Canada, Arctic

The Arctic is an increasingly important region faced with major challenges caused not only by the effects of climate change, but also by a growing interest in its living and non-living resources, its attraction as a new destination for tourism, and as a route for navigation. It is not only the eight Arctic States that have paid an increased level of attention to the region; several non-Arctic actors from Asia and Europe also seek to gain more influence in the High North.

The Earth is faster now is a collection of ten papers describing contemporary efforts to document indigenous knowledge of environmental change in the Arctic. It reviews major individual studies on indigenous knowledge and climate change undertaken during the past few years, primarily in North America. The text is accompanied by local observations, quotations from interviews, personal observations, illustrations, and photographs. Contributors include well- known academic researchers and Native people from Canada, Finland, and the United States.

In recent years, journalists and environmentalists have pointed urgently to the melting Arctic as a leading indicator of the growing effects of climate change. While climate change has unleashed profound transformations in the region, most commentators distort these changes by calling them unprecedented. In reality, the landscapes of the North American Arctic—as well as relations among scientists, Inuit, and federal governments— are products of the region’s colonial past.