Defending Rights to be Cold

I've never thought I would be happy about the weather getting a little cooler. Usually, by this time of the year, I am use to seeing the trees without their leaves. However, I look out my window and my beautiful sycamore holds a colorful array of leaves and we are moving into our second week in November in New York City. "Is it the effects of climate change?" I ask myself.

Far north, in the an Inuit village called Kuujjuag in northern Canada, there is a growing concern that climate change is vastly changing the lives and culture of the Inuit people. In an article I read recently, a woman describes her experience growing up with cold summers and rarely ever wearing short sleeves. Now, the summers have grown warm and people are swimming in the local river to keep cool, an activity not common in the Arctic. Sheila Watt Cloutier is a local advocate on climate change, has witnessed the changes in the Arctic climate such as melting ice sheets; eroding coastlines; and shrinking habitats for polar bears, caribou, and other animals the Inuit have relied on for sustenance. The effects of climate change in Kuujjuag are not only melting ice caps but the culture of the Inuit people is disappearing.

Martin Wagner, an environmental attorney from Earthjustice describes the impact of climate change on the basic human rights of the Inuit people. "The impacts of climate change have very real, negative, harmful impacts on the Inuit's ability to sustain themselves as they have traditionally done, their ability to be healthy, which they have a right to in the Inter America human rights system." Wagner continues - "Their ability to maintain their unique culture, which is absolutely dependent on ice and snow; their ability to hunt and fish and harvest plant foods; their ability to have shelter and build their homes - all of those rights impacted by climate change in the Arctic."

Who is responsible? We all are. Have you ever heard of the term "pollution without borders"? Sheila Watt Cloutier, along with the federation of Native Nations, Canada, Greenland, Russia and the United States have come together through the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) to combat climate change and to take action on one of the world's biggest users of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), the United States of America. Ms. Cloutier says that she is "defending our rights to be cold."

What can we do? Is it too late?

The ICC has filed a petition with the Inter America Commission on Human Rights to hopefully gain support for future federal legislation. In the meantime, I believe we owe it to the Inuit people and to ourselves to be more cautious of how we use our energy. We have a responsibility to protect our planet and with that responsibility we are protecting ourselves.

Under the Women's and Youth Forum, I have chosen to focus on climate change and its effects on human rights. Notice the picture of the little Inuit boy above. I would like to create a call to action to empower our youth to be leaders for the environment and to support the human rights of all.