The Inuits Push Back

As has been widely reported in the last week, the USA continued its ostrich policy (or possibly it should be termed encephalo-rectum policy instead) during climate change discussions in Montreal last week. Indeed, the American delegation walked out of informal talks, apparently to avoid having to confront the possibility that much of the rest of the world might have a point on the issue. Later, the USA did agree to further non-binding talks, but non-binding talks are little more than arguments over a beer and popcorn, since no one need ever agree to do anything. As a realist, I suppose I should not be surprised by this outcome. But as a scientist, the continued obstinacy of the USA on this issue, after years and years of research and analysis pointing to the fact that the world is steadily getting warmer, is terribly painful.

But there was a push back against the American government last week and it also originated in Canada. The Inuit people of Northern Canada have filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), demanding that the USA start limiting the emission of greenhouse gases.

The Inuit people (who in the past were referred to as Eskimos) have for centuries eked out a difficult existence in a very cold environment, mostly through fishing, hunting of local wildlife, and, of late, tourism. Now, with Arctic temperatures increasing at twice the rate as temperatures in the rest of the world, the Inuit find their way of life threatened. The fish they depended on are disappearing, seeking cooler water, their buildings are collapsing as the permafrost they were built on is melting, and the people themselves must try to quickly adjust to higher temperatures that they have never seen before. The Inuit are very worried about this situation and are trying desperately to get some relief. They ask, as I saw quoted last week in the Paris daily Le Figaro, "What would you make of a report, on which more than 300 scientists from all over the world had worked, that announced your disappearance?"

The IACHR will not be able to provide any immediate relief for the Inuit. It is not a court, but rather an investigative body set up by the Organization of American States. It takes issues that are brought to it, investigates them, issues a report of its findings, and asks the country or countries involved to respond. Currently, 5 of its 7 members are from South America, one is from Central America, and the other is from the Caribbean.

Nevertheless, the move does put at least a little more pressure on our government to consider the "global conscience" on this issue, as Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said in Montreal last week. Time is money, after all, and administration personnel, if they give at least the minimal effort, will need time to develop a response to the IACHR's finding. So perhaps if such things happen enough times, the economics on global warming may finally swing the other way, and our Government will recognize that it might be more cost-efficient overall to finally start addressing the issue. It isn't likely, I suppose, and even less likely that it will happen in time to prevent an environmental catastrophe, but I can always hope.

The Inuit state their case in their own weekly newspaper called the Nunatsiaq News, dated last Friday, December 9.