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Inuit hope climate change report strikes a chord

Last Updated: Monday, February 5, 2007 | 10:06 AM CT

CBC News

The findings of the latest climate change report came as no surprise to people in Nunavut who have been calling for action on global warming for the past decade.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, released Friday in France, said the increase in greenhouse gas emissions created by humans is causing the Arctic sea ice and glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise.

Inuit environmentalist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who has spent years trying to educate the international community about climate change, said this is not the first report to make dire predictions but she hopes the world will take this one more seriously.

"I know it takes many, many years, sometimes decades, to mobilize the global community to really take action," she told CBC News Friday.

"They can get very caught up in this paralysis of analysis and that's what has been happening with all of these assessments. Time after time over the past 10 years almost the same thing has been coming out."

Grise Fiord resident Marty Kuluguqtuk, who lives with the effects of a changing climate in Canada's most northern community, said he is hopeful the attention this report has garnered will not just fade away.

"Everybody talks about it [climate change]," he said. "Everybody notices the changes in the weather, including the animals. I hope it boosts our effort to do our own part."

Both Kuluguqtuk and Watt-Cloutier say government and industry need to lead the charge when it comes to controlling greenhouse gas emissions but individuals can also do their part by reducing their energy use.

This story is now closed to commenting.

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Climate report predicts major consequences for Canada

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