Global warming and Alaskan natives

The debate continues over Global Warming. Deborah Williams says in Alaska the proof is clear.....  More »

The debate continues over Global Warming. Deborah Williams says in Alaska the proof is clear... global warming is affecting the Native culture there. Williams is the President of Alaska Conservation Solutions... and spoke at United Tribes Technical College. Williams says natives have been talking about climate change for years. (Deborah Williams/Alaska Conservation Solutions): When Sheila Watts-Cloutier talks about a human rights violation, she's talking about the impact of losing this habitat that indigenous people, particularly Inupiets, have fished on, hunted on, travelled on for thousands and thousands of years. The Inupiet people are losing their critical habitat. This is the critical habitat Williams is talking about. She says these satellite photos show how the Arctic ice cap has shrunk over years. She says Alaskan natives cannot predict their hunting seasons, like they used to. (Deborah Williams): Because if for thousands of years, if native elders could say 'You hunt walrus here at this time of year, using these conditions, and you look for this,' and that's no longer the case, their credibility, and that important social structure is dissolved. And the impacts on the culture are very great. Williams just got back from Washington D.C., where she presented to Senators climate change resolutions signed by 125 Alaska Native Villages.  « Less