Risk #1
We spent more than 3 hours at the Risk Management department for the North Slope Borough, speaking with the manager and assistant manager. They filled us in on their concerns for the city and the entire borough; flooding, loss of coastal land, storm surges, ice shoves ivu, landfill near the ocean, and the list goes on. I showed a map of the North Slope Borough in my journal 2 days ago – we’re talking an area the size of the entire United Kingdom, with some of the most harsh weather in the world that these two people, and the other 2 people in their department, are responsible for. This is not an easy job in any regard, nor is it low-stress. Climate change is real, and it’s hitting the polar region first, and hardest.
Risk Management gave us that great hat and cup with their logo on it. From left to right; the 2 risk managers, A research student along for the interview, and me. Photo courtesy of Anne Garland.
Though the exact cause of climate change is debatable, the fact that the Earth's climates are rapidly changing is not. Here's an obvious example in Barrow:
The Inupiat Eskimos have long been a whaling culture. This year saw the latest whale ever hunted in the Spring season – and that was the first whale they caught. The following 2 whales also broke the record for the latest Spring hunts. Nalukataq, the festival that happened the day before I arrived in Barrow (July 13th) is traditionally a June celebration of their catch.
The traditional way of hunting is for the Inupiat to wait until the ice begins to crack – this is many miles off of the shoreline. The migrating bowhead whales follow the cracks in the ice all the way to the northern coast of Canada, where they go to feed. The Iñupiat Eskimos know this and they use their 4-wheelers (originally did this on foot) and drive out many miles on the solid ice to where the cracks are. They pull their seal-skin boats umiaks along the way, drop them in these several-mile wide cracks, and successfully hunt the whales that are passing through. This year, the ice was much thinner and, as a result, the crews could not take their 4-wheelers across the ice. They, instead, drove motor-boats from the coast. The several-mile wide cracks were even larger this year, making it more difficult to hunt the whales. As a result, it took longer for a successful hunt and only 3 whales were killed.
If the ice doesn’t come back thicker in the coming years, the Umiak may become a thing of the past.
The beautiful blue bands are visible in this sea ice -- each layer represents a year of snow accumulation.
Risk #2
After a long day of meetings and more research at the Tuzzy library, we came back to our bunkhouse for a bite to eat. Last week, the community was very generous and passed out plenty of whale meat to Anne and the other bunkmates at Nalukataq. So we had a feast of whale steak and caribou stir-fry.
I must say, I never imagined that I would eat whale in my entire life, and though I’m glad I did, I don’t feel the need to do it again.
The taste of Whale was more mild than I’d expected and the smell wasn’t *pugh* -- the meat was a bit tough and very bloody. I had a hard time with the thought of eating a whale.
That was a whale of a steak -- Battered, then cooked in oil, we covered it with a mushroom and onion type of gravy as recommended by a local.