Case Study 1 - Global Warming
In the summer of 2000, a large vessel sailed to the Arctic, full of tourists who had paid thousands of dollars to get to the North Pole. When the captain announced that they had arrived, everyone looked out at the calm blue water around them and thought he was joking. The enormous chunk of ice that they had expected to find had floated away. This made headlines in newspapers all over the world, but one group of people was not surprised at all.
The Inuit of Sachs Harbour live in the Canadian Arctic. Their homes are built on land that is permanently frozen. As temperatures have risen over the past few decades, the ice underneath the houses has begun to melt. "It doesn't look good for the community," says resident John Keogak. "We might have to evacuate and move somewhere else." Late falls and early springs have heated up Sachs Harbour considerably. As the permafrost melts, inland lakes melt into the ocean, carrying all the freshwater fish with them. "We've always lived in a harsh climate," says Rosemary Kuptana. "But what is more extreme now is that there's no predictability."
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The Inuit aren't the only northerners affected. Arctic polar bears hunt seals by
traveling over large chunks of ice. During warmer springs, the ice breaks up earlier, giving bears less time to hunt. Studies show bears to be 20% skinnier than they were a decade ago. Since polar bears live in ice dens, their homes are also sensitive to rising temperatures. Warm air causes their ice caves collapse, often killing the mother and pups inside.
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What is taking place in Northern Canada comes as no surprise to the 2500 scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 1995, this panel of leading scientists released their first major report. They said that global warming could lead to "…widespread economic, social and environmental dislocation over the next century." Recently, the IPCC has said that the 1990's were the warmest decade the earth has had in 1000 years. The scientists say that global temperatures could rise by as much as 6C by 2100. While that may not sound like much, it is an increase not seen in the past 10,000 years. And as temperatures go up, so do sea levels. Ocean levels are projected to rise by 88cm over the next century, which would make tens of millions of people homeless in China, Bangladesh, Egypt and other low-lying regions. No one can say for certain what will happen over the next hundred years. But the US National Academy of Sciences says that …even given the considerable uncertainties, greenhouse warming poses a potential threat sufficient to merit prompt responses…
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With a few exceptions, there is a consensus among the international community that global warming is happening. The disagreement is on what to do about it. At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, countries like Canada and the US committed in principle to reducing greenhouse gases, but they did not sign any binding treaty. This led to the Kyoto Protocol-an agreement between 160 countries that sets CO2 reduction targets. Countries who sign the Protocol commit to reducing their greenhouse gases by at least 5% from what they were in 1990. The US senate voted against Kyoto's principles in 1997, saying that it would hurt the economy while having a minimal effect on global warming. In Canada, viewpoints on Kyoto differ. While groups like the David Suzuki Foundation say that the costs of not reducing CO2 will be catastrophic, oil and energy companies warn that Kyoto will cost thousands of jobs and hurt the economy. In Alberta, the provincial government is against Kyoto; it says that Canada should adopt a made-in-Canada solution to global warming and warned that Kyoto would cost Alberta over 8 billion dollars a year. While governments argue about what to do, many citizens are taking action to help slow global warming. People are leaving their cars at home, and they are using bikes, skateboards, roller blades and their own feet to get around town. Click here to learn more ways to slow down climate change.
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