Introduction
Some scientists and commentators are currently convinced there are changes in climatic conditions across the globe. According to researchers, climate change across the Polar Regions is the highest when compared with other regions across the globe. The rate of climate change is very rapid in the North.
It is causing enormous ecological, physical, sociological, and economic effects thereby affecting the indigenous people living in the Polar Regions. The northern parts of Canada, also known as the North, have been widely affected by changing climatic patterns. These changes result from deforestation and emission of enormous amounts of greenhouse gases.
The trick today is to convince the skeptical scientists about the current concern and the need to promote environmental conservation measures. Human depends depend on the environment and therefore they have to conserve and monitor climatic changes.
Since climate change has remained undoubted reality today, we need t monitor the issue and come up with long-lasting solutions to the concern. This paper explores how climate change currently affects the lives of the people of the North.
Climate Change in the North
For the last three decades, the indigenous people of the North have observed several changes on the environmental changes and climatic patterns in the region. The reports show that the changes are beyond normal understanding and variability.
Within the same period, the hunters in the region have moved out of their region, there are increased levels of soil erosion, the weather patterns have changed, there are new insects around the region, and other climatic changes affecting the economic activities and agricultural practices conducted in the region (Carina 25). These changes are clear that the climate of the region has constantly been changing.
Climate change is currently causing the North to warm very quickly compared to the other parts of the globe. This has caused an enormous change in the Arctic climatic conditions. The past three decades have resulted in ice loss in the North. As the temperatures continue to change, the ecosystems in the region have continued to change thereby making the arctic a different place than it used to be.
The restructuring of the sea has changed the ecosystems thereby leading to greater concerns in the North (Watson & Moss 24). This issue has brought more problems in the region thereby calling for new solutions to address environmental degradation and climatic changes.
The current changes in the arctic climatic structures include the continued loss of ice in the sea, melting of ice, rising temperatures, and increasing vegetation cover. Projections indicate that summer ice will have been lost in the North in the next six decades. The north is currently highly affected by global warming and the reason it is highly affected by climate change.
In comparison with other regions such as the mid-latitudes, the North and Arctic region is widely affected by climatic changes with the temperatures increasing at a very alarming rate. Another outstanding thing is that these changes come with increased winds thereby leading in dry conditions and changing weather patterns (Carina 36).
The issue of climate change is a major global concern affected different societies. This has called for different organizations to come up with solutions to the concern and promote human posterity. The important thing to consider is that the north is widely affected by climate change than other regions across the world.
It is because of the changes that the lives of the indigenous people have changed (Watt-Cloutier 11). This has forced them to look for other economic activities. This means that the current issue of climate change, which is a global issue today, has continued disproportionately affected the indigenous people.
How Climate Change is affecting the Indigenous Peoples
The indigenous people of North Canada have been widely affected by climatic changes than any other individuals in the region. The fact is that these people live in the natural environment and rely on it for survival. They use the environment to hunt, gather food, and practice other economic activities to get food or other forms of products needed for survival and economic development.
These people have the intimate interaction with the environment. Any slight changes in the environment due to climatic change will definitely affect their way of life and association with nature. The effects of climate change faced by the indigenous people have made their lives hard.
For very many years, the people of the North have relied on hunting and fishing to get food. This is a traditional wisdom passed from generation to the next. However, with the current changes in the environment and climate, the patterns have shifted with no more fields to hunt. The people are slowly by slowly finding the practice ineffective. The result is that climate change is affecting the existence of these cultures.
The people are finding life unbearable because things appear to be changing for the worst (Watson & Moss 37). The current situation faced in the North is leading to changes in cultural practices. The affected people are the indigenous people living in the North.
In the North, the people used to rely on lichens and other foods used as staple foods. However, since the issue of climate change became real in the 1980s, the temperatures began to increase thereby making it impossible to access the regions because of increased ice in the winter. The people have continued to starve thereby calling for new measures to address the issue and make sure everything is reverted to normal (Mortsch 342).
The argument here is that the current changes in the climatic conditions have significantly affected the way the people live. Their lives have become impossible because food and other economic activities are inaccessible. The reason is that the North is undergoing a speedy change in climatic conditions.
In North, rainfall patterns have changed drastically thereby affecting the economic activities of the indigenous people. Because of this, the traditional knowledge and ideas held by the people about the kind economic activities and plants to be grown have become less significant and unreliable. This means that the people can no longer identify the onset of the rain season.
This has made it impossible for them to continue with agricultural practices because this affects the crops and reduces yields (Mortsch 342). When the rains stop abruptly, it is notable that the yields minimal and this has affected their economic activities. Sometimes there are no rains at all and this has resulted in psychological and economic damage to the people of the North.
The effects of climate change goes beyond surplus crops. Without enough rains and agricultural activities, the indigenous people of the North have continued to face food shortages. This has continued to affect their economic involvements such as trade. The people have to rely on other methods of economic empowerment to sustain their development and food supplies.
The indigenous people have to survive in changing environment while nothing about them is ever changing. This has made the lives of the people unbearable and the reason there is need to come up with long lasting solutions to the issue (Michael 46).
With the weather conditions being unpredictable, it is notable that the people’s knowledge and ability to predict future environmental patterns has changed. They are now unaware of what might happen in the future. The people can no longer decide the kind of crops to grow because the environment is unpredictable. This has affected the survival of the indigenous people especially in the North.
With these changes in the society, the people have become interested in the need to look for new survival tactics and overcome the challenges they face presently. According to (*), the indigenous people have engaged in other climatic threatening practices such as forest logging to support themselves (Jepma & Munasinghe 63).
The notion here is that the climatic changes faced in the North is something that is bringing more problems to the people and the entire region as a whole.
It is also indicated that the current changes in the climatic conditions have significantly affected the lives of people in Canada’s North and other regions across the Polar Regions. The change has led to extreme shifts in the weather conditions. Climate change has led to a huge number of new insects that continue to affect the people in the region.
The indigenous people in the region have complained of insects that are having disastrous impacts on crops thereby affecting food supplies. There are also ice flies that have made life unbearable in the region. These insects have affected the normal lives of the people in the North (Jepma & Munasinghe 66). This has also attracted the attention of experts and scholars to study the issue and come up with better solutions.
The current changes have led to the appearance of new animal species in the fields where the indigenous people have been hunting for years. The appearance of these animals is something that has continued to disrupt the natural balance. The increment of these animals is something that continues to cause increasing concerns to the indigenous people in the North.
Hunting has become impossible with many people fearing that some animals might attack them. Some of the new animals reported in the region include the lynx and seal pups. These animals are not good for the health of the original animals in these habitats (Jepma & Munasinghe 68).
With the loss of knowledge and lack of ideas on how to interact with the natural environment, more people in the region are losing their lives. The climatic change has brought new conditions but the ideas of the people have not changed. Their traditional knowledge and idea to live in the North are no longer applicable especially at this time when things have changed.
They are no longer in a position of hunting and preparing food as they used to do many years ago (Geoffrey 37). The changes have brought more complications in the region especially how to deal with the faced problems. As a result, more people continue to face growing challenges and hardships in living in the North.
To those practicing agricultural activities in the North, there are extreme spells of cold weather. This has resulted in health complications thus making it impossible for the individuals to live in peace. Some of the common diseases affecting the people in the North include bronchitis, pneumonia and hypothermia.
These diseases are dangerous and tend to affect the young and the old members of the society (Demuth 87). This shows clearly how the current changes in the environment have resulted in greater problems in the North. As well, these problems are global. This is because climatic change is an international problem to calling for all societies across the globe to handle it.
Due to the changing patterns in the weather conditions, there is increased food insecurity due to declining fishing grounds and hunting zones in the North. Many people in the region have to change their survival strategies and get the greatest from their economic involvements. Without a solution, the people will continue to face enormous challenges and probably found it impossible to survive in the region (Demuth 82).
Tourism in the region has also been widely affected. With the changing patterns in weather conditions, lesser people are getting the chance to visit the North and therefore this affected the economic growth and development of the society. This has affected the development of the people and their economic sustainability.
Climate changes have affected the infrastructures in the region and other means of transportation. As a result, the changes have affected the people’s economic activities thereby calling for the indigenous to look for other alternatives. All these issues have affected the economic position of the region (Demuth 47).
This means that climate change is something serious. Addressing the issue will ensure the indigenous people of the North do not continue suffering because of the hardships they have been facing within the last few decades.
As well, the North now has enormous waves, melting of sea-ice, increased thawing permafrost and soil erosion. This is something that has continued to affect the long-term implications of the economic activities in the region. Thawing and increased ice melting has affected the economic activities done in the region for years (Demuth 60).
The people in the North have also cited the issue of land loss, increased dislocations, and loss of water, increased hurricanes and erosion. These issues mean that the indigenous people of the North continue to face harsh conditions because of the current changes in the climatic patterns. There is the need to explore and examine these hardships faced by the people and propose the best solutions to make sure they lead better lives.
According to the Arctic Monitoring Programme (AMAP), the indigenous population is widely affected by climate change (Schneider & Michael 39). This is something with enormous cultural implications as many people continue to face harsh environmental conditions. As a result, the indigenous people have to change their lifestyles and adjust to the rhythm of the climate change.
The people argue that the environment has changed drastically with different animal species disappearing at a high rate (Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change). The above information is a clear indication that even the indigenous population has also become highly endangered.
Within the past two decades, the natives of the North have reported varied environmental impacts and social implications resulting from climate change. The change in the environment has continued to threaten the way the people live and their daily activities. This has presented enormous threatens to their lives (Schneider & Michael 82). The people no longer know where to go hunting, what to grow, and where they should travel.
These issues have made the lives of the people rather hard and unbearable. With the climate of the North changing drastically, there is the need to have the issues addressed and make life bearable. With the climate changing at an alarming rate, the agreeable thing is that it has become rather hard for the people to adapt or adjust to the specific changes.
As the issue of climate change continues to affect the North, the people are willing to defend their own ways of life and culture. They are willing to do this by engaging in different activities aimed at reducing the projected impacts of climate change (Schneider & Michael 90).
There are efforts put in place to address other issues such as lack of food, changing life patterns and economic implications resulting from the changes in weather patterns.
The people are also keen to ensure that the wider global society has reduced emissions of the greenhouse gases known to cause changes in climatic patterns. The most acknowledgeable thing is that climate change is presently a major problem affecting the people of the North.
Conclusion
With the North facing a double rate of climate change than other parts across the globe, the indigenous people have faced continuous problems and changes in their lifestyles. These changes have affected their cultural practices and the way they harvest foods. For example, the Inuit people of the North have faced disruptions in their food sharing and hunting processes.
This has resulted from diminishing sea ice thereby causing the animals on the sea to decline. The hunting process has become less effective with some other animals becoming extinct. As a result, the situation for the indigenous people has become unbearable all because of the changes in the climatic conditions.
The above discussions and ideas present to us the need to explore the best ideas and processes to deal with climatic change because it is presently affecting the way people live in the North. Since the implications and challenges of climate change are real, there is need to come up with lasting solutions to the issue by reducing emission of greenhouse gases and promoting environment conservation approaches.
This will help address the problems as faced by certain societies and regions across the world. The issue to keep in mind is that the North is undergoing climatic changes at a very alarming rate. This means that the North is affecting the most than other parts of the country.
The first idea is to come up with the best strategies to fight the situation and make sure the people lead a better life in the region. The government, the people and NGOs should cooperate to find a lasting solution. This will make the lives of the people better and promote their economic positions.
Works Cited
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