Native Americans have experienced centuries of encroachment and invasion, which have resulted in a loss of their cultural identity, their land and homes, and their very lives. In this present day they are still experiencing a loss of their way of life because of the actions of the privileged and wealthy, the same groups that were responsible for colonizing them in the first place. Globally, according to a study from the University of Leeds, the wealthiest 10% of people consume about 20 times more energy than the poorest 10%, and the United Nations Environment Program has stated that the rich would have to reduce their carbon footprint by 30 in order to slow climate change. This shows how rich and wealthy groups have succeeded in exacerbating a crisis to enrich themselves while failing to see or ignoring how their actions have damaged the environment and other less privileged groups. This can be clearly seen through the impact of climate change on Alaskan natives.
Climate change has rapidly changed the Alaskan Indian’s way of life by altering the environmental conditions of the land itself. As they heavily rely on the land for their food and homes, any change in the environment can have drastic consequences for their survival. Within the past three decades global warming has resulted in a 3% increase in the average Alaskan temperature. This percent increase is double the increase in average temperature for the rest of the United States, which indicates a greater disparity for how climate change has affected different communities within the US and the rest of the world.
Besides temperature changes, there have been major changes to the sea ice, animals, and permafrost in the region. Sea ice has been forming later and later and has been melting earlier than normal. In the past 40 years sea ice coverage in the waters around Alaska has decreased by 13%, and projections indicate that Arctic water could be ice-free by 2050. This has major implications for Alaskan Natives. Many Alaskan Natives due to the rural and remote nature of the region, rely on subsistence hunting for their livelihood, which is the hunting of wildlife for survival; it is a big part of their economy and culture. Sea ice is necessary to safely hunt for whales and other marine animals, and without steady and solid sea ice (global warming has made existing sea ice dangerously thin and fragile) many Natives will have to abandon their culture to find an alternative method to feed themselves and provide for their communities, if they can even find one.
Permafrost is the foundation of nearly all land in Alaska, in fact, nearly 85% of Alaska sits on top of permafrost. Permafrost is frozen ground that is below the soil layer at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and below for more than 2 years in a row, and because of their frozen nature it serves as a very stable foundation for most types of structures. However, with rising temperatures, permafrost is melting, and that threatens Alaskan Native food insecurity. Ice cellars are thawing as permafrost melts, which contaminates fresh food stored within the cellar. Because fresh food cannot be stored properly, many have to turn to less nutritious store-bought food for subsistence.
Permafrost melting also threatens to crumble vast amounts of infrastructure that have been built on top of it. Once permafrost starts melting, it sinks the soil above it, causing the homes and roads/highways on top to sink as well. The crumbling of land and erosion of the coast because of climate change has caused extensive damage to Native American homes and caused certain areas within Alaska to become uninhabitable. This has forced many villages to seek places to relocate, like the Alaskan Village of Kivalina, but their efforts have been blocked by the US government citing it would be too expensive. This blatant inaction and rejection by the government has prompted legal complaints, asking for an investigation into the government’s handling of tribal nations displaced or affected by climate change.
While the days of white settlers invading tribal communities and killing all the buffalo are in the past, we can still see how the actions of the rich and privileged in a more passive and subtle way have damaged Alaskan Natives’ livelihood and survival.
