it. But why? The broad answer is climate change. Climate change is the natural rise and fall of climate temperatures around the world. This normally progresses at a rate that would take a lifetime to notice even the slightest changes, however this has recently increased exponentially. The introduction of fossil fuels and major spikes in human population has brought carbon dioxide production to an all-time high. This in itself is tearing away at the ozone layer that absorbs most of the UV rays from the sun. With a weaker ozone layer, Earth is warming up in many regions, especially the Arctic. This drastic rise in temperature has led to the frozen lands we're used to seeing transforming into a melted wasteland (Burek, 2008). 

According to NASA, documentation of human-induced climate change began in the 1950s. By digging out ice cores in the Arctic and studying the samples, scientists have been able to observe the carbon dioxide levels from hundreds of thousands of years ago (NASA 2019). 

Graph of atmospheric samples and the levels of carbon dioxide on earth over the millennia (NASA, 2019) 

As shown on this line graph, there has never been a higher level of carbon dioxide on Earth than what has been produced within the past 70 years. This is one of the many pieces of proof that environmentalists have found to confirm the theory of global warming: that humans’ actions are increasing the temperature of the planet. This increase has been the most damaging to the Arctic, causing the ice caps to melt and disrupting the nature of the ecosystem it has maintained for thousands of years. Beautiful animals such as polar bears are losing their homes as they melt apart for the world to see. Without proper intervention, the Arctic may never return to the beautiful landscape we once knew it as. 

Bibliography

Gibbens, Sarah. “The Arctic Ocean, Explained.” The Arctic Ocean-facts and information, March 29, 2019. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/oceans/reference/arctic-ocean/.

Grum-Grzhimaylo, Olga A., Alfons J. M. Debets and Elena N. Bilanenko. “Mosaic structure of the fungal community in the Kislo-Sladkoe Lake that is detaching from the White Sea.” Polar Biology 41 (2018): 2075-2089.

“How Big Is the Arctic Ocean? And Eight Other Arctic Facts.” WWF. World Wildlife Fund. Accessed February 20, 2020. https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/how-big-is-the-arctic-ocean-and-eight-other-arctic-facts.

Ingold, Tim, and Moira Dunbar. “Animal Life.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., December 30, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/place/Arctic/Animal-life.

Ingold, Tim, and Moira Dunbar. “The People.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., December 30, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/place/Arctic/The-people

Katousha. “Arctic Animals Collection.” Depositphotos. Depositphotos. Accessed February 19, 2020. https://depositphotos.com/107990692/stock-illustration-arctic-animals-collection.html.

National Geographic Society. “Arctic.” National Geographic Society, October 9, 2012. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/arctic/.

“National Snow and Ice Data Center.” What is the Arctic? | National Snow and Ice Data Center. Accessed February 20, 2020. https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-meteorology/arctic.html.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Eskimo.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., January 21, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eskimo-people

YouTube. (2020). Traditional Inuit Music. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q005ElC2Ew [Accessed 19 Feb. 2020].

Arctic and the Environment

(Grum-Grzhimaylo, Olga A., Alfons J. M. Debets and Elena N. Bilanenko 2020).

Arctic Circle

The Arctic is usually defined as the region within the Arctic Circle with the latitude line about 66.5• North of the equator. The name "Arctic" originates from the Greek word for bear arktos. The name is not from the animal bear but from the star constellations viewed in the northern sky of the Arctic. The Arctic is spread across the northern part of eight countries Russia, Finland, Greenland, Canada, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and United States of America. The region contains very diverse ecosystems from  sea ice, tundra, mountains, and wide rivers. The Arctic Circle is almost entirely covered by water with much of it being glaciers or icebergs. The glaciers contain approximately 20% of the world's freshwater supply. The Arctic ocean basin is the shallowest ocean basin of the five ocean basins on Earth. The vegetation in the Arctic is very diverse for plant life including grasses and sedges but the most popular being mosses and lichens. The Arctic contains many of the world's natural resources including approximately 13% of undiscovered petroleum resources and 30% of undiscovered natural gas resources. The Arctic is very rich in minerals especially copper and nickel ore. The population of the Arctic is around four million with people spread across each country. 

The People of the Arctic

A Group of Indigenous Arctic People https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Ftopic%2FEskimo-people&psig=AOvVaw0wFdF-5Nn3KAKATpopdsdK&ust=1582240855358000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCIiXw9Pg3ucCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

According to Ned Allen Ostento’s article on the history of the Arctic, the majority of the people residing in the Arctic are indigenous to the northern locations of the world. Their ancestors migrated to this area from the Bering Strait on foot or came later by other means of travel. To survive, they hunt, fish and trap for food sources rather than farm, as the climate is anything but preferable for an agrarian society. In the arctic, there are certain forms of the region. The coniferous forest, or tundra, are areas with a small degree of flora, mainly cone-bearing evergreen trees [Ned Allen Ostento, Arctic: Northernmost Region of the Earth, (Maryland, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998)].

The Arctic that we are more accustomed to seeing are the tundra areas, which lie barren with ice and snow. Despite what the common person might seem as an impossible environment to survive in, the indigenous people of the arctic view the environment as generous and sustaining. The natives of the Arctic have a deep appreciation and respect for what they have. The Summer brings a slight increase in temperatures, which allows for small vegetation to grow and in turn more animals to come out, which consequently gives the natives more game to hunt. In addition to this, the warmer currents bring in more marine life to fish for sustenance. For the natives, natural resources such as food come in large numbers seasonally rather than decent amounts constantly.

The majority of the indigenous peoples in the Arctic are nomadic, following migration patterns of wildlife. There are four categories of people in the Arctic. The hunters intercept herds during migrations and pastoralists continuously follow herds. Eskimos, on the other hand, hunt by traveling based on the seasonal advantage. The fourth group lives in year-round in large settlements on the coasts and focuses on fishing. The Indian cultures of the Arctic are only practiced by those who live in the forest areas, while Inuit and Aleut cultures stick to the coasts (Ostento, Arctic). The people of the Arctic have no central government or economy, sticking to a culture based on survival and trading natural supplies. 

Inuit Folk Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q005ElC2Ew