Northern Percep,ons of Climate Change by Clarissa Jewell supervised by Andrew S. Medeiros A Major Project submi<ed to the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change in parCal fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Environmental Studies York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada April 22, 2021 ABSTRACT Inuit living in the circumpolar North have faced a number of rapid changes in the last century with the shiP from nomadic to permanent se<lements and the lingering negaCve effects of colonialism, now further challenged by the impacts of climate change. Currently, Iqaluit and other communiCes in Nunavut are at risk of running out of fresh water as they face factors including changing hydrological systems, increased populaCon, ageing and inadequate infrastructure, and resource development (Bakaic & Medeiros 2017; Daley et al. 2014). Knowledge translaCon may be an essenCal tool for communicaCng these changes, both to Inuit and Western people, and be<er facilitate adaptaCon and miCgaCon strategies relaCng to climate change and water. This Major Project comprises three deliverables all with the aim of educaCng a different audience about issues including climate change, Inuit and Northern perspecCves, and environmental racism. I have created 1) a children’s magazine arCcle about monitoring climate change in the North using paleolimnology; 2) a journal arCcle for Western academia that cauCons about ignoring the socio-economic realiCes of Inuit daily lives; and 3) a magazine arCcle for teenagers that talks about environmental racism and the North. Key findings from my research include that there is embedded racism within climate change, that there is a need for climate communicaCon to be done in a respec`ul and culturally appropriate way, and that social issues were idenCfied as equally important to climate issues for some people living in places of rapid environmental change. KEYWORDS: climate change, water, Inuit, Indigenous Knowledge, educaCon, knowledge translaCon ii FOREWORD I entered the MES Program with a desire to learn more about the issues facing Indigenous Peoples in Canada, especially with respect to water. My Supervisor, Andrew Medeiros, is the Principal InvesCgator of the “Water Security for Northern Peoples” project, and by joining his team of graduate students I hoped in some way I might contribute something meaningful towards some element of furthering climate jusCce or helping to improve water security for Inuit in some small way. This Major Project is reflecCve of the knowledge that I acquired to fulfil the requirements of the MES degree, as well as the Environmental Sustainability EducaCon diploma. My Plan of Study outlined three overall components that were addressed throughout my coursework, project research, and experienCal learning in Iqaluit, Nunavut during the summer of 2019: Indigenous water security; Inuit PerspecCves on climate and the environment; and climate literacy, knowledge translaCon, and educaCon in the North. Each of these components is woven throughout the three deliverables which make up my Major Project, and with all three deliverables, I hope to educate people in different audiences about some of the important things I’ve learned, including climate change and water security in the North, Inuit and Northern perspecCves on these relaConships, the importance of Indigenous Knowledge, and environmental racism. iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the memory of Valerie, who I was only with for a short Cme but who was a steadfast companion during a very demanding and someCmes lonely Cme in my life. I also dedicate this to my mom, Debbie Jewell, who tried to talk me out of going back to school but supported me anyways when I did. Always another mountain. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Andrew Medeiros, without whom I never would have started on this journey. I would like to thank Patricia E. Perkins for her guidance and advice during the iniCal part of my Cme at FES, as well as the members of our original student group. I would like to thank Lisa Meyers, Graham Giles, Deborah McGregor, and the other professors at York University for facilitaCng really great lectures and discussions from which I learned a lot. I would like to thank my “accountabilibuddies”, my fellow IDS students who were a great source of camaraderie throughout this process. I would like to thank Solomon Awa, Torsten Diesel, Killaq Enuaraq-Strauss, Jessica KoCerk, and the other interview parCcipants who took the Cme to speak with me in Iqaluit and share their perspecCves. I would like to thank Lie<e Gilbert and the OSAS Office for their prompt responses and administraCve support, especially through COVID-19 and two extensions. I would like to thank Sheila Colla and Sonia Wesche, for their comments and mentorship as I conCnued to shape this project. I would like to thank Elizabeth Heidner and Jennifer Gordon, for providing comments and much need encouragement in the final days. Finally, I would like to thank my partner, Steven Lauck, for his unrelenCng love, paCence and support. Nakurmiik. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ ii FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................ iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: Magazine arCcle for children ............................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 2: Journal arCcle for academia ................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 3: Magazine arCcle for teens ................................................................................. 47 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 52 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 53 APPENDIX A: Interview Notes ................................................................................................ 54 APPENDIX B. Non-Culture Interviews and Co-Interviews ...................................................... 69 APPENDIX C: Children’s Drawings and Stories ....................................................................... 72 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Iqaluit parCcipant characterisCcs ............................................................................... 15 Table 2: Themes and sub-themes that emerged from themaCc analysis of parCcipant interviews. Themes are listed in bold. Sub-themes are listed under the themes with the number in parentheses showing the number of Cmes each sub-theme was menConed. ........................ 19 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada. ....................................................................................... 14 Figure 2: Word cloud based on word frequency from the five transcribed 2019 semi- structured interviews, excluding quesCons and interviewer comments. .............................. 20 viii INTRODUCTION Inuit living in the circumpolar North have faced a number of rapid changes in the last century with the shiP from nomadic to permanent se<lements and the lingering negaCve effects of colonialism, now further challenged by the impacts of climate change. Socio-economic issues include lack of adequate housing, food and water insecurity, low educaCon rates, and higher rates of illness and mortality (ITK 2014), issues which are exacerbated by climate change. Permafrost thaw destabilizes housing and infrastructure, changing condiCons on the land make it more difficult to hunt, and to pass on Inuit Indigenous Knowledge, which they call Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ). It is important to listen to Inuit perspecCves as they reflect on these and other challenges. For my own introducCon to this topic, I was iniCally focused on issues of water security. I was invited to join the “Water Security for Northern Peoples” project by the Principal InvesCgator, Andrew Medeiros, who became my Supervisor throughout my MES program. Iqaluit and other communiCes in Nunavut are at risk of running out of clean, available fresh water, challenged by factors including changing hydrological systems, increased populaCon, ageing and inadequate infrastructure, and resource development (Bakaic & Medeiros 2017; Daley et al. 2014). As I progressed throughout the MES program, however, and especially aPer my trip to Iqaluit in the summer of 2019, I also became interested in other issues including concepts like slow violence, (post/neo) colonialism, environmental racism, knowledge translaCon, and environmental educaCon. Amongst the general public, climate change remains a contested issue: in Canada, almost half (43 %) think science is “a ma<er of opinion” (Ontario Science Centre 2017 in Smol 2018). For some Inuit and Northern residents, climate change is seen more as something that happens elsewhere. Without trust in science