Spring 2009 No. 62 $5US $6CAN A HARSH NE~ REALITY TRANSFORMS THE ARCTIC REINVENTING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INUIT S SSED OUT WILDLIFE FACE MASSIVE OIL DEVELO - STEPPING BACK FROM THE DANGER ZONE Conlt4H~-j --------------- SPRING 2009 No. 62 Dear Reader ARCTIC he facts aboutthe recent warming A HARSH NEW REALITY TRANSFORMS THE ARCTIC 3 "DRILL, BABY, DRILL: STRESSED OUT ARCTIC WILDLIFE FACE MAS- of Earth's north pole, as described SIVE NEW OIL DEVELOPMENT .•••••....•.••......••..•. 14 Tin chis issue of Cascadia Times, are ,_THE ARCT1C0S DISAPPEARING SEA ICE 3 truly frightening. Journalists who report • THE WALRUS' FATAL REACTION TO GLOBAL WARMING •........ 16 the facts about global warming arc often ARCTIC WARMING "DRAMATIC" AND "WIDESPREAD" 4 accused of fear-mongering, as if reporciing INCREASED INTEREST IN ARCTIC SHIPPING ROUTES POSES NEW the facts about climate change is some• how a crime. It would be a crime not to ARCTIC TEMPERATURES RISING TWICE THE RATE AS THE ENTIRE RISKS TO FRAGILE ECOSYSTEMS ....••••....•....••..... 19 do so. PLANET ..••.•............•......•................ 5 We also believe chat it is much worse SOLUTIONS: STEPPING BACK FROM THE DANGER ZONE •...... 20 to deny· the truth about these facts. REINVENTING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE·INUIT: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Global warming is not just a theory. It is ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE . • . • . 10 UNPRECEDENTED COMMERCIAL FISHING BAN SEEN AS BIG STEP already happening. TOWARD CONSERVATION OF THE ARCTIC ..•••..•.......... 22 What frightens us most is that global POSIER THE ARCTIC~W HERE POLAR BEARS. OILDRILLERS MEET .• 11 warming is arriving with unexpected REFERENCES .................••.•.••.•.....•..... 23 speed and ferocity. The United Nations RUSSIAN OIL FIELDS COLLIDE WITH REINDEER HERDING TRADnlONS .12 lncernacional Panel on Climate Change, has underestimated global warming. Ics models did not take into account several important factors, The IPCC did 111oc expect the late-summer sea ice in rhe Arctic Ocean to melt as thoroughly and as rapidly as it has. Nor did the IPCC factor in the vase quantities of methane chat are already seeping from the permafrost as it melts under the Arctic Ocean floor. Methane is 60 times more efficient as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. COz is far more abundant in the atmosphere than methane, but scientists say this methane gets into the atmosphere, the results could be staggering. For every fact, it seems there will always be someone who is a denier. Walrus head to land in Chukotka, Russia, as the sea ice melts, "Global warming is a gigantic hoax, above (photo by Vladimir Gorbunov). On the cover, polar bears pure and simple," Philip Brennan, a in Alaska's Beaufort Sea thrive on the sea ice while it lases (photo writer for the conservative news site Newsmax.com, cold me in December courtesy NOAA). 2008. "Baby it's getting cold out there - and it's going to gee worse, much worse!" People who dispute the facts ab-out global warming may be making it harder than it needs co be to implement a solu• tion. They can paralyze political leaders who need to be taking action before it's 2004 John B. Oakes Award too late, if it's not coo late already. Some Nation's Best Environmental Journalism experts say there's already a chance the planet will never return tO a climate most Editor/Publisher Paul Koberstein of us would consider normal. Nothing could be more frightening [email protected] BOARD OF than chat. Operations Manager/Publisher Robin Klein ADVISORS Cascadia Times wants to thank many [email protected] Hilary Abraham McCormick, Portland, Ore. people for their financial help in produc• Design Cascadia Times Eric Allen, Portland, Ore. ing this report, including Oceana, the ISSN 1939-2672 (Print edition) 1939-2680 (times.erg) Peter Chilton. Pullman, Wash. 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A HARSH NEW REALITY TRANSFORMS THE ARCTIC By Paul Koberstein The Arctic's disappearing sea ice ramatic climate changes in the Arctic are sending an unmistak• he satellite images below illustrate the volume because the ice sheet is getting D able signal chat global warming recent decline of Arctic sea ice. In thinner. Most of the thinning is occurring is advancing much more rapidly on Earth than scientists thought. Many now T2007, the area of sea ice coverage along the Siberian and North American say that the time to deal with the crisis is receded to a record low - 24 percent less rapidly running short. coast, from the Chukchi Sea to Greenland. The Arctic, which plays a viral role in area than the previous low set in 2005. Ice These data illustrate the dramatic keeping the Earth cool, is having trouble keeping its own cool. Scientists have is now disappearing at a -rate of 11. 7 per• changes occurring in the Arctic, where assembled a mountain of incontrovert• cent per decade. In 2008, the sea ice cov• people and ·wildlife area adapting to the ible evidence chat warming is funda• mentally, rapidly changing the Arctic, ered a slightly greater area but had less harsh new reality of global warming. none clearer than the retreat of its lace• summer sea ice, triggered by air temper• atures chat have been rising at twice the rate as the rest of the planer. And the retreat is accelerating. Until recently, climate models pub• lished by the U.N. International Panel on Climate- Change (IPCC) have pre• dicted a complete retreat of the lace• summer sea ice by the end of chis centu• ry. Bue the IPCC's models may need drastic revision, as a number of scientists now think the ice could disappear as soon as the next decade. Species chat depend on the ice for their subsistence September 21, 1979 September 5, 1980 September 10, 1981 and survival - including humans, polar bears, walruses and ice seals - are fac• ing significant disruptions in their lives. As ice pack retreats, stressed ouc wildlife and humans must also adapt co another significant development in the Arctic - a gold rush by industry chat is likely to include offshore oil and gas drilling, circumpolar shipping and com• mercial fishing made possible by ice• free conditions. This combination of cli• mate change and industrialization, with its human intrusions and likely oil and chemical spills, would compound the September 10, 1996 injury, posing a double jeopardy for the September 19, 1997 September 14, 2004 people and wildlife of the Arctic. Taken alone, any of these changes would add substantial stress to Arctic ecosystems. Bue many are likely to be concurrent, and could have synergistic effects on the health of the ecosystem and opportunities for the subsistence way of life. Ten years ago, scientists were just beginning to document the warming of the Arctic. Today thousands of scientists are making significant progress toward understanding how and why the Arctic September 21, 2005 September 14, 2006 September 14, 2007 _ ( Continued 011. Page 5) Annual minimum extent of Arctic sea ice 100 % Pacific Ocean f 8.0 QI ....QI Alaska Siberia 80 % E Chukchi Sea 2 7.0 Beaufort Sea ...~ QI 60 % Canada n,... North Pole ::I CT 6.0 .....Ill 40% Greenland 0 Ill c 5.0 0 20 % Finland Atlantic Ocean -- i:= 4.0 1979 1982 1986 1990 1994 1996 2000 2004 2008 0% September 12, 2008 Arctic sea ice covered 4.28 million square kilometers in 2007, increasing to 4.67 Percent of ocean So11n;es: CryosphtreToday , Universityo f Illinois 'million in 2008, the lowest and second lowest. respectively, since the satellite covered by ice Scie11tiji,·Vis uaiixatio»Studi o, GoddardS paceFli ght Center, N.!\Sil rP.cord bega11 in 1979. Sor1ra: National Snow and lee Data Center. e Arctic warming Narwhal Whales marine mammals to climate-induced 11 Polar bears, bowhead whales, narwhal habitat change, by Kristin Laidre of the dramatic" and whales, walruses and several species of ice Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, and seals - top predators in the Arctic ecosys• others. "widespread" tem -are Mghly vulnerable to climate No other cetacean spedes occupies such en years ago, scientists were just change.