In a paper published in the journal Human Organization, social scientists from the US Geological Survey interviewed indigenous Yup’ik people to understand how climate change is affecting their age-old, subsistence lifestyle on the lower Yukon River.
“Salmonberries are getting fewer, that’s due to lack of snow,” one resident explained of an important wild food source. “See what’s happening is, after the snow melts right away the tundra dries up. And that’s one of the reasons for lack of salmonberries, the tundra is drying up and they can’t grow when it’s dry.”
As computer models crunch volumes of data to explain climate change impacts, this study sought to understand on-the-ground effects by “relating indigenous observation as described by elders and hunters … to those described by scientific literature.” Another participant described changing weather over time:
Let’s see, maybe in the 80s, late 70s, 80s there was this gradual change started, and it seemed like the winters were getting a little warmer, less snow, rain in December and January. It seems like there’s hardly any snow, frozen tundra, ice.
In winter, Yup’ik people travel by sled dog and snow machine on frozen rivers to trade with other villages and reach hunting grounds. But thinning ice on the Andreafsky River makes travel difficult and dangerous. An 83-year-old woman who lived at the village of St. Mary’s for 50 years explained:
Our river goes out to the Yukon not too far, about a mile or a little more, and at this mouth to the Yukon, it doesn’t freeze, it doesn’t freeze, people keep drowning there. I don’t know how many people now, especially young people. They’ve been falling in that hole, I don’t know how many people now down there…because that place never freezes, we hate, I hate that, other people hate that.
The considerable thinning of ice on the Yukon and Andreafsky Rivers in recent years was the topic of several interviews. Thin river ice is a significant issue because winter travel is mainly achieved by using the frozen rivers as a transportation route via snow machines or sled dogs. Thinning ice shortens the winter travel season, making it more difficult to trade goods between villages, visit friends and relatives, or reach traditional hunting grounds. One interview participant also discussed how the Andreafsky River, on whose banks their village lies, no longer freezes in certain spots, and several people have drowned after falling through the resulting holes in the ice.
The unpredictability of weather conditions was another issue of concern, especially since these communities rely on activities such as hunting, fishing and gathering wild foods for their way of life. One does not want to “get caught out in the country” when the weather suddenly changes.
Vegetation patterns were also observed to be shifting due to the changes in seasonal weather patterns, and this leads to increased difficulty in subsistence activities. Interviews showed the unpredictability from year to year on whether vegetation, particularly salmonberries, could be relied upon. Those interviewed spoke of a change in the range of species of mammals (moose and beaver) as well as a decrease in the number of some bird species (ptarmigan). This is of special concern because of the important role these animals play in the subsistence diets of Alaska Natives. Many also rely on hunting or trapping for their livelihoods.
Sorry for changing your climate and altering your way of life so far.