This Isn’t our Weather

I recently heard an interview with an anthropologist whose area of study was the native people in far northern Canada. He had studied their stories and legends and worked directly with them for many years. This is one of those arctic (and sub-arctic) people groups who live a purely subsistence lifestyle.  Their survival depends on knowledge of the seasons and the migratory patterns of wildlife.

During his most recent time with them, he realized that they were all very worried.  Lakes and rivers were not freezing over at the usual times, migratory patterns were disrupted and groups of hunters were being stranded because of early ice melts.  Animals and rivers – nature itself – seemed disturbed.

The natives looked to the anthropologist for answers.  ”There’s something wrong. This isn’t our weather.”

For most of us, “climate change” is something we mock or argue about.  We might disagree about the causes, the extent or the consequences, but for these arctic natives it is no abstraction.

Around the world we see more extreme temperatures, harsher storms as well as floods and droughts of Biblical proportions. “Climate refugees” have become a topic for the United Nations as well as for many independent nations.

Even the Washington Times, usually a journal of skepticism regarding climate change acknowledges the climate refugee problem.

“Inhabitants of parts of New Guinea and Tuvalu have already been forced to moved from low-lying areas.  New Zealand has agreed to accept migrants from Tuvalu, which experts think will be completely submerged by the middle of the century. Canada is funding the relocation of residents from parts of Vanuatu affected by global warming.”

Those of us on higher ground can continue to debate (or dismiss) the causes and repercussions of global climate change, but the one thing we can all agree on, when we look outside or expect our food to grow as it always has: “This isn’t our weather.”