Climate change is harming everyone, but hits native communities the hardest – empirics!
Brewer* and Kronk Warner** 15 Brewer II is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Professor Brewer's research focuses on indigenous people, energy sovereignty, and natural resource management, Kronk Warner is an Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Professor of Law, and Director of the Tribal Law and Government Center at the University of Kansas School of Law. She is a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and serves as acting Chief Judge of the Tribe. (*Joseph P., **Elizabeth Ann., “ARTICLE: Protecting Indigenous Knowledge in the Age of Climate Change, 27 Geo. Envtl. L. Rev. 585”, Georgetown Environmental Law Review, 2015, Nexis Uni via University of Michigan Library System)//LFS – LMH
A. THE THREAT OF CLIMATE CHANGE Climate change threatens humankind's existence. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states, "[h]uman influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems." 38 In the United States, climate change affects tribes on a daily basis. Because of their location and, in many instances, increased reliance on the environment, many tribal communities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. For example, starting in 1998, tribal nations in the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain regions reported the following climate change-related issues: increased and more constant winds; violent weather changes where storms wiped out intertidal shellfish; declining salmon runs; deformed fish; significant decreases in the life spans of individual Natives due to the unavailability of traditional foods; air pollution from burning forests; minimum river flows necessary for native fish species; and erosion from rising sea levels. 39 Tribal nations in other regions of the United States are also experiencing profound changes to their environments. 40 Climate change is causing more frequent and intense weather events, which are in turn disrupting whole ecological systems. These changes not only have biophysical outcomes (i.e., effects on both the living and non-living environment, such as on plant growth or on wind patterns), but are also disrupting the cyclical connection between human beings and the natural world. 41 For example, global [*594] warming is accelerating the rate at which the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting, contributing to global sea-level rise, which in turn directly threatens Pacific Island communities. 42 The problem of ocean acidification is also altering the relationship that fishermen have with aquatic life. 43 In the Northern Hemisphere, Alaskan Native peoples, in particular, are being forced to adapt to the accelerated effects of climate change while struggling to maintain their connection to place. The Alaskan interior has been experiencing drastic temperature changes over the last fifteen years--leading to, among other problems, increasingly destructive wildfires in the region. 44 These wildfires are becoming a "wicked problem," carrying both environmental and social consequences. 45 Fire has been a part of the natural Alaskan landscape for nearly six thousand years; what has changed since 2004 are the fires' intensity, frequency, and geographic scope. 46 Major fires are more apparent in extraordinarily dry years, but in recorded history, there were multi-year gaps between these types of fires. 47 The science shows that increasing greenhouse gas emissions tend to "oscillate" toward higher latitudes; studies have specifically linked the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) to the occurrence of wildfires. 48 Thus, Alaska is at the forefront of dangerous environmental change. 49 As these changes unfold and as many communities confront more extreme fluctuations in patterns that once seemed relatively stable and familiar, some of them are rediscovering the observational experiences and traditional knowledge of Alaskan Native peoples.