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Arctic Yearbook 2013
Communicating Climate Change
story? What are we all to do about this? Is there a collective solution?‖ Media plays an important role
in educating the public about the implications of climate change. And it shapes public perceptions of
how climate change might affect our future (Lowe, 2006: 436). A study by Lowe found that ―the
intangible large-scale effects of climate change which are so often reported to the public become
‗real‘ only when put in more local terms‖ (ibid: 454).
Indeed, Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change is an exceptional example of how media can break
through cultural differences and political barriers to depict a reality of climate change told by people
to people. It‘s local and it‘s ‗real‘.
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Concluding Remarks
Communicating Arctic environmental change in a manner that breaks through political and
cognitive barriers is not an easy task. However, as this article has argued, barriers that once inhibited
knowledge exchange are on a gradual decline. Whereas TK and Western science seemed like
incompatible philosophies, shifting perceptions and effective political action have perforated past
obstructions. Likewise, new media technologies have provided tools that Arctic indigenous peoples
have adopted for their own purposes, thereby bypassing processes through which cultural property
had been appropriated and decontextualized without consent of the producer. Side-by-side, this
represents a nascent but nonetheless significant departure from prior years.
In this regard, Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change could be seen as a mode of knowledge
exchange that serves three purposes. Like the western-based scientist, participants‘ stated their
observations, documenting specific changes to the environment that contribute to an accumulated
body of knowledge. Second, authorship was unmediated by ‗foreign‘ influences thereby ascribing
agency to each of the participants. And third, by focusing on the human dimension, Arctic
environmental change is no longer abstract. The clarity with which each of the participants spoke
conveyed certainty in the face of uncertainty. Inuit and other Arctic indigenous peoples have
documented changes to the natural environment for millennia, specifically because environmental
changes directly affect daily existence. It presented another way knowing and speaking that can
inspire a broader audience to connect with the challenges of climate change.
From the perspective of western science, we could also view the role of polar researchers as serving
three purposes. Like indigenous environmental observers, the polar scientists mentioned here are
conducting highly specific and localized studies, bringing context to Arctic research that meta-data
cannot answer. As such, local knowledge contributes to a larger knowledge bank that informs
humanity‘s future and survival. Second, in the process of conducting Arctic research these polar
scientists are making forays toward rebuilding trust with indigenous communities whose past
experience with westerners has resulted in appropriation of multiple facets existence. In turn, this
practice will inform future Arctic research and other regions worldwide that are inhabited by
indigenous peoples. On a grander scale this could some day have an extensive impact on all of
society. Though beyond the scope of this article, I must mention a third point which I think is
critical to a broader understanding of environmental change. As a community, communicating
climate science is fraught with political and cognitive hurdles that are not completely dissimilar to