April 13, 2009 -- For the Inupiat people of northern Alaska, whales are a way of life. These people eat the animals. They worship them. They organize their calendars around them. And on and on. It's been that way for thousands of years. Now, however, climate change is pushing the whales further north, making it harder for the Inupiat to catch them. That environmental shift is threatening the culture's fundamental roots. "If you have to pick one animal that is an icon of their traditional unity and identity, it's got to be the whale," said Chie Sakakibara, a cultural geographer at The Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York. "Their identity is synonymous with the whales." And yet, these "people of the whales" are working hard to adapt to a changing world, said Sakakibara, who has spent five years documenting the Inupiats' efforts to cope. Related Content:
"They are putting human faces on the phenomenon of global warming," she said. "This is a problem that will be happening to us in the near future." The Inupiat subsist on a variety of animals, including caribou, seals, musk ox, and most important of all, bowhead whales. They eat the whale's meat, use its jawbones to build houses, and make drums out of its stomach. No part of the animal goes to waste. Bowheads are huge, blubbery whales that spend much of their time in the coldest waters high in the Arctic. But every spring and fall, they swim past northern Alaska. And there, in Barrow and Point Hope, Inupiat communities spend months preparing for the hunt. When the whaling season finally arrives, teams camp on the frigid sea ice for two months. After a successful kill, amidst musical celebrations, hunters distribute meat equally across the community. The Inupiat believe that the spirit of the whale watches over the entire process. When Sakakibara first visited the Inupiat in 2004, she spent lots of time with whale hunters and their families. She was struck by how much these people spoke of the unpredictable weather and how hard it was becoming to catch whales. Get More NewsSpiders, Scorpions Among World's Oldest CreaturesMany creepy crawlies have been on Earth much longer than previously believed.Blood-Sucking Vampire Bats Sing DuetsWhite-winged vampire bats "harmonize" with separated roost mates.Oldest Hebrew Writing Possibly FoundAncient inscriptions on a 3,000-year-old pottery shard could make history.Rare, Prehistoric-Age Reptile Found in N.Z.A tuatara has been spotted on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in 200 years.Iceman Has No Living RelativesOetzi, the 5,300 year-old frozen mummy, left no living genetic legacy.SLIDE SHOW: Landscapes of TerrorWhat makes a place feel scary? There are scientific explanations.It's Official: People Are Warming the PolesHumans are conclusively to blame for polar warming, say scientists.Eight-Armed Animal Preceded DinosaursWhat may be one of Earth's first animals was no bigger than a coaster and had eight arms.Phoenicians Live on in People's GenesOne in 17 Mediterranean men may be descended from ancient Phoenicians.Pesticides, Fertilizers Linked to Frog DeclineA pesticide is found to promote parasites among amphibians.Hubble Telescope Taking Photos AgainThe Hubble Space Telescope is once again snapping stunning photos of the universe.Andean Mummy Hairs Show Hallucinogen UseScientists find direct evidence of hallucinogenic drug use among ancient Andeans.Opals on Mars Reveal Planet's Long Wet PastOpals found on Mars suggest the planet has been wet for much longer. |
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Discovery Earth Wide Angle: Wild AlaskaThere's a reason the U.S. state with the most land has such a small population: Life in many parts of Alaska is no walk in the park. Particularly if you live outside of a city and have to contend with polar bears, earthquakes, the occasional volcanic eruption or tsunami, those extreme Arctic temperatures, not to mention the often dark and depressing weather. In this Wide Angle we celebrate these challenges, along with some of Alaska's beauties.
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