On Friday March 6th, the law school held a conference addressing Global Climate Change. I attended a panel discussion on the effect of climate change on indigenous communities. Although this is off topic from libraries, archives and museums, I thought there may be some correlation in so far as education and information exchange is concerned.
The speaker addressed climate change in the Arctic and talked specifically of the Inuit peoples in northern Canada. These people depend on the ice for their livelihood. They are primarily hunters and are endangered by the melting ice, as this limits access to hunting territory and poses risks (i.e. falling through ice).
As of right now, traditional hunting practices are still being preserved, but more and more food is having to be shipped because of melting ice, reduction of hunting area etc…
Although it too soon to measure the affects this will have on the population researchers as well as the local population fear that this dramatic change of diet and lifestyle could have dire consequences to the overall health of the community.
Our speaker, Rica, from Ebling Library, on Thursday addressed issues of Native American Health in correlation with libraries and specifically what resources librarians can provide to tribes/communities. During the talk I pondered the consequences of climate change on this particular community and how information services could possibly be useful.
It seems that with more information the Inuit community could better prepare for the inevitable warming and melting of the ice. Unfortunately, it does not seem likely that life will be able to stay the same for this particular population, simply because the trends of warming are so drastic, seemingly irreversible at this point. But can the community survive and adapt to the rapid changes? The work being done now suggests that people are beginning to prepare for major changes of livelihood and lifestyle- but this is where libraries, archives and museums could be very useful for the community.
Libraries obviously can provide information and help people make more informed choices about anything from economics to healthy diets, but archives and museums are the places where the culture, stories, and artifacts can be preserved.
It is sad and unfortunate that museums and archives may one day soon be the only place that one can recall the original history of the Inuit, but it is better than having that information lost forever. It seems that until we as a global community start making efforts to slow down global climate change, libraries, museums and archives are going to be invaluable deposits for many peoples history.
Conference on Global Climate Change and Indigenous Communities