Inuit leader: Air travel is putting us on thin ice

LONDON – At a time when low-cost airlines are showing massive growth, and analysts predict much more of the same, Aqqaluk Lynge, the leader of Greenland’s Inuit population, has pleaded at an airport enquiry in the UK to stop the explosion of air traffic in Europe.

Lynge made his heartfelt plea to authorities looking into the expansion of Britain’s Stansted airport, which is a major base for Ryanair’s low-cost operations.

At a time when low-cost operations in Asia and Australia are taking off as never before, here is an extract from Lynge’s Stansted presentation, as reported in the UK’s Independent newspaper.

“What happens in Britain affects us in the north. You may say that the expansion of London Stansted airport will play only a small part in increasing climate change, but everyone can say that about almost everything they do.

“It is an excuse for doing nothing. The result of that attitude would be catastrophic.

“The serious consequences affecting my people today will affect your people tomorrow. Most flights from Stansted are not for an important purpose. They are mostly for holidays and leisure.

“Is it too much to ask for some moderation for the sake of my people today and your people tomorrow? For the sake also of our wildlife and everything else in the world’s precious and fragile environment that is more important than holiday flights.

“The Inuit are experiencing first-hand the adverse effects of climate change. We are on the front line of globalisation.

“Discussion of climate change frequently tends to focus on political, economic and technical issues rather than human impacts and consequences.

“I want to alert you to the impacts that Inuit and other northerners are already experiencing as a result of human-induced climate change, and to the dramatic impacts and social and cultural dislocation we face in coming years.

“For generations, Inuit have observed the environment and have accurately predicted weather, enabling us to travel safely on the sea-ice to hunt seals, whales, walrus, and polar bears.

“We don’t hunt for sport or recreation. Hunters put food on the table. You go to the supermarket, we go on the sea-ice. When we can no longer hunt on the sea-ice, we will no longer exist as a people.

“Already hunters are telling us the sea-ice is unpredictable in many places and they are not always sure of dealing with the different ice we see today.

“Traditional hunting grounds of ice floes, in some cases, have disappeared. And they tell us that some hunting areas are impossible to get to because of eroding shorelines.

“Talk to hunters across the north and they will tell you the same story: the weather is increasingly unpredictable. The look and feel of the land is different. The sea-ice is changing.

“We have even lost experienced hunters through the ice in areas that, traditionally, were safe.

“Several Inuit villages have already been so damaged by global warming that relocation, at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, is now their only option. Melting sea-ice and thawing permafrost have caused:
* damage to houses, roads, airports and pipelines;
* eroded landscape, slope instability and landslides;
* contaminated drinking water;
* coastal losses to erosion of up to 100 feet per year;
* melting natural ice cellars for food storage.

“Climate change is not just a theory to us in the Arctic, it is a stark and dangerous reality.

“Human-induced climate change is undermining the ecosystem upon which Inuit depend for their physical and cultural survival. Think about that for a moment.

“Emission of greenhouse gases from planes, cars and factories threatens our ability far to the north to live in harmony with a fragile, vulnerable, and sensitive environment.

“Some might dismiss our concerns, saying: ‘The Arctic is far away and few people live there.’ That would be immensely short-sighted, as well as callous.

“The Arctic is of vital importance in the global debate on how to deal with climate change. That’s because the Arctic is the barometer of the globe’s environmental health.

“You can take the pulse of the world in the Arctic. Inuit, the people who live farther north than anyone else, are the canary in the global coal mine.

“By 2070 to 2090, year-round sea-ice will be limited to a small portion of the Arctic Ocean around the North Pole. The rest of the Arctic will be ice-free in summer.

“Polar bears, walrus, ringed seals and other species of seals are projected to virtually disappear. Our ecosystem will be transformed, with tragic results. Where will we go then for our food? What then will become of the Inuit?

“Climate change in the Arctic is not just an environmental issue with unwelcome economic consequences. It is a matter of individual and cultural survival. It is a human issue. The Arctic is our home and homeland.

“What can Inuit – only 155,000 of us – do about this global situation? We are not asking the world to takes a backward economic step. All we are asking is that our neighbours in the south greatly reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.

“This does not need big sacrifices, but it will need some change in people’s lifestyles. Is that plane trip really necessary?”

FOOTNOTE: IATA has released traffic results for the first four months of the year showing year-on-year international passenger demand growth of 6.7%.