Inuit Accuse US of Destroying Their Way of Life With Global Warming

Inuit Accuse US of Destroying Their Way of Life With Global Warming

Andrew Buncombe 2/15/2007


Washington - A delegation of Inuit is to travel to Washington, DC, to provide first-hand testimony of how global warming is destroying their way of life and to accuse the Bush administration of undermining their human rights.

The delegation, representing Inuit peoples from the US, Canada, Russia and Greenland, will argue that the US's energy policies and its position as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is having a devastating effect on their communities. Melting sea ice, rising seas and the impact on the animals they rely on for food threatens their existence.

The Inuit's efforts to force the US to act are part of an unprecedented attempt to link climate change to international human rights laws. They will argue before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (ICHR) that the US's behaviour puts it in breach of its obligations. "The impacts of climate change, caused by acts and omissions by the US, violate the Inuit's fundamental human rights protected by the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and other international instruments," the Inuit argued in a letter to the ICHR. "Because Inuit culture is inseparable from the condition of their physical surroundings, the widespread environmental upheaval resulting from climate change violates the Inuit's right to practice and enjoy the benefits of their culture."

Indigenous peoples from the Arctic have long argued that global warming was having a dramatic effect on their environment. In 2002, villagers in the remote Alaskan island community of Shishmaref voted to relocate to the mainland because rising sea levels threatened to overwhelm their community. Data has been gathered to support their claims and scientists have recorded how polar regions are the most vulnerable to climate change. The most recent international Arctic Climate Impact Assessment suggested global warming would see temperatures in the Arctic rise by 4-7C over the next 100 years - about twice the previous average estimated increase.

http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8604

Many of the poorest parts of the world are expected to be affected..

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=254222007
http://www.scidev.net/Editorials/index.cfm?fuseaction=readEditorials&itemid=125&language=1
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DHA3488.htm

So, so sad. :(

Already been seen in Barrow, with huge ice floes that should have been secure washing up into town.

"Insist on Sunkist orange juice made from genuine Alaska-grown oranges."

You suppose when that happens the Pubes will still be saying there is no global warming?