Mod V

Essential Question: How are climate, cultures and oceans all connected?

When I think of climate, I don’t necessarily think of oceans. Where in fact, oceans and other bodies of water are the major factors explaining climate differences in locations that lie on similar lines of latitude. The San Francisco and Washington D.C. example we looked at in this module is a good example of oceans as part of climate. The moderate temperatures of California’s coast in winter are a result of the winds blowing off the warmer waters moving north from the tropics. Washington D.C. does not have this benfefit. The TD interactive video, Sea Surface Temperature explains this in more detail.

With the role of the oceans defined in what is happening to our global climate, it is clear how oceans in turn affect coastal cultures worldwide. Regionally, our picture into this interconnectedness is the village of Shismaref. It is located on the Seward Peninsula approximately 125 miles due north of Nome. It is a long narrow island whose western coast borders the Chuckchi Sea and eastern coast borders Shismaref Bay. The village maintains a subsistence lifestyle and its 600 residents like it that way. In the winter months, the village is dependent on sea ice to hunt walrus and other sea animals. They are also dependent on ice formation in the bay to hunt land animals. The ice bridge is their road to the mainland.

Climate change is altering their world. Where oceans were once frozen to Russia for most of the winter, they are freezing later and melting sooner. With less ice surface to break the waves, their shores are being battered and eroded away. Some villagers have had to relocate to the eastern shore. The changes are worrisome as they see their lifestyle slipping away. A monstrous storm in 1997, destroyed coastal homes and the area was declared a state of emergency. Talk began of relocating the residents to a safer location. They do not want to move inland away from the ocean that has been their life for generations. Thirteen years later, they are still on the island. Cost of moving has been estimated at $200 million. They have not found a suitable location. They fear that moving is inevitable and that they will be merged with an existing location, like Nome, whose way of life is vastly different.

Shismaref was highlighted at the United Nations Framework on Climate Change in December of 2009. Three villagers attended the convention in Copenhagen to share the stories of the people of Shishmaref.